Responses Does ikea have a truly global strategy, or just a series of regional strategies? Explain. In fact, without ikea, many people in the world would have little access to affordable, contemporary products for their homes

Responses
1. Does IKEA have a truly global strategy, or just a series of regional strategies? Explain.
In fact, without IKEA, many people in the world would have little access to affordable, contemporary products for their homes. IKEA’s mission is to “create a better everyday life for the many people.” It accomplishes this seemingly impossible mission by striking just the right balance between global brand standardization and catering to the local cultural diferences in markets around the world.


2. Discuss IKEA’s global strategy in terms of the five global product and communications strategies.
Some aspects of IKEA’s products are consistent in all markets. For starters, its products are rooted in Swedish contemporary design. The classic, simple lines of IKEA design produce timeless products that few companies in any industry can match. For example, POANG—an upholstered chair based on a laminated, bentwood frame with only two front legs—was created in 1976 but remains one of the company’s best-selling lines today. The same holds true for the BILLY bookcase. In fact, most of IKEA’s best-selling products have been around for years. And that’s how IKEA intends customers to enjoy them—for years.. IKEA stores around the world also share a standard design. For starters, they are huge. At an average size of 300,000 square feet, they are about 50 percent larger than the average Walmart Supercenter. These large stores let IKEA achieve another aspect of its global brand concept—a one-stop home shopping experience that includes furniture, appliances, and household goods for every room. Although such massive size may be overwhelming to some consumers, IKEA’s stores are organized in three main sections. Its showrooms are set up in a series of rooms that not only show off each product, but also put the product in an actual room context, giving customers ideas for how they might use the product in their homes. The marketplace section contains the small items—verything from desk lamps to kitchen utensils—also organized by area of the home....One main thoroughfare weaves its way clockwise through the store from one area to the next, a design that encourages customers to see the store in its entirety. Parents can drop their children in the Smaland play area and the entire family can eat in the three-meal-a-day restaurant or the snack bar, making it easy to hang around and shop for hours...From this, it can be concluded that Ikea has made it easier for people to buy products and take them home. The assembled equipment is convenient to take home. Through this, he also lowered prices for people.


3. If IKEA can sell a sofa in China for $160, why doesn’t it sell the product at that low price in all of its markets?
For one thing, the average living space in China’s crowded cities is much smaller than in Europe and the United States. An average Chinese family lives in a small apartment in a high-rise building, often with multigenerational family members. So in China, IKEA focuses on products geared toward saving space and organizing a household. And it helps consumers figure out how to live smart and organize in small living spaces.
Second,Pricing in China is somewhat of a paradox. Chinese customers are attracted to IKEA’s design and the comprehensive selection, so that’s where IKEA puts its emphasis in tenns of positioning. But at the same time, in emerging markets like China, low prices are the norm, and IKEA must cut prices drastically to remain competitive. When it first opened its doors in China more than a decade ago, IKEA found that it was more expensive than local low-priced firms. Competitors began selling copies of IKEA’s designs at a fraction of the cost. Using its cost-cutting expertise, however, IKEA has brought prices in China down by more than 50 percent over the past 10 years. The classic Klippan sofa, for example, now costs only $160, a third of what it did a decade ago (the same sofa costs $470 in Sweden).
Another challenge in selling furniture in the world’s most populated country is that there are significant diferences across the country’s many regions. For example, in some regions, apartments have smaller rooms. Thus, IKEA designs showrooms in those area to reflect the smaller size..
Because This is houses in China are small and densely populated. IKEA has made the equipment compact and it has attracted the attention of the Chinese population. The reason for lowering prices was to maintain its position in the market. In his home country, however, there was no need to compact equipment AND the competition in the market did not require it.


4. Can competitors easily duplicate IKEA’s strategy? Why or why not?

Some of IKEA’s competitors could not easily replicate its strategy. Because it takes time to study the lives of people like them. It was very difficult for others, especially when dialing, weighing, transporting, and collecting were still working. But for some competitors, applying this strategy will help them find their place in the market. The reason is that they learn what the population needs and produce the product that they want.