IKEA in Charlotte???

Yes, you heard it here first. IKEA is coming to Charlotte! They will be opening a 345,000 square foot store in the University area...due to open in 2009. Read the article from the Charlotte Observer. What a great time to be studying IKEA and their international operations!

IKEA

According to its website:

"The IKEA business idea is to offer a wide range of home furnishings with good design and function at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. And still have money left!"

We will explore IKEA in much more detail as the summer goes on, but here is a brief introduction of the company to "whet your palate":

• Founded in 1943 in Sweden by Ingvar Kamprad
  
• Originally sold pens, wallets, picture frames, watches, jewelry, etc.
  
• Introduced furniture in 1947
  
• Opened first international store in 1963 in Norway
  
• Opened first U.S. store in 1985

"At first, we weren't sure USA needed IKEA. After all, what could we bring to the country that has everything?" (foreshadowing?)

Today's stats (2006 facts and figures):

• Over 100,000 employees in 44 countries
• 237 IKEA stores in 34 countries/territories (August 2006)
• 458 million visitors worlwide to IKEA stores in 2006

Course Introduction

This blog has been set up for an MBA summer class in global strategy at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. As a continuation of MBAD 6194 (Management Policy), I will explore the very significant and growing issue of global strategy. By using the Swedish furniture company IKEA as a case study, I will see how businesses move into foreign markets (both successfully and not so successfully) and which global strategies are best to utilize in which situations. In addition, since we often study how American firms enter foreign countries, I believe it will be very interesting to see globalization from a foreign firm’s perspective.

The majority of this study will focus on the following two books:

1) Global Business Today by Charles W.L. Hill

and

2) Great IKEA! A Brand for All the People by Elen Lewis

I have not actually obtained a copy of Great IKEA! yet since it takes 4-6 weeks to ship from Amazon; however, I have already contacted the author and she has graciously offered to send me a copy that should arrive before the one I ordered.

In addition to these two books, I will collect as much information as possible regarding IKEA and its global strategy from the Internet and other publications. I will also attempt to interview some members of IKEA's corporate team and Great IKEA!'s author Elen Lewis.