Richest man

Chapter 4 Europe: Ingvar Kamprad (2)
In 1976, Kamprad put all the IKEA values ​​he advocated into one - this is what he created the IKEA "bible" - "a furnisher's pledge".In this most conclusive paper, he listed nine principles for IKEA, the core of which is the concept of "the company is the home, and the home is the company" he advocated.Adhering to this spirit, IKEA regards "creating a better life for ordinary people every day" as the company's highest goal. Under such a goal, IKEA helps each other, is loyal to each other, unites as one, and lives simply.

"IKEA is home" - this kind of simple language is often the most cohesive, it is far more intimate and more indestructible than those corporate spirits with gorgeous rhetoric and ambitious goals.Those employees who first entered IKEA were integrated into this kind of family-like intimate relationship with Kamprad, and this value was continuously transmitted to every new person who joined IKEA.

A booklet with more prints than the Bible
Among the many experiences of IKEA, people think that the easiest to imitate is its catalog culture.

All over the world, IKEA will produce a batch of catalogs with the commodity situation of the year on time every year.These beautifully made booklets have actually become an important communication medium for the IKEA spirit, because they are not only marked with attractive low prices and product descriptions, but also convey an IKEA life philosophy.

IKEA's approach is to classify and combine different products in the showroom to form imaginative model houses, and then copy these model houses to the catalog as they are, and it becomes a guide to guide consumption habits. The fashion home "magazine".Kamprad believes that when people see such a catalog, it doesn’t matter much even if they don’t come to IKEA to buy furniture, because such a catalog not only has a direct role in consumption, but also spreads a kind of IKEA brand. Thinking concepts, and indirectly promoting the IKEA brand, in the long run, this way has a greater impact on consumers than selling a product directly.

IKEA's way of spreading benefits from Kamprad's experience accumulated in his early mail order sales.At that time, he had to ride a bicycle from door to door to introduce products to his neighbors every day. Later, when his business developed enough, it was impossible for him to recommend products one by one, so he thought of using a notebook to record products, and then let consumers Choose the product according to the introduction in the notebook.He was surprised to find that such a method can also reach a perfect deal.So when he flexibly applied his childhood discovery to IKEA, he created such a catalog culture.

Today, IKEA's beautifully printed free catalog is very popular among consumers. In China alone, more than 200 million copies are distributed a year, and in the world, the number is even hundreds of millions.Someone once vividly said: In Europe where Christianity is common, the publication with the largest circulation is no longer the Bible, but the IKEA product catalogue.

This experience of IKEA has also been successfully used by many companies today.Because people have found that the effect of advertising communication in this way is nearly 100%, which is not available in many modern media. For example, in TV advertising, only half of your advertising expenditure may be effective, and you Never know which half it is.But IKEA's catalog is different, it directly faces a special consumer group.Using this method for communication, although the one-time investment will increase, each branch is effective, and it is also worth the money from the perspective of long-term advertising effects.

"Worthwhile low price"

Like many business tycoons, Kamprad showed his God-given business talent at an early age.When he first started selling products, he discovered that buying in batches and selling them in pieces can make huge profits even at very cheap prices.This awareness helped him a lot at the beginning: his high-value and low-priced matches are often the most favored by neighbors; and now looking at IKEA's business model, it is also obvious that Kamprad has a consistent sense of business.

Perhaps from a certain point of view, all commercial activities follow such laws, but a child who is just sensible can see this essence. Kamprad seems to have a natural talent for grasping the relationship between commodity value and price.He knew from an early age that customers always like high-value, low-price products.So, when he grew up, when he finally owned his own company, a question kept circling in his mind: "Why do poor people have to endure ugly things? Is it true that beautiful things must be so expensive that only the upper class can buy them?" Can you afford it?" Therefore, he positioned his company's goal as: "A good furniture product at a price that the middle class who is not too deflated but not too bulging not only likes but also can afford." For To achieve this goal, IKEA has launched a series of unique cost controls at all levels of the product.

It should be said that in the wave of globalization of the retail industry, Wal-Mart in the United States is regarded as the most outstanding cost control expert. It controls the cost of all links in the commodity circulation channel, so that its commodities can be cheaper than competitors. , still have higher profits.IKEA's cost control is similar to that of Wal-Mart, but it maintains its own IKEA characteristics.

IKEA implements its own brand strategy. All products are custom-made by IKEA patented OEM. It must independently bear all the risks in the product circulation process. This is the biggest difference between IKEA and Wal-Mart, Carrefour and other retail giants.Therefore, pricing has always been at the top of the IKEA value chain process.IKEA's pricing mechanism is "design the price tag first, then order the product". The advantage of this is to ensure that the price of the product is the most conducive to sales.

In the product development stage, IKEA can also combine low cost and high efficiency. Its design concept is "the product with the same price depends on who has the lowest design cost".Therefore, IKEA's world-class designers often go to war for "whether a screw is used less or an iron rod can be used more economically".This operation can not only reduce costs, but also often inspire some outstanding ideas, because "simplicity" is always the aesthetic taste pursued by IKEA.

Today, IKEA conducts business in 37 countries on five continents, and has more than 1800 suppliers who have supply relationships with them, which also creates conditions for IKEA to create more thrifty economies of scale.Under normal circumstances, IKEA will take its own final design and look for suppliers with the most suitable raw materials around the world, and those with the lowest price will get the order, so suppliers with low labor costs will appear in IKEA's directory in large numbers , including China.

In order to pursue the goal of "valuable low price" to the highest extent, IKEA has been adopting the procurement method of allowing customers to assemble by themselves since its inception.It is said that this characteristic of IKEA is also the business experience that Kamprad learned when he was young.At that time, he had just entered Gothenburg Business School to study. When he was out shopping, he walked into a shoe store in Gothenburg, and he saw at a glance that the way they sold goods was too old-fashioned.The cardboard boxes on the shelves have been piled up to the ceiling, and you have to climb a ladder to get the shoes, and the shop assistants have to keep going up and down, busy among the various shoes... This is definitely not a wise move, it takes effort and wastes time.Inspired by this incident, Kamprad set a rule for IKEA in the future, which eventually became one of the secrets of IKEA: all goods must be placed on shelves for customers to pick up, and all furniture should be packed flat , for transportation.More importantly, this treatment also greatly facilitates the transportation of goods by suppliers and reduces transportation costs: they no longer have to worry about the huge space of furniture, and customers will be the best assemblers.

direction of home
Relying on its unique mode of operation, IKEA has won many loyal consumers in the course of decades of development. In 2003, more than 3 million customers visited IKEA stores around the world, and the annual sales of IKEA Group exceeded 130 billion US dollars.

In the face of outstanding performance, Kamprad maintained his usual low-key and frugal style. Perhaps in his eyes, wealth is just a change in numbers, and his life will always belong to life itself.So when he lives in Switzerland, he still likes to drive an old-fashioned Volvo car through the Swiss countryside; sometimes he will take public transportation and go to the market to buy some cheap vegetables and fruits-the world can’t be seen in him The shadow of the richest man, but more like a neighbor's grandfather.

But this old man who lacks a glamorous appearance has a far-sighted vision. He uses his wisdom to draw a blueprint for the continued development of IKEA's future.As early as the early 20s, Kamprad began to prepare for his death. For him, the excessive inheritance tax in Sweden, three children who were too young to support the development of the enterprise, and support for future development The shortage of funds and the resistance of domestic counterparts all gave him the idea of ​​emigration.

He first came to Denmark, and after four years in Denmark, he decided to move the IKEA headquarters to the Netherlands, and finally, in 1982, he donated the business to the Dutch Steiting Ingka Foundation - what he did Everything is to try to keep IKEA an independent and complete structure, so that it can develop according to its own route.After completing these tasks, Kamprad himself immigrated to a small village at an altitude of 700 feet near Lausanne, Switzerland, and lived a leisurely life in semi-retirement.Although IKEA is still Swedish on its birth certificate, in fact, it is no longer just Swedish, and all this was painstakingly planned by Kamprad.

However, before he can really retire (and maybe he won't ever really retire, his most famous line is: "My life is work, endless work.") He still needs to complete one last thing, that It is to solve the succession problem that all family businesses will encounter.

Kamprad has three sons by his second wife, Peter Kamprad, Jonas Kamprad and Matthews Kamprad.Now at an advanced age, he handed over the reins of the company to them.Kamprad's approach: Divide the company's assets into thirds and set limits on what the sons can do to change the company, ensuring that no one can shake the company's roots.At the same time, he also examined the performance of each son to finally determine who would become the final heir.

According to Kamprad's wishes, his eldest son, 38-year-old Peter, took the post of chairman of the Netherlands branch, the birthplace of IKEA, which is the core power of the IKEA Group; the second son, 35-year-old Jonas, is in charge of the entire The group's large-scale product production; as for the youngest son - 33-year-old Matthews, Kamprad has hinted that he may take over the current IKEA chairman Andas Moberg's class.But until the final result comes out, this can only be a tantalizing puzzle!

annex
A Furnisher's Oath

In 1976, Kamprad, who was [-] years old at the time, decided to make a summary of his half-century career, especially his experience at IKEA in the past ten years, so that he had enough experience to submit an excellent answer.After careful consideration, he decided to use "A Pledge of a Furniture Dealer" as the title of this thesis, in which he systematically classified and summarized IKEA's successful experience, and finally concluded nine principles.These nine items are the essence of IKEA's survival philosophy and the foundation of IKEA's spirit.A summary is as follows:
The first product series

Our goal is to provide the most people with affordable, functional, beautiful and affordable everyday household items.

The second IKEA spirit

The true IKEA spirit is made up of our passion, our constant innovation, our cost awareness, our responsibility and willingness to help others, our dedication to work, and our simplicity of conduct.

Article [-] Profit Creation Power

"Profit is a good word" - IKEA earns its profit by low prices, high quality, developing economical products, increasing purchases and saving costs.

Article [-]: Start small
Waste is crime.

Rule [-] Simplicity is a virtue

Complicated regulations can easily make people feel at a loss. Unrealistic and grand plans are often the prelude to the company's bankruptcy. Simple and casual can give people strength. IKEA never drives fancy cars and doesn't live in luxury hotels.

Article [-] Be different

IKEA has gone its own way, letting shirt factories make chair cushions, door and window makers making table frames, and charging up the price of umbrellas when it’s sunny and discounting them when it’s raining.

Article [-] Demonstrates the power of development
You can't do everything right in every place at once.

ARTICLE [-] Taking Responsibility - A Privilege

The fear of making mistakes is the cradle of bureaucracy and is detrimental to any process.Make full use of your powers and responsibilities and make decisions.

Title IX has a lot to do and the future looks bright

Let's maintain a team of motivated people who make the impossible possible.

Everyone is equal before the law, but this man (referring to himself) deserves more equality than others, because more than 50% of Italians give him the right to rule and manage the country well.

(End of this chapter)