TABLE OF CONTENTS IKEA as the route to nirvana, people believing they'll find spiritual freedom through home furnishings.
Actor Edward Norton [1]
What is the secret to IKEA's success such that it captures the imagination of people in thirty-one countries over five continents? Why is IKEA's annual catalogue, with 110 million copies published in 34 languages, one of the world's biggest press runs? What makes IKEA tick? To answer these questions, its origins must be traced.
[1]Quote taken from Life!, 16 April 2002.
IKEA is the acronym for Ingvar, Kamprad, Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd. Ingvar Kamprad is the founder of IKEA, Elmtaryd was his farmhouse and Agunnaryd is his home county in Sm land, Sweden. Perhaps due to influence from his maternal grandfather, who had owned a very successful local store, Kamprad started doing business from a very tender age. One of his first business deals started when he bought one hundred boxes of matches at eighty-eight re and sold them between two and five re each. Kamprad was an enterprising boy who sold Christmas cards, fish he caught himself and even garden seeds. He sold whatever he thought there was a demand for and from which money could be made. As his father constantly lamented the lack of money to fulfil his many plans, Kamprad decided to start his own firm to help resolve his father's cash-flow problems. Kamprad was only seventeen when Ik a Agunnaryd was founded in 1943.
Ik a Agunnaryd initially sold pens, cigarette lighters and whatever Kamprad...
