SWOT analysis and sustainable business planning An IKEA case study Page 1: Intro

Question

SWOT analysis and sustainable business planning An IKEA case study Page 1: Introduction IKEA is an internationally known home furnishing retailer. It has grown rapidly since it was founded in 1943. Today it is the world's largest furniture retailer, recognised for its Scandinavian style. The majority of IKEA's furniture is flat-pack, ready to be assembled by the consumer. This allows a reduction in costs and packaging. IKEA carries a range of 9,500 products, including home furniture and accessories. This wide range is available in all IKEA stores and customers can order much of the range online through IKEA's website. There are 18 stores in the UK to date, the first of which opened in Warrington in 1987. In July 2009 IKEA opened a store in Dublin too -its first in Ireland. IKEA stores include restaurants and cafA s serving typical Swedish food. They also have small food shops selling Swedish groceries, everything from the famous meatballs to jam. Stores are located worldwide. In August 2008 the IKEA group had 253 stores in 24 countries, with a further 32 stores owned and run by franchisees. It welcomed a total of 565 million visitors to the stores during the year and a further 450 million visits were made to the IKEA website. IKEA sales reached 21.2 billion Euros in 2008 showing an increase of 7%. The biggest sales countries are Germany, USA, France, UK and Sweden. In 2008 IKEA opened 21 new stores in 11 countries and expects to open around 20 more in 2009 as part of its strategy for growth.

Explanation / Answer

Ans:-1 IKEA utilized the concept of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) in finding out its strengths. Key Performance Indicators or KPIs help an organization to know about its performance improvements in key areas of business, e.g., production. Strengths are internal to the organization and help to strengthen its position in the market. IKEA can find out about its weaknesses by doing an internal environmental analysis. Weaknesses are also internal to a company and weaken one’s position in the market. IKEA can find out about its opportunities and threats by doing an external environment scanning, as they are external to the organization.

Ans:-2 SWOT Analysis:

Strengths:

Weaknesses:

Opportunities:

Threats:

Ans:-3 The important lesson learned is the use of renewable and environment-friendly products by IKEA. Also one has to laud its efforts to reduce carbon footprints. Further it tried to offer value-for-money products to the customers.

   

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