IKEA PRESENTATION
INGVAR KAMPRAD:
A Sustainable Leader
TIMELINE
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Born in 1926 in Elmtaryd near the village of Agunnaryd
Revealed his business skills at the age of six ( selling matches, Christmas decorations, fish and pencils)
When he was 17 years old, in 1943, Kamprad’s parents gave him a small amount of money for doing well in school, despite being dyslexic. With it,
Ingvar founded a business named IKEA, an abbreviation for Ingvar
Kamprad from Elmtaryd, near Agunnaryd.
In 1945, Kamprad began using milk trucks to deliver his goods ( innovative).
In 1950 he bought an old small factory in Sweden, which let him to put on a production flow even cheaper furniture for his stores. It was ‘nonsense’ to the country where the furniture had always been considered an expensive commodity.
In 1955, manufacturers began boycotting IKEA, protesting against
Kamprad’s low prices.
FIRST RESISTANCE TO CHANGE!
He started to purchase from Poland instead and laid the future strategy of the company of purchasing from countries where suppliers were cheaper.
WHY sell cheaper? Anyone should be able to afford stylish, modernist furniture.
It’s not all about making money, but serving the people as well.
•
Kamprad’s business grew. And grew. Today, there are over 300 IKEA stores in the world within 38 countries.
What made his leadership style so unique?
• Value based leadership style
• Communicated his values, vision and goals in a way employees could understand and with which they could identify
• Company culture that inspired a shared vision
(create a better everyday life for the majority of people) and thus fostered innovation and creativity
• Personified IKEA as the IKEA family
• Built leaders to be ambassadors for the other IKEA employees to model the way
• Flat organization that enabled to challenge the process and enabled others to act
=> Did not infuse his vision and values through a compulsory structure system but by encouraging personal thinking and development, by encouraging
the
A Sustainable Leader
TIMELINE
•
•
•
•
•
•
Born in 1926 in Elmtaryd near the village of Agunnaryd
Revealed his business skills at the age of six ( selling matches, Christmas decorations, fish and pencils)
When he was 17 years old, in 1943, Kamprad’s parents gave him a small amount of money for doing well in school, despite being dyslexic. With it,
Ingvar founded a business named IKEA, an abbreviation for Ingvar
Kamprad from Elmtaryd, near Agunnaryd.
In 1945, Kamprad began using milk trucks to deliver his goods ( innovative).
In 1950 he bought an old small factory in Sweden, which let him to put on a production flow even cheaper furniture for his stores. It was ‘nonsense’ to the country where the furniture had always been considered an expensive commodity.
In 1955, manufacturers began boycotting IKEA, protesting against
Kamprad’s low prices.
FIRST RESISTANCE TO CHANGE!
He started to purchase from Poland instead and laid the future strategy of the company of purchasing from countries where suppliers were cheaper.
WHY sell cheaper? Anyone should be able to afford stylish, modernist furniture.
It’s not all about making money, but serving the people as well.
•
Kamprad’s business grew. And grew. Today, there are over 300 IKEA stores in the world within 38 countries.
What made his leadership style so unique?
• Value based leadership style
• Communicated his values, vision and goals in a way employees could understand and with which they could identify
• Company culture that inspired a shared vision
(create a better everyday life for the majority of people) and thus fostered innovation and creativity
• Personified IKEA as the IKEA family
• Built leaders to be ambassadors for the other IKEA employees to model the way
• Flat organization that enabled to challenge the process and enabled others to act
=> Did not infuse his vision and values through a compulsory structure system but by encouraging personal thinking and development, by encouraging
the
References: • • • Jonas Fredén. (2014, March). Ingvar Kamprad, founder of IKEA | sweden.se. Retrieved from https://sweden.se/business/ingvarkampradfounderofikea/ Bo Edvardsson, & Bo Enquist. (2009). Retrieved from https://books.google.ch/books? id=g4F9AgAAQBAJ&pg=PA83&lpg=PA83&dq=ingvar+kamprad+a+sustainable+leader&source=bl&ots=TjbY 1p7iss&sig=7WDnmCMchyQayE_OEePn0THnePg&hl=fr&sa=X&ei=vRVPVfLfEcGsU4nQgPgB&ved=0CEoQ6A EwBQ#v=onepage&q=ingvar%20kamprad%20a%20sustainable%20leader&f=false IKEA. (2014). Sustainable Life at Home - IKEA. Retrieved from http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/this-isikea/people-and-planet/sustainable-life-at-home/