IKEA CASE ANALYSIS

Marketing Analysis for IKEA Malaysia

Executive Summary

The business world of the modern day is ferociously competitive in nature. The success of a company depends upon its ability to outwit its competing firms. That's why the role of a company's management team is essential to its performance. A good organizational scheme ensures that the company enjoys considerable profit advantage over its rivals. This is achieved through competitive marketing strategies aimed at increasing the firm's market share for its existing, as well as, new products, and constant growth of its customer base. Every industry adopts a different and unique business strategy to pursue its mission and goals, and to survive and develop in the competitive, global markets. This paper is aimed at providing a critical analysis of the Marketing Strategy of IKEA, which is a major global brand in household furniture and accessories. The paper uses several tools for studying the organization with specific reference to its operations in Malaysia.

Table of Contents

Executive Summary2

1.Company Background (IKEA, Malaysia)4

1.1.Performance History4

1.2.Current Market Mix4

1.3.Current Markets5

1.4.Current Market Share5

2.Problem Statement: Strategic Marketing Plan to achieve 100% business growth (compared to previous years)5

2.1.SWOT Analysis5

2.2.PESTEL Analysis7

2.3.Porter's Five Forces Model9

2.4.Competitor analysis (any new entries compared to previous years)10

2.5.Customer analysis (new segmentation and target market, eg. entry of Generation-X)11

3.New Strategic Marketing Plan: To achieve 100% business growth11

3.1.Strengthening Competitive Position11

3.2.Market Orientation12

3.3.New Market Segmentation Strategy12

3.4.New Market Targeting Strategy12

3.5.New Market Positioning Strategy12

3.6.Changes to Current Marketing-Mix13

4.Decision-Making in a Complex Situation13

4.1.Production and Operations13

4.2.Finance13

4.3.HRM14

4.4.Other Business Issues14

5.Actions and Contingency Plan14

6.Conclusion14

References16

Marketing Analysis for IKEA Malaysia

Company Background (IKEA, Malaysia)

IKEA is one of the most popular global companies, dealing in home furnishings. The company was founded in the year 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden, and is the largest retailer of ready-to-assemble furniture in the world today. IKEA is privately owned, and is rated as one of the best organizations to work for because of its culture (Armitstead 2010, pp.5).

IKEA's greatest strength has been its ability to deliver value to the customer at low-prices. This has helped the company achieve a significant competitive advantage in the international market (www.ikea.com).

Performance History

As mentioned earlier, IKEA is the largest retailer of ready-to-assemble home furnishing products and accessories in the world. It serves one of the biggest clientele for any private firm in the world with over 400 million customers. IKEA's sales figures too are the highest in its respective industry. IKEA has, over the years, pursued a strategy that attempts to offer value to the customer through quality, speed, dependability and flexibility. This has greatly benefitted the company for achieving high performance targets (Stranieri 2008, pp.18).

Current Market Mix

IKEA has the widest range of home-furnishings product range that includes about 15,000 articles, and is the most extensive in terms of both number and style. The company has also diversified its product range through prefabricated housing and food products (Armitstead 2010, pp.5).

The company's strategy for its products is derived by low-pricing. This strategy allows IKEA to explore every available segment in the market.

The company takes immense pride in having one of the broadest global networks ...