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Read the article to check your answers to Exercise A.
The bolt that holds the Ikea empire together
Ingvar Kamprad is no ordinary multi-billionaire. The founder of the Ikea furniture empire travels 5 economy class, drives a 10- year-old Volvo and buys his fruit and vegetables in the afternoons, when prices are often cheaper. Ask him Ю about the luxuries in his life and he says: 'From time to time, I like to buy a nice shirt and cravat and eat Swedish caviar'. 15 Mr Kamprad is one of Europe's greatest post-war entrepreneurs. What began as a mail-order business in 1943 has grown into 20 an international retailing phenomenon across 31 countries, with 70,000 employees.
Sales have risen every 25 single year. The Ikea catalogue is the world's biggest annual print run - an incredible 110m copies a year. And Mr Kamprad 30 has grown extraordinarily rich. He is worth $13.4bn (£8.7bn) and is the 17th richest person in the world, according to Forbes, the 35 US magazine.
The concept behind Ikea's amazing success is unbelievably simple: make affordable, well-designed 40 furniture available to the masses. And then there is Mr Kamprad himself
- charismatic, humble, private. It is his ideas and 45 values that are at the core of Ikea's philosophy.
Best known for his extremely modest lifestyle, he washes plastic cups to 50 recycle them. He has just left his long-standing Swedish barber because he found one in Switzerland, where he lives, who 55 charges only SFrl4 (£6) for a cut. 'That's a reasonable amount,' he chuckles.
All Ikea executives are aware of the value of cost- 60 consciousness. They are strongly discouraged from travelling first or business class. 'There is no better form of leadership than 65 setting a good example. I could never accept that I should travel first class while my colleagues sit in tourist class,' Mr Kamprad 70 says.
| By Christopher Brown Humes |
As he walks around the group's stores, he
expresses the feeling of 'togetherness' physically, 75 clasping and hugging his employees. This is very uncharacteristic of Sweden. 'Call me Ingvar,' he says to staff. The informality and 80 lack of hierarchy are emphasised by his dress style, with an open-necked shirt preferred to a tie.
Mr Kamprad has had 85 both personal and business battles. He has fought against dyslexia and illness.
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One of Mr Kamprad's 90 characteristics is his obsessive attention to detail. When he visits his stores, he talks not only to the managers but also to 95 floor staff and customers. A recent visit to six of the group's Swedish stores has produced '100 details to discuss', he says. 100 By his own reckoning, his greatest strength is choosing the right people
to run his businesses.
He is determined that 105 the group will not go public, because short-term shareholder demands conflict with long-term planning. 'I hate short- no termist decisions. If you want to take long-lasting decisions, it's very difficult to be on the stock exchange. When entering 115 the Russian market, we had to decide to lose money for 10 years.'
Mr Kamprad has been slowly withdrawing from 120 the business since 1986, when he stepped down as group president. He maintains that he is still 'too much involved and in 125 too many details', although he admits to a distinct reluctance to withdraw altogether.
The question is: can 130 there be an eternal Ikea without Mr Kamprad? Does the group depend too much on its founder? Will the empire continue, as 135 control of Ikea gradually moves to Mr Kamprad's three sons?
From the Financial Times
FINANCIAL TIMES