IKEA’S Global Success

Introduction

IKEA’S global success is noted through its continuing growth with its iconic yellow and blue furniture outlets spanning the globe. These stores are now in countries such as China where governmental regulations might have restricted the company’s entry into the country (Binh & Hongyu, 2012). For any corporation to achieve successful international repute, its organizational structure needs to be complete at all levels which include global facilitation of senior management, regional or country levels whose industrial policies and procedures require compliance and for employees as the end-users of all company procedures and policies.

In order to achieve these goals, IHR management teams and staff must understand all components of regulatory, country-specific, structures in addition to IKEA’s corporate policies.

Dependent Structural Roles for IHR Management

One major issue for IHR management is detailed by Farndale, Scullion, and Sparrow (2010) in relation to seeking and retaining talented employees or global talent management (GTM). Under company guidelines, GTM for any IHR team requires that the most qualified workers are sought, employed, and retained ensuring organizational stability (Farndale et al.

, 2010). Thus, IHR management is dependent on all facets of the organization’s structure, regional policies regarding hiring of foreign nationals, and in the context of globalization ensuring that adequate “cross-functional integration is in place in order to provide the necessary co-ordination systems to support global integration” (Farndale et al., 2010, p. 163). IKEA’s global success demonstrates its incorporation of local and regional policies and procedures while not abnegating its own organizational structures (Ang, 2016). Regardless of the country in which IKEA is established, its HR department ensures that employees receive cultural training, understand corporate policies, and engages employees in various team building activities (Ang, 2016).

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Independent Structural Roles for IHR Management

Within the IHR mandate, IKEA built its success on the legal and domestic policies required by governments with whom IKEA works. One of its functions is to seek host country nationals (HCNs) with the necessary qualifications to fill positions at various levels (Farndale et al., 2010, p. 164). However, within these HCNs, IKEA also recruits “already acculturated expatriate talent” to fill specific positions (Farndale et al., 2010, p. 164). IKEA IHR team is responsible for complying with governmental regulations relating to expatriate working permits, visas, and language qualifications. These steps are specific to IKEA’s IHR accountability for company compliance to satisfy regional/country obligations.

Interdependent Structural Roles for IHR Management

IKEA’s IHR departments cannot act solely on one set of global policies and procedures. The various departments depend on understanding the specific guidelines within each country or region in which the company operates. But within this context, for instance, IKEA China’s management team argues that since IKEA “is a company with strong values…we wanted to have IKEA in China, not Chinese IKEA. We want to emphasize the Swedishness in the company.” (Binh & Hongyu, 2012, p. 38). Therefore, while IKEA’s management and corporate structure comply with China’s governmental regulations, the company’s overall values are transmitted through its HR team to its Chinese and expatriate workforce. IKEA’s global repute illustrates that the company’s executives, its IHR team and other directors, understand the efficacy of building success from within through its respect of local/regional regulations, and also through its importation of quality products and strong values-oriented organization.