Culture and Organisation Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words - 1

Culture and Organisation - Essay Example At the time, the company was generating revenue that amount to over 21.5 billion euros per year during which time it had the biggest market share in the UK (Wei & Zhou, 2007). Currently, IKEA operates around 301 stores in over 35 countries. Most of the stores are in Europe, Asia, North America, and Australia. This billion dollar company was founded in 1943 by Mr. Ingvar Kamprad (Edvardsson & Enquist, 2008). It is owned by Stichging INKGA group although the company is partly controlled by the founder’s family. INKGA group is a charitable foundation registered in the Netherlands. The company’s main competitors include Argos, Asda, Next, Debenhams, Tesco, and John Lewis (Moon, 2004). There exist many ways through which companies can gain a competitive advantage over other companies. With the current economic uncertainties in the market, it is critical that companies get to engage in activities that will ensure their continued success in the market. Since economies from different part of the world are failing, one thing to do to ensure that a business is not affected and can stand the test of turmoil is to spread risks. In other words, most companies are not putting their eggs in the same basket. This means they are promoting their brand through establishing stores in as many countries as possible. One of these companies, and one that this paper will be discussing in detail is IKEA. As put by Porter, sustainable competitive advantage is one of the most sought after things by companies today (Porter, 2008). It requires that a company ensures that its level of profits are maintained if at all the company aims to be sustainable. As stated by Christopher (2012), â€Å"the most profitable competitor in any industry sector tends to be the lowest-cost producer or the supplier providing a product with the greatest perceived differentiated values.† This is, however, affected by important factors such as culture as will be discussed below. The issue of communication is