Operations Management: Ikea

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2011 in the subject Business economics - Business Management, Corporate Governance, grade: 70%, University of Sunderland, language: English, abstract: IKEA is the most successful furniture retailer in the world. The product line consists of welldesigned furniture at low prices. During 2010 global sales as reported were 23.1 € billion.However, the success of IKEA was not achieved overnight; it took a long time and careful planning in order to offer well-designed products at low prices. IKEA designed processes and products, which meet exactly the needs of the customer. According to Slack (2010) operations management is about how organisations produce goods and services. Organisation must align their processes in a way that the needs of the customers are satisfied. This requires careful planning and can, if successful, lead to a competitive advantage. The report will show how IKEA' operations management has made IKEA to one of the most successful furniture retailer in the world. The report is divided into four parts. The first part will analyse the current situation of IKEA regarding the company profile, profitability, culture, goals, etc. The second part will identify the main customer groups of IKEA. Based on the customer needs, the corporate performance objectives of IKEA will be presented. The third part will identify the process type of IKEA and evaluates how this type meets the corporate performance objectives of IKEA. At the end, recommendations for IKEA will be provided and a conclusion is drawn.