Business Strategy and CSR: IKEA Report and Analysis

This report provides an in-depth analysis of IKEA's business strategy, focusing on sustainable approaches to business management and Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR). The report begins with an introduction to IKEA, outlining its global presence and product offerings. The main body delves into sustainable business strategies, emphasizing trust relationships, setting sustainable development policies, and designing implementation plans. It also examines responsible production, shared value creation, and the importance of business profitability and development goals. The report then explores various CSR approaches in micro, SME, and corporate businesses, highlighting the differences and similarities in their implementation. The analysis includes examples from IKEA and other companies to illustrate the concepts. The report concludes with a summary of the findings and references used throughout the study.

Individual report and
reflection

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................1
Main Body.......................................................................................................................................1
Summary of the assignment brief and task.............................................................................1
Discuss sustainable approaches to business strategy and management.................................1
Examine various approaches to CSR of Micro, SME and cooperate business......................4
CONCLUSION ...............................................................................................................................6
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
Human Resource management is the procedure of hiring, recruiting, motivating,
deploying and managing all issues and grievances associated with staff members (Asad and
Haider, 2018). They are accountable to tackle human assets and work culture in effective
manner. IKEA is selected for the completion of the report. It is a European international
company which design and sell kitchen accessories and appliances. This leading firm
headquarter is in Leiden, Netherlands and was founded in the year 1943 by Almhult, Sweden.
Organization is serving it's goods and services of worldwide. Some of the products offered by
this successful company are, food products, ready to assemble furniture and home-ware. This
assignment covers sustainable approach to business strategy and management. Additionally,
distinguish approaches to CSR on micro, SME and corporate business are studied. Along with
this , if the approaches differ from one other justification is provided. On the other hand if yes
process or ways are stated how to measure success in their CSR strategies.
Main Body
Summary of the assignment brief and task
IKEA is a leading company dealing in kitchen appliances and are serving the goods and
services across the globe. Sustainability approaches are discussed so that productive results can
be attained in the competitive market place. By effectively using sustainability approaches in the
working premises company are able to gain competitive advantages against rivalry.
Sustainability approaches to business strategy and management directly assist in maximizing
their opportunities and cut down negative impact which business operations have on
environment. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) approaches are used in micro, SME and
corporate business in order to better understand their influence in each sector. By this
management is able to design unique strategies in order to overcome the challenges of CSR on
business day to day operation. Every organization varies from one other so that influence of CSR
approaches also differentiate from micro, corporate business and SME (Crane and Spence,
2019). Along with this, how to measure success in their CSR strategies are explained briefly.
Discuss sustainable approaches to business strategy and management
Sustainability is explained as meeting the needs of the current without compromising the
ability of of up-coming generation to meet their needs. It helps in IKEA to take better decisions
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in terms of year instead of next quarter's earning. In the cut throat competitive world
sustainability in important in business as it leads to greater long term profitability, corporate
culture and more reliable products. Below are few points illustrated for managing sustainable
approaches to business strategy and management which are as follows:
Trust relationship: In this case, intangible faith and believe is build in the mind of the
customers and person is willing to rely on the action of the another party (Stoian and Gilman,
2017). In order to operate the day to day business of IKEA in ethical manner trust relationship
need to be build among stakeholders (employees, owners, directors and so on). This is because
they are the main reason who increases the attainability in the competitive market place.
Moreover, relationship of trust is build with them when there is total clarity and transparency.
The set goals and objectives can be attained smoothly because they are fostering by continual
talking. Example: The management of IKEA is inventing all the staff members who are working
in the premises at the time of taking decision as well as they view are given priority. By this
trust and faith is build for company in the mind of the co-worker (Das and Rangarajan, 2017).
By this act employees are pushed effectively in order to meet the set goals and objectives so as to
attain the growth and sustainability development of the firm.
Set sustainable development policies and objectives: In order to sustain for loner time
duration organization wants it's staff members to follow sustainable development as well as set
benchmark for operating performance. However in order to achieve sustainability competitive
advantages and to perform the day to day functions in ethical manner it is very essential to set
sustainable development policies and objectives. In IKEA top level management is accountable
to designing sustainability development related rules and regulations. By this employees are
motivated to contribute to sustainability so that competitive advantages against rivalry can be
gained easily which is a positive mark for the business in the global market. Example: IKEA has
joined with many international companies who are taking steps in order to make their business
operations more eco-friendly. By this step businesses are function in ethical and sustainable way.
Additionally, by setting sustainable development policies and objectives business which is
dealing in kitchen appliances and accessories are able to retain in the market for longer time
duration (Rasche and Moon, 2017).
Design and execute an implementation Plan: Business can grow and develop in the
international market when proper sustainability plan has been designed by the organization in the
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cut throat competitive world. By scanning the market IKEA need to design the sustainability
plan so that environment can be saved from depletion. By this act business can grow and develop
smoothly in the international market. In order to perform the daily business operations in ethical
manner it is very essential to translate sustainable development policies into operational terms as
it affect the business operation to a large extent. Example: IKEA sustainability strategy people
and planet was launched in 2012. It was designed to transform IKEA business to value chain
and life at ho,me for people all across the globe.
Responsible production: In the global market it is refers to as production and
consumption of product and services which covers minimisation of ecological footprint. By this
business associates it able to attain sustainable and economical development to a large extent.
Whereas, responsible production is associated with creation of goods and services which
requisites sustainable expansion (Del Baldo, 2017). This uses those process and systems which
are pollution free and exploit natural vegetation very less and save resources for future
generation. IKEA is taking steps to use the less resources less and to do better with them as
compare to rivalry. By this a positive step has been taken by organization towards welfare of the
environment as it helps in pollution rate and deforestation ratio. Example: As IKEA is dealing in
kitchen appliances and accessories as well as food products, ready to assemble furniture and
home-ware
Shared Value: To gain competitive advantages against competitors business need to
create share values for sustainability of businesses. By this stakeholders can be integrated in an
organization. IKEA execute best communication strategies in order to convey relevant
information of sustainable activities. However, for integrating the sustainable development aims
and objectives organization examine corporate social responsibility because it raises
sustainability in competitive market place (Puppim de Oliveira and Jabbour, 2017) Example:
IKEA have shared values and frame strategies to club both employer and employees jointly so as
to gain huge profit so as to gain productive outcomes in the cut throat competitive world.
Business profitability: Profit is stated as organization's capability and ability to generate
huge revenue by selling firm's product and services in the global market. There are many
external factors in the dynamic environment who are affecting the profitability level of the
company. These factor impact overheads, production unit , cost of product due to which overall
productivity of the business decreases tremendously. In the competitive market place sustainable
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businesses have less negative impact on community and economic (Idowu and Burlea, 2017).
IKEA who is successfully selling kitchen appliances and accessories tend to be more oriented
towards decision of innovation concept as well as focus on adequate range of solutions so as to
uplift the volume of profitability. Example: Business can grow and flourish in the intense
competitive market place when IKEA will generate huge profit in order to attain sustainable
market growth and development.
However, there are various other strategies which can be implemented by IKEA in their
working premises so as to run the business more effectively and ethically. Below are explained
some of them which are as follows:
Development goals: To promote the sustainability development in an organization set of
realistic standards is must as it assure high living standards of people. IKEA which is a leading
company among it's competitors take commitment towards contributing to environment creation
which provides numerous opportunities as well as serve better living to all people. Business
operate according to their set goals and objectives which directly or indirectly running the
business ethically and sustainability. Examples: To compete with rivalry it is essential to create
developmental goals and objectives so that strong position can be build in the market place. It
can be done by capturing new opportunities prevailing in the open market place as well as by
taking benefits of sustainable development (Jain and Jamali, 2017).
Employee development: Organization can reduce the employees turn out ratio when
they will focus more on employee development. By providing proper training skills and
knowledge of the staff members can be improved greatly. By this sustainable advantages can be
gained in the international market. IKEA is concentrating more on tactics of sustainability which
are, minimise workers turnover, effective compensation, provide opportunities and many more.
More skilled and capable employees in the premises creates strong base of workers which
indirectly leads to longer duration retention . By this effective management of businesses are
created.
Examine various approaches to CSR of Micro, SME and cooperate business.
CSR is a model which assist organization to be socially responsible to it's stakeholders
and the general public. It is very essential to perform CSR activities in order to survive and
sustain for longer time duration in the global market. Management need to frame various
strategies so that CSR activities can be performed smoothly.
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Micro organisation: The main motive of this type of business in the global market is to
earn huge revenue by selling their designed product and services worldwide (Jamali and Karam,
2018). Micro organization has less or no responsibility towards society development because
they are in the initial stage. But despite of this this type of company need corporate social
responsibility approach. By this management of the micro firm will be clear what they need to do
as per the legal norms for the society or community development. Lily Vanilli Bakery is the best
example of micro organization who need to follow economic approach. It is because this
organization waste resources a lot. In order to sustain and survive in the global market top level
management need to conduct their business activity according to the available resources in
effective manner.
SME Firm: As compare to micro organization this type of company conduct business
activity at much higher scale. In the global market the main motive of SME firm is to maximize
huge revenue. However, this type of organization is provide all necessary benefits to their
stakeholders so as to sustain in the market. SME firm look for stakeholders approaches in which
management work according to the requirements of the stakeholders (León and Afcha, 2018).
The best example of SMEW firm is Knitwear in this company has to follow stakeholder
approach to CSR. If in any condition organization is unable to take steps according to the
requirement of the business then they need to face many issues in different stages.
Corporate businesses: It is a legal form of business which states that company has
owner with separate legal entity. All the day to day business operations are controlled by
members of the firm. On the other hand profit are measured by contribution of shares in a
company. Some of the social responsibilities like, environmental safety, poverty reduction on
national level , safeguarding women rights and many more organization need to focus on this
social responsibility on priority level. There are many social responsible approaches that mainly
work towards holding back consumers which helps business for long term growth and
sustainability in the international market. However, this type of businesses adopts environmental
and societal approaches as they want to be in the leading position over the years. By
implementing this approaches effectively high level of profitability and productivity is gained
easily.
The CSR approaches used in Micro,SME and corporate businesses differs from one other
because every organization has their own business structure and working style. Economic
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approach is used by micro business because it is conducting the activities as per the availability
of resources (Lins and Tamayo, 2017). By this companies activities are carried for legally due
to which more loyal customer base is created in short time duration. However, Stakeholders
approach is adopted by SME firm for the Corporate Social Responsibilities activities. This is
because it focuses on needs of the stakeholders. On the hand societal and environmental
approaches are executed by corporate businesses as they helps in capturing in market ratio.
Different firm implement various approaches for social responsibilities so as to attain benefits of
market success.
In order to measure success of business there are numerous ways like, cost saving, gaining
valuable outcomes, new customers etc. Through market success business is able to use corporate
social responsibility activity because it provides long term sustainability in the global market. To
determine the success rate of CSR approaches firm viewed their outcomes in many ways like,
income, selling, minimise wastages and many more by this company is made successful (Louche
and Idowu, 2017).
CONCLUSION
From the above discussion the relevant conclusion is that business can grow in the global
market when they work on sustainability. In order to accomplish sustainable growth in the
intense market place organization need to design distinguish tactics and approaches.
Developmental goals, shared values, trustworthy relations, profitability and many more are
involved in sustainable approaches. This all has helped organization to remain in the leading
position over the years in the global market. To survive in the global market numerous Corporate
Social Responsibility (CSR) activities or approaches are also implemented in the the company in
order to measure the success rate of business. Along, with this the strategies adopted in SME,
corporate business and micro varied from one other because the business structure differs fro one
other.
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REFERENCES
Books and journals
Asad, M. and Haider, S. H., 2018. Corporate Social Responsibility, Business Ethics, and Labor
Laws: A Qualitative Study on SMEs in Sialkot. Journal of Legal, Ethical and
Regulatory Issues.
Crane, A., Matten, D. and Spence, L. eds., 2019. Corporate social responsibility: Readings and
cases in a global context. Routledge.
Das, M. and Rangarajan, K., 2017, July. Corporate sustainability as a business strategy in SMEs-
A literature review in the emerging market context. In Proceedings of International
Conference on Strategies in Volatile and Uncertain Environment for Emerging
Markets (pp. 505-511).
Del Baldo, M., 2017. Corporate Social Responsibility, Shared Territorial Governance and Social
Innovation: Some Exemplary Italian Paths. In Dimensional Corporate Governance (pp.
103-120). Springer, Cham.
Idowu, S. O., Vertigans, S. and Burlea, A.S. eds., 2017. Corporate social responsibility in times
of crisis: Practices and cases from Europe, Africa and the world. Springer.
Jain, T. and Jamali, D., 2017. Strategic approaches to corporate social responsibility: A
comparative study of India and the Arab world. In Development-Oriented Corporate
Social Responsibility: Volume 2 (pp. 71-90). Routledge.
Jamali, D. and Karam, C., 2018. Corporate social responsibility in developing countries as an
emerging field of study. International Journal of Management Reviews. 20(1). pp.32-
61.
León, G. and Afcha, S., 2018. Incidence of Stakeholders in the corporate social responsibility of
micro, small and medium-sized enterprises of Santa Marta. Cuadernos de
Administración (Universidad del Valle). 34(62). pp.3-19.
Lins, K. V., Servaes, H. and Tamayo, A., 2017. Social capital, trust, and firm performance: The
value of corporate social responsibility during the financial crisis. The Journal of
Finance. 72(4). pp.1785-1824.
Louche, C. and Idowu, S., 2017. Innovative CSR: From risk management to value creation.
Routledge.
Puppim de Oliveira, J. A. and Jabbour, C. J. C., 2017. Environmental management, climate
change, CSR, and governance in clusters of small firms in developing countries: toward
an integrated analytical framework. Business & Society. 56(1). pp.130-151.
Rasche, A., Morsing, M. and Moon, J. eds., 2017. Corporate social responsibility: Strategy,
communication, governance. Cambridge University Press.
Stoian, C. and Gilman, M., 2017. Corporate social responsibility that “pays”: A strategic
approach to CSR for SMEs. Journal of Small Business Management. 55(1). pp.5-31.