Question

Hi,

I have research about IKEA Company and it's strategy and I need below information,

1. What type(s) of control of employees and production processes is/are used by IKEA?
2. How does IKEA manage the environmental risks?
3. Evaluate the competitive advantage of the corporation on its market. Suggest some recommendations for the managers of your selected company to improve this competitive advantage.?

Answer 1

Answer 1:- IKEA is a multinational organization that designs & sells customized furniture, kitchen appliances & home accessories as per the customer requirement. The company mainly produces furniture of all kinds & has certain departments which are responsible for efficient & effective management such as Human resources, Retail & Finance which are managed by Operations Management.

The control of employees & production process used by IKEA is explained below:-

• The HR Department here is accountable for the satisfaction of the employees & all the stakeholders of the company which results in customer satisfaction & control of the image in international markets.
• .Here IKEA uses operations management decisions very seriously from purchasing wood/fabric, hiring or training for workers/employees, planning/locating the layout of the factory which helps the company in producing affordable, functional & attractive furniture. Here the management takes every account of quality management, supply chain management, operations management, cost, capacity & lean management in controlling overall resources.
• The production process management used by this company is held in three-tier form as the primary - which focuses on making available raw materials at low cost, verifying the conditions of the market & also analyzing the supplier to check the quality overall. The secondary - here is the production of products that IKEA designs with lease resources involved with the best quality. The tertiary- here involves is supply chain management of products into IKEA retail stores which is made available to customers.
• IKEA uses several strategies to control the employees/customers as well as the production process in space as - Checking the facilities that are offered to customers, -Inventory management strategies helped IKEA in growing its business, -IKEA used to do it to yourself assembly method which helps the company in reducing the cost in packaging & management, -IKEA schedules operational strategies well which aligns business & operating model effectively.
• Here the employees are controlled in total involvement in the company by giving them the chance to empower & promote accordingly with thier work, the lean management helped IKEA in increasing the morale of the employees thereby productivity in overall management.

Answer 2:- IKEA manage the environmental risks by following ways:-

• IKEA uses lean management in making environmentally friendly products in which the technique is used to eliminate the wasteful activities involved in the process of production.
• The new environmental policies which are imposed by the government at global suggest the products should be eco-friendly with this motive IKEA adopts the lean production strategy to control the environment by reducing the waste & negative effects on the industry.
• Here this strategy uses the raw materials which are recyclable, reusable & reducible based on renewable resources that don't harm the environment.

Answer 3:- The competitive advantage is the strategy which is adopted by the companies in recent days which is to outperform the competitors in the market. Here the competitive advantage of the corporation on its market gets affected in the following means:-

• This affects the company in controlling the competitors in the market by focusing on its competitive prices.
• Here it helps in achieving the more customers & market share in the market.
• The competitive advantage shows the uniqueness of the company with brand loyalty that of the competitors to face the competition in the market.

- Follwing are some recommendations for the managers to the company I choose is IKEA to improve this competitive advantage:-

• The company as IKEA must be clear on what benefits thier product or service provided by offering value & generating interest against the competitors as pepper fry or so.
• IKEA as company must establish the target market as who is purchasing from them & how to cater to thier needs that of competitors.
• Here it's very important for IKEA to assess the competitor's landscape by analyzing the market environment to be the survival of the fittest.
• The company can choose any of the strategies as cost leadership to be the lowest-cost producer, differentiation strategy to make it unique that of competitors in innovating & Focus strategy towards the narrow target market as cost focus or differentiated focus to make its products more reliable than that of competitors.
• Another recommendation to the company is to assess the natural resources that are restricted to competitors, encourage highly skilled labor/workforce, accessing to new proprietary technologies & make brand image recognition with innovative ideas to curb the competition.