Abstract

The caselet, IKEA: Taking the Customization Route, deals with the challenges faced by IKEA, a furniture retailer, while entering into a number of markets around the globe. IKEA had strong reservations in customizing its product offerings to suit the tastes of local markets. The company initially refused to make major changes in its products when it entered the US market. However, when it faced consumer indifference, it decided to customize some of its offerings to suit the needs of the US market. The caselet also gives inputs on how IKEA operated in other markets.

Learning Objectives

The case is structured to achieve the following Learning Objectives:

• How an organization tries to maintain a balance between standardization and customization of its product offerings. The challenges faced by a company while getting into a new market. The ways in which a company customizes its offerings to attract the targ

Keywords

IKEA, Scandinavian culture, Log sawing ceremony, Kurs, Volvo, Swedish breakfast, Goran Carstedt, Anders Moberg, self-service and self-assembly