General guidelines students should consider when completing the IKEA Capstone assessment:
• IKEA’s corporate-level strategy and its general environment in India;
• the Indian customer base and their demands of its products;
• the regulatory and political landscape in the Indian furniture market;
• the desire of IKEA to enter the Indian market and the capacity it has to achieve its business objectives;
• the balance between recommendations to address strategic challenges faced in achieving desired outcomes – what are the immediate priorities (i.e. the “have to do” vs the “nice to do”)
Students who are able to effectively prioritise responses to issues, communicate a realistic approach to resolving the specific strategic management challenges and formulate effective, theory-based argument will be achieve higher grades.
Context specific responses are required. Students providing resolutions to issues with no theoretical support or fail to recognise and respect the case context will achieve lower grades.
It is highly recommended that full advantage be made of weekly case discussions/presentations to achieve a holistic view of strategic management principles and practices. Reflection on and critique of early assumptions is encouraged.
The Capstone IKEA case is developed to demonstrate the importance of the general environment, international corporate-level strategy and type of entry. The following questions are designed to encapsulate these important concepts.
1. Review IKEA’s general environment “segments and elements” in India. What are the segments in the general environment that relate to IKEA’s situation?
2. Describe IKEA’s intended international corporate-level strategy in India. Is it different from other countries? Explain.
3. What is IKEA’s choice of international entry mode? What are the advantages and disadvantages compared to other international entry modes?
4. Identify IKEA’s challenges in India. Based on your analysis, what additional recommendations would you make to help IKEA achieve its goals in India?
5. A 250 words Executive Summary page is required. The Executive Summary will not be counted as part of the overall word limit.