MINOR PROJECT REPORT-II

On

A STUDY ON SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT OF IKEA.

Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirement of

Bachelors of Business Administration (BBA)

Under The Guidance of : Dr. Neeti Sharma Submitted By : Manit Mittal

BBA – IV Semester
07425501721

JIMS ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT TECHNICAL CAMPUS

48/4, Knowledge Park III, Greater Noida-201306 (U.P.)

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 DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this Major Project Report A study on supply chain management of IKEA
submitted by me to JEMTEC, Greater Noida is a bonafide work undertaken by me and has not been
submitted to any other University or Institution for the award of any degree diploma / certificate or
published any time before.

(Signature of the Student) Date:

Name:

Enrolment. No.:

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I offer my sincere thanks and humble regards to JEMTEC, Greater Noida for imparting us very
valuable professional training in BBA.

I pay my gratitude and sincere regards to Dr. Neeti Sharma, my project Guide, for giving me the cream
of his knowledge.I am thankful to her as she has been a constant source of advice, motivation and
inspiration. I am also thankful to him/her for giving his suggestions and encouragement throughout the
project work.

I take the opportunity to express my gratitude and thanks to our computer Lab staff and library staff
for providing me the opportunity to utilize their resources for the completion of the project.

I am also thankful to my family and friends for constantly motivating me to complete the project and
providing me an environment, which enhanced my knowledge.

Date:

Name:

Enrolment. No.:

Course: BBA (VI-Sem)

(Signature of the Student)

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 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
●Today’s domain leaders in Warehouse management are real partners in your road to value—not
just technology providers. And ERP providers are enriching their platforms with middleware and
modern service oriented technologies to ensure there is a bridge between functional domains. Not
only enriching the business process to extract better performance has to be constantly reviewed,
but also in today’s global supply chain, the Orchestration of the chain needs to be managed with
21st Century Supply Chain technology
●Low-cost sourcing has now become a staple of competitive strategy in many retail and
manufacturing sectors. As organizations source a greater proportion of manufactured products from
China, India, and other low-cost countries the hidden perils of these approaches are often not
considered, especially within the context of enterprise risk management (ERM). Global sourcing
affords many benefits in the form of lower price and expanded market access.
●First, companies should develop supply chain strategies that explicitly consider two parameters that
“amplify” the negative impact of disruptions on customer and brand performance: 1) globalization and
2) product/process complexity. Second, companies should craft strategies with countermeasures that
mitigate the impact of these effects, namely: 1) improved visibility to key supply chain nodes that can
quickly detect disruptions,
2) well-positioned resources that enable quick short-term recovery plans, and 3) long-term
collaborative approaches to eliminate disruptions in the future.
●Companies with a high exposure to global supply chain risk invest more in improved inventory and
capacity visibility systems. Companies with complex products and processes are more likely to add
incremental inventory and manpower to buffer the impact of disruptions. And finally, organizations
exposed to both types of risk also invest in longer term solutions such as training and collaborative
tools to establish resilient supply chains that are agile and able to respond to disruptions. While no
company can eliminate the probability of a major supply chain disruption, those that take the
appropriate measures ahead of time will be better positioned to manage these potentially devastating
incidents when they occur.

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 Content Table
S.No. Topic Page No.

1 Certificate 2

2 Declaration 3

3 Acknowledgement 4

4 Executive 5

5 Chapter-1: Introduction 7-12

6 Chapter-2: Company profile 13-17

7 Chapter-3-: literature review 18-29

8 Chapter-4: Research Methodology 30-32

9 Chapter-5: Data analysis 33-48

10 Chapter-6: Findings 49-52

11 Recommendations 53

12 Conclusion & limitations of the study 54-57

13 References / bibliography 58-59

14 Appendices 50-63

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 CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION

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 Supply chain management is the management of the flow of goods and services and includes all
processes that transform raw materials into final products. It involves the active streamlining of a
business's supply-side activities to maximize customer value and gain a competitive advantage in the
marketplace.

How Supply Chain Management (SCM) ?

Supply chain management (SCM) represents an effort by suppliers to develop and implement supply
chains that are as efficient and economical as possible. Supply chains cover everything from
production to product development to the information systems needed to direct these undertakings.

Typically, SCM attempts to centrally control or link the production, shipment, and distribution of a
product. By managing the supply chain, companies can cut excess costs and deliver products to the
consumer faster. This is done by keeping tighter control of internal inventories, internal production,
distribution, sales, and the inventories of company vendors.

SCM is based on the idea that nearly every product that comes to market results from the efforts of
various organizations that make up a supply chain. Although supply chains have existed for ages, most
companies have only recently paid attention to them as a value-add to their operations.

5 Parts of SCM

In SCM, the supply chain manager coordinates the logistics of all aspects of the supply chain which
consists of five parts:
● The plan or strategy
● The source (of raw materials or services)
● Manufacturing (focused on productivity and efficiency)
● Delivery and logistics
● The return system (for defective or unwanted products)

The supply chain manager tries to minimize shortages and keep costs down. The job is not only about
logistics and purchasing inventory. According to Salary.com, supply chain managers “oversee and
manage overall supply chain and logistic operations to maximize efficiency and minimize the

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cost of organization's supply chain."

Productivity and efficiency improvements can go straight to the bottom line of a company. Good
supply chain management keeps companies out of the headlines and away from expensive recalls and
lawsuits.

SCM vs. Supply Chains

A supply chain is the network of individuals, companies, resources, activities, and technologies used to
make and sell a product or service. A supply chain starts with the delivery of raw materials from a
supplier to a manufacturer and ends with the delivery of the finished product or service to the end
consumer.

SCM oversees each touchpoint of a company's product or service, from initial creation to the final sale.
With so many places along the supply chain that can add value through efficiencies or lose value
through increased expenses, proper SCM can increase revenues, decrease costs, and impact a
company's bottom line.
Example of SCM

Understanding the importance of SCM to its business, Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. decided to
transform its supply chain by investing in technology to streamline the entire process. For several
years the company has been investing and revamping its supply chain management process.
Walgreens was able to use big data to help improve its forecasting capabilities and better manage the
sales and inventory management processes.
This includes the 2019 addition of its first-ever Chief Supply Chain Officer, Colin Nelson. His role is
to boost customer satisfaction as the company increases its digital presence. Beyond that, in 2021, it
announced it would be offering free two-hour, same-day delivery for 24,000 products in its stores.
What Is a Supply Chain Management Example?

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Supply chain management is the practice of coordinating the various activities necessary to produce
and deliver goods and services to a business’s customers. Examples of supply chain
activities can include designing, farming, manufacturing, packaging, or transporting.

Why Is Supply Chain Management Important?

Supply chain management is important because it can help achieve several business objectives. For
instance, controlling manufacturing processes can improve product quality, reducing the risk of recalls
and lawsuits while helping to build a strong consumer brand. At the same time, controls over shipping
procedures can improve customer service by avoiding costly shortages or periods of inventory
oversupply. Overall, supply chain management provides several opportunities for companies to
improve their profit margins and is especially important for companies with large and international
operations.

How Are Ethics and Supply Chain Management Related?

Ethics has become an increasingly important aspect of supply chain management, so much so that a set
of principles called supply chain ethics was born. Consumers and investors are invested in how
companies produce their products, treat their workforce, and protect the environment. As a result,
companies respond by instituting measures to reduce waste, improve working conditions, and lessen
the impact on the environment.

What Are the 5 Elements of Supply Chain Management?

Supply chain management has five key elements—planning, sourcing raw materials, manufacturing,
delivery, and returns. The planning phase refers to developing an overall strategy for the supply chain,
while the other four elements specialize in the key requirements for executing that plan. Companies
must develop expertise in all five elements to have an efficient supply chain and avoid expensive
bottlenecks.

What Element of the Marketing Mix Deals With Supply Chain Management?

Place is the marketing mix element that deals with supply chain management as it involves the
processes that take goods and services from their raw beginnings to the ultimate destination—the
customer.
Organizations increasingly find that they must rely on effective supply chains, or networks, to

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compete in the global market and networked economy. In Peter Drucker's (1998) new management
paradigms, this concept of business relationships extends beyond traditional enterprise boundaries and
seeks to organize entire business processes throughout a value chain of multiple companies.

In recent decades, globalization, outsourcing, and information technology have enabled many
organizations, such as Dell and Hewlett Packard, to successfully operate collaborative supply networks
in which each specialized business partner focuses on only a few key strategic activities. ] This inter-
organizational supply network can be acknowledged as a new form of organization. However, with the
complicated interactions among the players, the network structure fits neither "market" nor "hierarchy"
categories.]It is not clear what kind of performance impacts different supply-network structures could
have on firms, and little is known about the coordination conditions and trade-offs that may exist
among the players. From a systems perspective, a complex network structure can be decomposed into
individual component firms. Traditionally, companies in a supply network concentrate on the inputs
and outputs of the processes, with little concern for the internal management working of other
individual players. Therefore, the choice of an internal management control structure is known to
impact local firm performance.

In the 21st century, changes in the business environment have contributed to the development of
supply-chain networks. First, as an outcome of globalization and the proliferation of multinational
companies, joint ventures, strategic alliances, and business partnerships, significant success factors
were identified, complementing the earlier "just-in-time", lean manufacturing, and agile manufacturing
practices. Second, technological changes, particularly the dramatic fall in communication costs (a
significant component of transaction costs), have led to changes in coordination among the members
of the supply chain network.Many researchers have recognized supply network structures as a new
organizational form, using terms such as "Keiretsu", "Extended Enterprise", "Virtual Corporation",
"Global Production Network", and "Next Generation Manufacturing System". In general, such a
structure can be defined as "a group of semi-independent organizations, each with their capabilities,
which collaborate in ever-changing constellations to serve one or more markets in order to achieve
some business goal specific to that collaboration".

The importance of supply chain management proved crucial in the 2019-2020 fight against the
coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic that swept across the world. During the pandemic period,
governments in countries which had in place effective domestic supply chain management had enough
medical supplies to support their needs and enough to donate their surplus to front-line health workers
in other jurisdictions. Some organizations were able to quickly develop foreign supply chains in order
to import much needed medical supplies.]

Supply-chain management is also important for organizational learning. Firms with geographically

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more extensive supply chains connecting diverse trading cliques tend to become more innovative and
productive.

The security-management system for supply chains is described in ISO/IEC 28000 and ISO/IEC
28001 and related standards published jointly by the ISO and the IEC. Supply-Chain Management
draws heavily from the areas of operations management, logistics, procurement, and information
technology, and strives for an integrated approach.
Supply chain resilience

An important element of SCM is supply chain resilience, defined as "the capacity of a supply chain to
persist, adapt, or transform in the face of change". For a long time, the interpretation of resilience in
the sense of engineering resilience prevailed in supply chain management, leading to the notion of
persistence.] A popular implementation of this idea is given by measuring the time-to-survive and the
time-to-recover of the supply chain, allowing to identify weak points in the system.
More recently, the interpretations of resilience in the sense of ecological resilience and social–
ecological resilience have led to the notions of adaptation and transformation, respectively. A supply
chain is thus interpreted as a social-ecological system that – similar to an ecosystem (e.g. forest) – is
able to constantly adapt to external environmental conditions and – through the presence of social
actors and their ability to foresight – also to transform itself into a fundamentally new system This
leads to a panarchical interpretation of a supply chain, embedding it into a system of systems, allowing
to analyze the interactions of the supply chain with systems that operate at other levels (e.g. society,
political economy, planet Earth). For example, these three components of resilience can be discussed
for the 2021 Suez Canal obstruction, when a ship blocked the canal for several days. Persistence
means to "bounce back"; in our example it is about removing the ship as quickly as possible to allow
"normal" operations. Adaptation means to accept that the system has reached a "new normal" state and
to act accordingly; here, this can be implemented by redirecting ships around the African cape or using
alternative modes of transport. Finally, transformation means to question the assumptions of
globalization, outsourcing and linear supply chains and to envision alternatives; in this example this
could lead to local and circular supply chains that do not need global transportation routes any longer.

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 CHAPTER 2 COMPANY PROFILE

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2.1OVERVIEW OF INDUSTRY AS A WHOLE
The Indian Furniture Market is segmented by Material (Wood, Metal, and Plastic and Other
Furniture), Type (Home Furniture, Office Furniture, Hospitality Furniture, and Other Furniture), and
Distribution Channel (Supermarkets and Hypermarkets, Specialty Stores, Online, and Other
Distribution Channels). The report offers market size and forecasts for the United States Luxury
Furniture Market in value (USD Million) for all the above segments.

Market Overview

India is known for its unique and exceptional furniture design. Because of its rich handcraft and
appealing traditional art and style, the Indian furniture business is well-known both in India and
beyond. Over time, the Indian furniture market has changed. Its market has expanded beyond chairs
and tables to include designed interiors, such as wardrobes and sofas. For generations, furniture has
been an important element of Indian households. The growing middle-class population, rising
disposable income, and the growing number of urban homes all contribute to the expansion of the
Indian furniture market. The furniture market in India is dominated by small unorganized local firms.
However, organized players have increased their contribution to the Indian furniture sector during the
previous decade. With the advent of multinational furniture companies, like IKEA, into India, the
organized players' market share would expand even more.

The rising desire for modular and state-of-the-art furniture among the people living in urban areas,
growing urbanization in Indian states, and rising need for durable and hybrid seating furniture are all
driving the growth of the Indian furniture industry. Furthermore, the Indian expanding wood sector
helps to offset the cost of furniture. The furniture industry in India is predicted to grow as a result of
these causes. Furthermore, India's growing trend of online and mobile shopping is expected to boost
demand for furniture via online channels. nThe growth of
the Indian furniture market is also driven by the tourism and hospitality industry and the corporate
sector. The increasing number of hotels and business offices further spur the demand for furniture in
the country.
With the onset of pandemic, the booming sector of furniture was heavily impacted due to the
restriction and lockdown in the initial period. The manufacturing index also showed a drastically
declined number for the months of March, April and May of 2020. The furniture industry bounced
back with the rise in work or study from furniture in the later half of 2020. nPandemic has also
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resulted in the need for the privacy and personalized space within the house that were required for the
work from home or study from home, which resulted in an increase in demand for Work from home
furniture.
2.2PROFILE OF THE ORGANIZATION

In 1943, Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA as a mail-order sales business, and began to sell furniture five
years later. The first store was opened in Älmhult, Småland, in 1958, under the name Möbel- IKÉA
(Möbel means "furniture" in Swedish). The first stores outside Sweden were opened in Norway (1963)
and Denmark (1969). The stores spread to other parts of Europe in the 1970s, with the first store
outside Scandinavia opening in Switzerland (1973), followed by West Germany (1974).

Map of countries with IKEA stores

Legend:
Current market locations Planned market

locations

No current or planned market locations

By 1973, the company's expansion was so great it was straining resources. German executives
accidentally opened a store in Konstanz (Germany), approximately 200 miles (320 km), from their
intended location of Koblenz (Germany). Later that decade, stores opened in other parts of the world,
such as Japan (1974), Australia, Canada (1975), Hong Kong (1975), Singapore and The Netherlands
(1978) IKEA further expanded in the 1980s, opening stores in countries such as France and Spain
(1981), Belgium (1984)the United States (1985),the United Kingdom (1987), and

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Italy (1989). Germany, with 53 stores, is IKEA's biggest market, followed by the United States, with
51 stores.

IKEA entered Latin America in February 2010, opening in the Dominican Republic. As for the
region's largest markets, until 2020 it had not entered Mexico and it has no stores in Brazil. In August
2018, IKEA opened its first store in India, in Hyderabad.

In November 2021, IKEA opened its largest store in the world, measuring 65,000 square meters
(700,000 sq ft),in the Philippines at the Mall of Asia Complex in Pasay City.

2.3 PROBLEMS OF THE ORGANIZATION

●Lack of communication skills between the upper and lower management.

●Lack of confidence in lower management.
●Fatigue problems faced by lower management as IKEA stores are vast in size.

2.4COMPETITION INFORMATION

The Indian furniture market is highly competitive and fragmented in nature. Furthermore, there are a
few numbers of market players in the furniture industry, compared to the unorganized market players.
The big players include Godrej, Zuari, Durian, Nilkamal, and Featherlite, who have a good market
presence in the furniture industry in India. However, several new players are expected to enter this
market due to low entry barriers.Some of the Major Players of this industry are Godrej furniture, Zuari
Furniture, Durian, Nilkamal Ltd and IKEA.

In this series Godrej furniture shares the most market share whereas Zurani being the second most
valuable company lagging behind IKEA.

2.5S.W.O.T ANALYSIS OF THE ORGANIZATION

The SWOT analysis For IKEA gives insight about the company's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities
and threats. SWOT analysis is a method of understanding the key internal and external factors that
affect the company. The internal analysis illustrates that the D.LY. or Do It Yourself concept of
assembling the Furniture is a major strength of the company, as it minimizes the overall cost involved
in manufacturing of furniture. That’s exactly why IKEA furniture is comparatively cheaper, bringing
in competitive advantages. IKEA's key performance indicators are the right usage of raw materials;
focus on use of renewable materials and most importantly
keeping great design products affordable yet never compromising on quality. IKEA's practice of
offering high product quality at low prices is a part of IKEA's veritable strategy and key component
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for driving sustainable business growth. One of IKEA’S weaknesses is that their store designs needs to
be lavish, because IKEA has approximately 10,000 products per store, and this

requires high lead time to set up new stores.

STRENGTHS:

● Global brand reputation for low-cost sleek furniture.

● Vast and numerous network of ultra-modern stores.
● Integrated approach to manufacturing and supply.
● Strong revenue growth and profitability.

WEAKNESS:

● Stores located away from the city due to wide space required.
● High lead time for planning of new stores.
● Standard product portfolio across the globe.
● Controversies regarding safety and durability of furniture.

OPPORTUNITIES:

● Expansion to emerging economies with potential for low-cost manufacturing.

● Exploring locally sourced raw material.
● Popularity of e-commerce and pick-up formats.

THREATS:
● Competition from e-commerce and furniture rental services like pepperfry.
● Entry barriers,laws and regulations in unexplored markets.
● Price wars and diversification strategies of competitors.

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 CHAPTER 3
Literature Review: Published studies &
review of similar studies

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There can be little dispute that supply chain management is an area of importance in the field of
management research, yet there have been few literature reviews on this topic (Bechtel and Mulumudi,
1996; Harland, 1996; Cooper, Lambert & Pagh, 1998). This paper sets out not to review the supply
chain literature per se, but rather to contribute to a critical theory debate through the presentation and
use of a framework for the categorisation of literature linked to supply chain management. The study
is based on the analysis of a large number of publications on supply chain management (books, journal
articles, and conference papers) using a database from which the literature has been classified
according to two criteria: a content-oriented criterion, and a methodology-oriented criterion.

This paper is a 'thought paper' and arose from our discussions about the nature of the academic study
of supply chain management, a conversation that has indeed been ongoing for a number of years (see
Croom & Saunders, 1995). Our concern was with the nature of research in supply chain management,
and more specifically with exactly what would constitute the domain of supply chain management as a
management discipline. From these discussions this paper developed in order to present a basis for our
debate and development around the field of supply chain management by attempting to consolidate
current learning, identify possible gaps, and thereby pose possible future directions for development.
Our contention that supply chain management should begin to be seen as a discipline in much the
same way as marketing (Malhotra, 1999) has been seen as contentious, not least by early reviewers of
the paper, yet we stand by this claim, citing Long & Dowells (1989) argument that "…disciplines are
distinguished by the general (discipline) problem they address." (Cited in Tranfield and Starkey 1998).
What we set out to establish in this paper is in fact the general problem domain of supply chain
management,

REPRODUCED thereby, we hope, contributing to the development of a discipline in supply chain

management. Tranfield and Starkey also note the underlying soft, applied, divergent and 'rural' nature
of management research, and further argue that there is a real need in any field of social research to
identify the cognitive components of the subject (Tranfield & Starkey, 1998). Their paper has been
instrumental in our approach to the challenge of undertaking a critical literature review of the field of
supply chain management, and this paper's focus on mapping and classifying the area has been
motivated by their claim that "…a key question for any applied field concerns the strategic approach
taken to its mapping" . Supply chain management and other similar terms, such

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as network sourcing, supply pipeline management, value chain management, and value stream
management have become subjects of increasing interest in recent years, to academics, consultants and
business management (Christopher, 1992; Hines, 1994; Lamming, 1996; Saunders, 1995, 1998). It is
recognised in some parts of the literature that the supply chain should be seen as the central unit of
competitive analysis (Macbeth & Ferguson, 1994; Cox, 1997). Companies will not seek to achieve
cost reductions or profit improvement at the expense of their supply chain partners, but rather seek to
make the supply chain as a whole more competitive. In short, the contention that it is supply chains,
and not single firms, that compete is a central tenet in the field of supply chain management.
(Christopher, 1992; Macbeth & Ferguson, 1994) Supply chain management has received attention
since the early 1980s, yet conceptually the management of supply chains is not particularly well-
understood, and many authors have highlighted the necessity of clear definitional constructs and
conceptual frameworks on supply chain management (Saunders, 1995, 1998; New, 1995; Cooper,
Lambert & Pagh, 1997; Babbar & Prasad, 1998) .

Saunders (1995) warns that pursuit of a universal definition may 'lead to unnecessary frustration and
conflict', and also highlights the fragmented nature of the field of supply chain management, drawing
as it does on various antecedents including industrial economics, systems dynamics, marketing,
purchasing and inter organizational behavior. The scientific development of a coherent supply chain
management discipline requires that advancements be made in the development of theoretical models
to inform our understanding of supply chain phenomena. As an illustration, the application of
Forrester's (1961) industrial dynamics model applied to supply chains (the 'Forrester Effect')
exemplifies such a model. Its value lies in the ability to aid understanding of the actions of materials
flowing across a chain, and has provided a basis for further advancement of understanding supply
chain dynamics. (E.g. see Sterman, 1989; Towill, 1992; Van Ackere, Larsen & Morecroft, 1993 and
Lee, Padmanabhan & Whang, 1997). Cooper et al. (1997) support this view, pointing to the fact that
whilst supply chain management as a concept is a recent development, much of the literature is
predicated on the adoption and extension of older,established theoretical concepts. In this paper our
concern is not so much with advancing theory per se, but in providing a taxonomy with which to map
and evaluate supply chain research. In the process, it is our contention that we also provide a topology
of the field of supply chain management, which may provide a fruitful means of delineating or
defining the subject domain. This is not necessarily a novel idea, Lamming (1993), for example,
provides a map of antecedent literature for his development of the Lean Supply Model, which again
supports our claim that there is a need for a topological approach to the development of supply chain
theory. 3 This paper presents the results of a literature survey in the field of supply chain management.
The main purposes of the survey are:
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●To look at some major issues in supply chain management literature and to present a framework
for classification and analysis
●To describe and evaluate the methodologies used in supply chain management literature
●The paper is organized in five sections. In section one some definitions of supply chain management
are examined, underlying differences and common aspects, in order to better trace the boundaries of
the concept the paper is on and to highlight the difficulties of its definition. One of the reasons for the
lack of a universal definition of supply chain management is the multidisciplinary origin and evolution
of the concept. Section two considers the bodies of literature associated with supply chain management
and discusses the different perspectives adopted by various authors. In section three we explain the
framework and the methodology used for classifying the literature analyzed and we present the results
of literature review. Section four presents a summary and some conclusions we can draw from the
work in terms of moving towards a disciplinary approach to supply chain management. Section five
contains an extensive reference list.
In providing a topology of the supply chain landscape we support New (1995) and Saunders (1995)
contention that within the supply chain management literature there is a confusing profusion of
overlapping terminology and meanings. As a consequence, in the literature many labels can be found
referring to supply chain and to practices for supply chain management, including: integrated
purchasing 4 strategy (Burt, 1984), supplier integration (Dyer, Cho & Chu, 1998), buyer-supplier
partnership (Lamming, 1993), supply base management, strategic supplier
alliances (Lewis, 1995), supply chain synchronization (Tan et al., 1998), network supply chain
(Nassimbeni, 1998), value added chain (Lee and Billington, 1992), lean chain approach (New and
Ramsay, 1995), supply pipeline management (Farmer & van Amstel, 1990).), supply network
(Nishiguchi, 1994), value stream (Jones, 1995). As a first step, we set out in table 1 to highlight a
sample of definitions associated with the concept of supply chain management found in the literature
analyzed. This table is not intended to provide a comprehensive review of supply chain definitions (see
for example Cooper, Lambert and Pagh 1997), rather the purpose here is to highlight some of the
contrasting approaches to supply chain management existing in the literature. AUTHORS
DEFINITION Tan et al. (1998) Supply chain management encompasses materials/supply management
from the supply of basic raw materials to final product (and possible recycling and reuse). Supply
chain management focuses on how firms utilize their suppliers’ processes, technology and capability
to enhance competitive advantage.
It is a management philosophy that extends traditional intra-enterprise activities by bringing trading

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partners together with a common goal of optimisation and efficiency. Berry et al. (1994) Supply chain
management aims at building trust, exchanging information on market needs, developing new
products, and reducing the supplier base to a particular OEM (original equipment manufacturer) so as
to release management resources for developing meaningful, long term relationships. Jones and Riley
(1985) An integrative approach to dealing with the planning and control of the materials flow from
suppliers to end users. Saunders (1995) External Chain is the total chain of exchange from original
source of raw material, through the various firms involved in extracting and processing raw materials,
manufacturing, assembling, distributing and retailing to ultimate end customers. Ellram (1991) A
network of firms interacting to deliver product or service to the end customer, linking flows from raw
material supply to final delivery. Christopher (1992) Network of organizations that are involved,
through upstream and downstream linkages, in the different processes and activities that produce value
in the form of products and services in the hands of the ultimate consumer. Lee and Billington (1992)
Networks of manufacturing and distribution sites that procure raw materials, transform them into
intermediate and finished products, and distribute the finished products to customers. Kopczak (1997).
The set of entities, including suppliers, logistics services providers, manufacturers, distributors and
resellers, through which materials, products and information flow. Lee and Ng (1997) A network of
entities that starts with the suppliers’ supplier and ends with the customers’ customers for the
production and delivery of goods and services. Table 1 – A Sample of Definitions of Supply chain
management 5 From these selected definitions we are able to partially confirm Saunders (1995)
statement that most definitions of supply chain management share at least one thing in common with
each other: “...they focus on the external environment of an organization, with the boundaries of the
latter defined conventionally in terms of an entity identified legally as a company or some other form
of business unit...” As such definitions are based on metaphors (chains, pipelines, etc.) or “ideal types”
rather than “objective entities”, he concludes that “…attempts to pursue universal definitions may lead
to unnecessary frustration and conflict”. However, in a number of management fields the study of
supply chains concentrates on internal supply chains (Harland,1996), notably the business re-
engineering (Lee & Dale, 1998) and operations management literature (Slack et al, 1998) The lack of a
universal definition of supply chain management is in part due to the way the concept of supply chain
has been developed. In fact, as it will be explained in the next section, the concept of supply chain has
been considered from different points of view in different bodies of literature. Such a multidisciplinary
origin and evolution is reflected in the lack of robust conceptual frameworks for the development of
theory on supply chain management. As a consequence the schemes of interpretation of supply chain
management are mostly partial or anecdotal with a relatively poor supply of empirically validated
models explaining the scope and form of supply

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 chain management, its costs and its benefits. Bodies of literature associated with supply chain
management The origins of the concept of supply chain management are unclear, but its development
was initially along the lines of physical distribution and transport, 6 using the techniques of industrial
dynamics, derived from the work of Forrester (1961). Another antecedent can be found in the Total
Cost approach to distribution and logistics (Heckert and Miner, 1940; Lewis, 1956). Both these
approaches show that focusing on a single element in the chain can not assure the effectiveness of the
whole system. The term supply chain management has not been used only with regard to the logistic
activities and the planning and control of materials and information flows internally within a company
or externally between companies. Some authors have used it to describe a strategic, inter-organisation
issues (Cox, 1997), others to discuss an alternative organizational form to vertical integration
(Thorelli, 1986), others to identify and describe the relationship a company develop with its suppliers
(Sako, 1992; Lamming, 1993; Hines, 1994). In this paper we have examined a number of subject areas
we consider to be core to any supply chain management literature survey. Below we set out this
list, but note that it is both brief and nonexhaustive of the literature or subject areas associated
with supply chain management. The objective is to highlight how different subject literatures have
contributed work in supply chain management from different perspectives.

● Purchasing/Supply literature
● Logistics/Transportation Literature
● Marketing literature
● Organizational Behavior /Industrial Organization/Transaction Cost Economics/Contract View literature
● Contingency Theory
● Institutional Sociology
● System Engineering literature
● Network literature
● Best Practices literature
● Strategic Management literature
● Economic Development Literature

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It should be noted that there is a partial overlap among the subject areas we are going to discuss. In
fact, the same topic can be considered from different perspectives in more than one subject area.
Drawing on wider literature in the areas of network theory, industrial business marketing and social
organizational theory Croom, (1995) and Croom & Batchelor, (1997) note that the contention that
organizational behavior is conditioned and contextualized by its patterns of interaction with other
firms in its supply chain/network is a common and complementary field of theoretical development for
the supply chain management researcher. Our concern with the finding that the literature is primarily
empirical-descriptive is that any development of a cognate supply chain management discipline
requires more rigorous and structured research in the topic. In an attempt to clarify the agenda and
methodology for future research we present a content overview of the existing literature under the
antecedent headings identified above. Such a content analysis naturally will prove problematic due to
multiple perspectives surrounding topics such as alliances, Just In Time, Electronic Commerce,
amongst many others. We have thus set out to provide an indicative delineation in the table below,
identifying the concerns within each of the six areas that we consider to relate to the field of supply
chain management, those cases of duplication indicating that there are multiple perspectives
surrounding the problem or process: Strategic Management Strategic Networks Control in the supply
chain Time-Based Strategy Strategic Sourcing Vertical Disintegration Make or Buy decisions Core
Competencies focus Supply Network Design Strategic Alliances Strategic Supplier Segmentation
World class Manufacturing Strategic Supplier Selection Global Strategy Capability Development
Strategic Purchasing Relationships / Partnerships Relationships Development Supplier Development s
Strategic Supplier Selection Vertical Disintegration Partner sourcing Supplier Involvement
Supply/Distribution Base Integration Supplier Assessment (ISO) Guest Engineering concept Design
for Manufacture Mergers Acquisitions, Joint Ventures Strategic Alliances Contract View, Trust,
Commitment Partnership Performances Relationship Marketing Logistics Integration of materials &
information flows JIT, MRP, Waste Removal, VMI Physical Distribution Cross Docking Logistics
Postponement Capacity planning Forecast information mgmt Distribution channel management
Planning & Control of materials flow Best Practices JIT, MRP, MRP II Continuous Improvement
Tiered Supplier Partnerships Supplier Associations (kyoryoku kai) Leverage Learning Network Quick
Response, Time Compression Process Mapping, Waste Removal Physically efficient Vs. Market
Oriented Supply Chains Marketing Relationship Marketing Internet Supply Chains Customer Service
Management Efficient
Consumer Response Efficient Replenishment After Sales service organizational Behavior
Communication Human Resources Management Employees’ Relationships organizational Structure
Power in relationships organizational Culture organizational Learning

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Technology Transfer Knowledge Transfer Table 2: Principal component bodies of supply chain
literature.
The first element of exchange classified is assets. With respect to material assets, the literature is very
rich in studies on inventory and transportation management, in part because these are the seminal
subjects of logistics, but probably also because cost and delivery time pressures require that attention
has to be paid to managing stocks and transportation modes. These subjects summarize both the static
dimension of supply chain management (where to position inventories along the supply chain, in
which physical form, how much to stock at each point, how many tiers or warehouses to use, to
eliminate of local inventory stocking points and to centralize inventories, to relocate consolidation/de-
consolidation points, to add regional warehouses or to use warehouses for specific customers, etc.) as
well as the dynamic ones (which form of shipment to use, whether to consolidate transportation routes
and logistics service providers, to use faster modes of transportation like air freight, express delivery,
etc.). On the other hand, few works consider technological and financial assets at a level of analysis
wider than dyadic level (but see Miles & Snow, 1984). For instance, few companies include the
accounts department as an integral part of the supply chain, while keeping control of the cash situation
within the supply chain can all help to ensure that all the companies in it stay successful. As far as the
human resource asset is concerned, an important issue is the request for redesigning organizational
incentives systems (Lee and Billington, 1992). The second element of exchange considered is
information, both in the form of information flows that permit quick inter-organisation payments
between supply chain members, and in the form of information accumulated, coded, and stored in firm
database structures. A huge literature does exist concerning developments in information technology
that have provided new opportunities through electronic commerce, where transactions are completed
through a variety of electronic media, including electronic data interchange (EDI), electronic fund
transfer (EFT), bar codes, point of sale systems (POS), fax, automated voice mail, CD-ROM catalogs,
and a variety of others (Croom, 1999). These issues are dealt with not only at a dyadic level:
information technologies are supply chain `enablers” in that they can help managers in developing
information systems not visualizing information as a set of repetitive transactions between entities
such as buyers and suppliers, or distributors and retailers. Rather they should help them in developing
ideal systems spanning all functions and organizations throughout the entire supply chain (Handfield
and Nichols, 1999). A whole interplant planning and logistical integration throughout the supply chain
requires centralized coordination of key data (order forecasts, inventory status at all sites, backlogs,
production plans, supplier delivery schedule, and pipeline inventory) from the different entities, and
permits to minimize inventories and to respond to fluctuation in demand in a timely and effective
manner. Moreover, if information is available at any party in the chain, alignment problems can be

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effectively faced.
These problems arise, for example, when different sites in the supply chain have operational goals that,
if met, result in inefficiencies for the overall chain, or in presence of inadequate definition of customer
service and not-linked information systems. On the other hand, not all organizations are available to
share Ṣinformation, because they perceive information disclosure as a loss of power. This behavior
often determines a distortion of information flow through the supply chain. Some authors (Berry et al.,
1994) have observed the ways in which information can become distorted as it is interpreted,
processed and passed up and down supply chains (e.g. industrial dynamics literature). While this
analysis of literature has highlighted a lot of contributions in this field at both the dyadic and chain
level, there is a lower degree of coverage at the network level. While the two prior elements (assets
and information) are both relatively well understood and widely considered by literature, the third
element, knowledge necessary for supply chain management is not so clearly or consistently
presented. Handfield and Nichols (1999) cite time–base capabilities as a fundamental knowledge
necessary for supply chain management. Another important subject of research about knowledge for
supply chain management is the analysis of the links between individual competence, organizational
competence, and network competence.
While a very rich literature does exist on the links between organizational competence and corporate
strategy, we have found only a work that highlights the links between organizational competence and
individual competence (Knight, 1998), and none relating to the links between individual,
organizational and competence required for good supply chain management. The links between the
competence of individuals and organization performance and between the competence of organizations
and network performance is an area of importance (Cox, 1995), but one that is not particularly well
understood. Finally, the relationships between the actors in the network are perhaps the most important
element of the exchange considered. Without a foundation of effective supply chain organizational
relationships, any effort to manage the flow of information or materials across the supply chain is
likely to be unsuccessful (Handfield and Nichols, 1999). Relationships have been considered by
literature both at the level of the market (macro) and at the level of the single organizations (micro).
From a “macro” point of view the arguments for supply chain management begin with the firm theory
of Coase (1937) and the transactional economics work of Williamson (1975), sometimes addressing
the inter-organizational relationships concepts of writers such as Van de Ven et al. (1975), which led
theorists to identify the concepts of “networks” as opposed to supply chains (Lamming, 1996). In this
perspective supply chain management is viewed as an alternative to different types of relationships
such as integrated hierarchy and pure market. Ellram (1991) observed that vertical integration could be
viewed as an alternative to supply chain management, in that it attempts to manage control channel
efficiency through ownership. On the contrary
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obligational contracting can be viewed as one form of supply chain management, in that it attempts to
link parts of the channel through .
formal agreement. In her opinion, situations where supply chain management techniques are likely to
be most appropriate are short-term contract, long-term contract, and joint venture and equity/interest
contract. On the other hand, from the “micro” perspective, an increasing number of organizations are
finding profitable adopting strategies that require the development of closer “partnership” relationships
with their major suppliers. This is leading to an attitudinal shift in behavior towards suppliers that
Lamming (1993) defined as lean supply. Other important variables influencing relationships between
the actors in the network are: ⋅ The sourcing strategy (sole sourcing, single sourcing, dual sourcing,
multi sourcing, partnering sourcing, etc.) ⋅ The attitude and commitment to collaborative improvement
programmes ⋅ The positioning of the focal firm within the total network ⋅ The extent of dependence on
the network measured as the proportion of a supplier’s business which is dedicated to the supply
network in question (the relative importance of the customer to the supplier’s order book and second
the relative importance of those supplier’s to the customer’s purchased material) ⋅ The longevity of the
relationships (the past behavior, opportunism and the trust in suppliers) ⋅ The technological or process
links (the supplier holds or owns the tools and dies needed to make his customer’s product, existence
of electronic links, etc) ⋅ The existence of legal ties (contracts, share patents, etc.) ⋅ The degree of
power and influence of each party. ⋅ The length and complexity of the chain: the greater is the distance
(in number of stages) from the end-customer, the less an organization will perceive itself as ultimately
dependent upon end-user demand.

In the move towards developing theory in supply chain management we have set about establishing a
framework for literature analysis that categorizes according to two epistemological dimensions - from
theoretical to empirical, and prescriptive to descriptive. These dimensions are not particularly radical
or novel, representing the form of literature analysis with which many researchers are familiar (Gill &
Johnson, 1991). The first distinction is made between theoretical works which set out to provide
explanations of cause and effect, define underlying laws, or propose analytical concepts and empirical
work which focuses on reporting practice. The second distinction we make is between prescriptive and
descriptive work, highlighting the emphasis of the work on either proposing normative models or
summarizing current practices. The concern here has been to identify the theoretical foundations of
supply chain management in terms of its antecedents, but more importantly in terms of the
development of a supply chain management theory, to identify and analyze the development of
research into the management of supply chains.. In our analysis we found that the literature is
dominated by descriptive empirical studies. Little in the way of theoretical

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work has been developed. However, where theoretical works have been identified, they are largely
concerned with the dynamics of inventory systems (materials flows and stocks). In the following
figure we have 18 COPYRIGHT CROOM, ROMANO & GIANNAKIS. NOT TO BE
REPRODUCED provide an overview of our original classification returns (in percentage terms)
within each of the four quadrants.

PRESCRIPTIVE DESCRIPTIVE

THEORETICAL 6% 11%

EMPIRICAL 27% 56%

Implication for the Development of Supply Chain management Theory One of the most significant
findings from our literature analysis has been the relative lack of theoretical work in the field when
compared to empirical based studies. We would argue that theoretical development is critical to the
establishment and development of supply chain management study. However, it is not our contention
that empirical studies are valueless. Rather, we feel that the inductive-deductive dichotomy is best
addressed through the constant reflection of empirical with theoretical studies. However, what is of
concern is the lack of a significant body of a priori theory - a point Andrew Cox argues forcibly in his
1997 treatise. Furthermore, our content analysis of the supply chain literature highlights the contrasting
themes and antecedents of the field. In some ways we feel this offers an even greater challenge for the
development of supply chain management research. As an illustration of this we recently conducted a
survey of published research into supply chain management currently conducted at the University of
Warwick - a leading UK research university. By applying our content-oriented matrix to the analysis
of publications within all the departments of the University we found that research covering at least
one of the cells in the matrix could be found in science, social science, engineering and a number of
humanities departments. We recognise that developments in our understanding of supply chain
management require multi-

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disciplinarity in order to address the contrasting antecedents. Certainly the importance of transaction
cost economics and inter-organisational theory has been recognised by a number of researchers
(Lamming, 1993, Harland, 1994, Croom, 1996). In addition, our survey at the University of Warwick
identified a number of key antecedent disciplines currently evidenced in supply chain research -
included amongst these being systems thinking, information theory, industrial dynamics, production
economics, social theory, game theory and production engineering. If one begins to include some of
the hybrid fields such as marketing or strategic management, then it is apparent that the subject is
being explored from a multiplicity of perspectives. This paper has thus set out to provide a taxonomy
or topology of the field of supply chain management as an aid to both the classification of research in
the field, and as a means of providing a framework for the identification of the key content of the
subject. Of significance we feel is the need for researchers to be aware of complementary studies
outside of their own 'normal' domain of expertise. Thus, as Dietrich (1994) pointed out, future
developments in theory concerned with business to business phenomena may require a more
cosmopolitan approach, incorporating a combination of contrasting social and technical disciplines.

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 CHAPTER 4
RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

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4.1-OVERVIEW
Research methodology is the systematic and theoretical analysis of the methods applied to a field of
study. It involves qualitative and quantitative techniques. It is a process used to collect information
and data for the purpose of making business decisions. [did a primary research with with the help of a
questionnairé ‘and circulated it to get certain information so as to study the supply chain management
of IKEA.:‘and their perception towards IKEA and other competitors.
4.2-RESEARCH DESIGN
Research design is defined as a framework of methods and techniques chosen by a researcher to
combine various components of research in a reasonably logical manner so that the research problem
is efficiently handled. It provides insights about “how” to conduct research using a particular
methodology.

For the survey, I used Descriptive Research Design, since I am solely done with the interpretation
through gathering and presenting the collected data, as In a descriptive research design, a researcher is
solely interested in describing the situation or case under his/her research study. It is a theory- based
research design which is created by gathering, analyzing and presenting collected data. By
implementing an in-depth research design such as this, a researcher can provide insights into the why
and how of Research.

The primary data as well as secondary sources were used for collection of data.
● Primary data - Questionnaire and Interview

●Secondary data – Books, Journals and Internet

Primary Data involves the collection of data that does not already exist. This can be through numerous
forms, including questionnaires and telephone interviews amongst others.
Secondary Data involves the summary, collection and/or synthesis of existing research rather
than primary research, where data are collected from, for example, research subjects or
Experiments.

COLLECTION OF DATA
The data has been collected through company sources and by analyzing data on social media and by
other sources like online surveys .Most of the data is collected through questionnaires which are
shared to many people of different age groups,different areas across different interests of people.
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 4.3-RESEARCH OBJECTIVES

In this study objectives can be viewed as :

● To see what was one average range of buying at IKEA store?
● To know what was the average time to deliver the product?
● Do they know about the supply chain management of IKEA?
● To predict the after sales service of IKEA?

4.4-DATA SOURCES

For further analysis, I used Primary and Secondary data sources. Primary data include Questionnaire
and Interview on the other hand Secondary data include Textbooks and Internet.

The structure of some of the interviewed questions were designed in such a way that the respondents
had to answer either with a yes or no. Number of questions that have been included in the
Questionnaire is 11. A sample should represent the population as a whole and not reflect bias towards
a specific attribute. For this survey, I used 100 samples which were filled by local respondents
/customers. So, the sample size i.e; n=100( n means no. of respondents).
The respondents of this survey are the local customers, service class people, businessmen, family
members and customers of natural markets which include different age groups of above 20 years while
filling the questionnaire of the survey.

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 CHAPTER 5

Analysis / Study of topic

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Q1- Which age group do you belong?

INTERPRETATION: From the above graphs we can say most people are of age group 26-30
followed by 18-25 age group and then from 41-60 age group.

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Q2- From where did you hear about IKEA?

INTERPRETATION: Clearly most of the people get to know about IKEA by their friends or they
knew it already.

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Q3) How often do you see IKEA stores?

INTERPRETATION: Most of the people see the store rarely because

offline stores of IKEA is only two in india .

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Q4-Do you like the ambience of the IKEA store?

INTERPRETATION: Most of the people don't like the ambience of the store because of
very vast stores which is not possible to cover in one go.

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Q5- How many times do you like to buy items from IKEA?

INTERPRETATION- Most of the people rarely buy items from the store or
likely to not buy anything from the store.

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Q6- Which category of product you like from the IKEA store?

INTERPRETATION: Most people like to buy things for their bed & bathroom then kitchen
& dining. Many people also like the food of the store which they also like to buy while
visiting the store.

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Q7- Do you know the supply chain management of IKEA?

INTERPRETATION: Not most of the people know about the supply chain of IKEA.

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Q8- If you buy items from IKEA, What was the range of the products?( in rupee)

INTERPRETATION: above 30000 persons are the highest in number to buy things from
the store because in earlier questions the product most like is bed & bathroom which
holds heavy furniture which is costly thus above 30000 is average range of buying.

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Q9- How much time does it take to supply your product?

INTERPRETATION: Usually it takes 2-3 days and in some locations like rural areas it can take
a month or less.

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Q10- How was the supply or delivery experience of IKEA?

INTERPRETATION: Out of 100, 35 or 34.7% people say it is good as it is ranked 4

and some of them might not like the supply service of IKEA.

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Q11- Did the product delivered to you had any damage?

INTERPRETATION: Most of the people's products are safe when delivered.

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Q12) How was the after sales service of IKEA?

INTERPRETATION: Most of the person are satisfied with the after sales and supply system of ikea.

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Q13) How much time does it take to resolve your problem?

INTERPRETATION: Within 2 week of delivery the product is very resolved or exchanged by

the management.

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Q14) How was your overall experience of IKEA?

INTERPRETATION: Overall experience of most of the customers are good they are
satisfied with the experience of sales or delivery services.

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Q15)- Do you like to again buy from IKEA?

INTERPRETATION: 36.6 %of the customers want to buy from the store and 35.5% don't want
to buy from IKEA.

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 CHAPTER-6

Finding and Recommendation

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On the basis of the above the following recommendations are made: -

●IKEA needs to investigate ways of improving and establishing relationships along the entire value
chain. There are competitive advantages through enhanced relations with fewer suppliers, resulting in
lengthy relationships, which are more likely to include assets dedicated to the partnership. Sharing
greater information and assets enable such programmes as just-in-time manufacturing, which will
increase the efficiency for IKEA and accrue benefits to all parties through cooperation and
coordination.
●The organization must focus on empowering designated groups. As such special training and
development initiatives should be investigated which focus on providing respondents with the tools for
effective decision making. IKEA should pursue empowerment by encouraging employees to develop
their own abilities through company sponsored training and development and to accept as much
responsibility within their capability.
●A highly important element of this strategy is EDI, an electronic data interchange system that directly
connects customers to the overall IKEA distribution system. Point-of -sale information from IKEA
major accounts provides the ability to generate instantaneous data relevant to reorders, invoices and
shipments. This distribution system, while costly, would enable major customers of its products to
avoid having to place orders and coordinate logistical arrangements. It would also help sales to
maintain the appropriate product inventory at any given time.
●The method of color matching problematic colors can be entrusted with the pigment suppliers. This
is their area of expertise and needs to be entrusted to them. IKEA needs to specialize and focus on its
core competencies which are enhanced by outsourcing those activities which can be better performed
by outside firms based on their area of expertise. 72 Employees from IKEA can be seconded to
pigment suppliers to learn the science of color matching.
●Low inventory levels can contribute vastly to a firm’s efficiency and cost. Inbound logistics revolve
around supplier relationships. Greater collaboration needs to be established with suppliers to support a
JIT system of manufacturing. With overseas suppliers a local warehouse could be established as an
intermediate supply.
●Effort is required to reduce work in progress before normal production resumes. If work in progress
goes over a predetermined value, all production needs to stop. The situation needs to be analyzed for
the reason for the build up and corrective action implemented. Trials need to be conducted for increase
in machine speed so as to reduce production time. If the physical properties do not change then the
new machine speed to be specified in the specification.

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●The marketing and sales segment of the value chain involves such activities as promotion and
advertising, sales representation, relationships, technical support as well as pricing strategies. This link
is an important aspect of reputation building by serving as the direct interface between the consumer
and the product. Advertising encourages people to make purchases. A website for IKEA needs to be
established with relevant technical support and applications for the various products it offers. Sales
representatives have to be familiar with the product that they sell. The product however has to be
backed up by one of high quality.
●‘First off’ is important to ensure the process capability of the production lines. The ‘first off’ is the
first sample from the production line that is inspected against the specification. If it conforms then
only is the production line allowed to continue. If the product does not conform, then adjustments are
made to the process or the machine and another sample is tested. At key points in the production
process, quality inspectors need to monitor every meter of the process. Extra personnel need not be
employed. The current line operators could be multiskilled so that they become aware of the
requirements of the product. They will be performing dual functions. Important tests can be performed
on the line instead of this sample being tested in the laboratory. The instant feedback to the line can
save hundreds of meters of defective product being produced. Therefore the relevant equipment needs
to be purchased and line personnel trained for effective utilization and feedback.

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FINDINGS:

● From the above graphs we can say most people are of age group 26-30 followed by 18-25 age group and
then from 41-60 age group.
● Clearly most of the people get to know about IKEA by their friends or they knew it already.
● Most people like to buy things for their bed & bathroom then kitchen & dining. Many people also like the
food of the store which they also like to buy while visiting the store.
● Not most of the people know about the supply chain of IKEA.
● Above 30000 persons are the highest in number to buy things from the store as of because in earlier
questions the product most like is bed & bathroom which holds heavy furniture which is costly thus above
30000 is average range of buying
● Out of 100, 35 or 34.7% people say it is good as it is ranked 4 and some of them might not like the supply
service of IKEA.
● 6.6%of the customers want to buy from the store and 35.5% don't want to buy from IKEA.

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RECOMMENDATION

The outcome of the study was limited to the comments or suggestions as perceived by the
departmental managers. By limiting the study to managers leaves avenues open for further research. It
is therefore recommended that in order for IKEA to get a more absolute view of the improvements for
the implementation of its supply chain management policy further research should be conducted. For
motivational reasons it is also recommended that the organization conduct further research to assess
the extent middle management perceive as recommendations for improvement to the supply chain.
Another possible avenue for future research could be to examine demographic impacts on the findings.
In particular, the demographic characteristics of firm size and asset versus non-asset based operations
were mentioned previously as areas of potential research opportunity.

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 CHAPTER 7
CONCLUSION

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Developing a truly effective enterprise wide SCM and having it linked to its measures of performance
will lend credibility to an organization. While one can promote the importance of learning to develop
an integrated supply chain, it is more compelling to show the power of a learning mindset and how it
can achieve both cost reductions and provide revenue-enhancing opportunities. Cost reduction is a
must in any organization if they are to survive. Customers are continually demanding price reductions
and therefore it becomes necessary that one look at One's own processes to reduce cost. To engage
supply chain partners in achieving a sustainable competitive advantage, almost by definition, means
that there must be a focus on the end-use customer (Sparling, 2002). It must be noted that learning
does not come automatically given the tensions that exist, as partners need to address the needs of their
supply chain partners with their own self-interests. Partners are often protective of their knowledge
and are skeptical of how the newly acquired information will be used. Supply chain is all about a
change in behavior and attitude. Partners previously who worked in 36 isolation now have to share
information and form alliances. Companies who develop this relationship will be successful as global
partners compared to their competitors. Learning is central to gaining a sustainable advantage (Cooper
and Ellram, 1999). The findings made by the above studies together with the theoretical framework
formulated in the preceding chapter provides a necessary basis to explore and assess the supplier chain
management in IKEA. The methodology used to conduct the study will be formulated around the basis
and will be described in the chapter to follow.

The results of the empirical study are summarized below: -

●There is not enough collaboration with the suppliers to establish a level of trust so that problems and
delivery schedules can be amicably resolved when it does arise.
●The empowerment provision is perceived to be weak. Insufficient progress is also perceived in
special training and development initiatives as well as individual career management enhancement
initiatives.
●If IKEA is to retain its customer base its strategy of outbound logistics needs to be coordinated with
the retailers.
●Color matching has proven to be a difficult area to master. Insufficient progress is

55 | Page
also perceived in special training and development initiatives to have highly skilled personnel.
●Purchasing department needs to reduce the inventory level to the JIT system. Part of the problem is
due to overseas supplies.
●Production management needs to reduce cost in areas of product change over. Currently the delay is
one hour and improvement is required in this area. Work in progress needs to be reduced from its
levels .Production time needs to be reduced. Machine speed needs to be increased from 8 meters a
minute to double this speed.
●As yet there is no advertising company that has been contracted to market IKEA and its products.
The company is beginning to lose market share through the local and overseas market.
A volatile market such as vinyl or
textile needs an aggressive advertising campaign.
●Control measures need to be implemented to monitor the product at all stages of production so that
corrective action can be implemented if nonconforming product is being produced.
●An effective electronic data interchange system needs to be linked to suppliers as well as customers
to enhance the communication needs.

LIMITATION OF THE STUDY

Although every effort has been made to collect the relevant information through the sources available,
still some relevant information could not be gathered.
●Busy Schedule of Concerned Executives:
The concerned executives were having very busy schedules because of which they were reluctant to give
appointments.
●Time:
The time duration could not provide ample opportunity to study every detail of the company.
●Unawareness:
Customers were unaware of many terms related to the same while asking them.

●Confidential Information:
As the company on account of confidential reports has not disclosed some figures. Moreover, in some cases
separate accounts of division are not separately maintained thereby, leading to restrictions in study.

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●Area: Area of study chosen was not large.
The study is limited because many of the people don't use social media apps or out of reach as online
media online journalism is limited to certain people till today's date not so many people use social
media or might not be educated enough to read or to access the website.

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

58 | Page
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Methods .
8th edition. Boston: McGraw Hill. Cox, A; Ireland, P; Lonsdale, C; Sanderson, J; Watson, G.
2000. Business Strategies for Supply Chains and Markets. 3rd edition. London: Prentice Hall.

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ANNEXURE

Questionnaire:

Respected Sir/Madam,

I Manit Mittal student of Bachelor of Business Administration, II Year Semester IV of JIMS

Engineering Management Technical Campus which is affiliated with Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha
University, Delhi, assure you that the details given by you will be used only for the academic purpose
and project work under the name “A Study on supply chain management of IKEA” and will be kept
confidential.

Q1) Which age group do you belong?

1. 8-25
2. 6-30
3. 1-60
4. above 60

Q2) From where did you hear about IKEA?

1.Through Social Media\

2.Via Advertisement

3.By Relatives

4. Already knew it

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Q3) How often do you see IKEA stores?

1)Most of the time

2)Rarely
3)Moderate
4)Never seen IKEA store

Q4) Do you like the ambience of the IKEA?

1.yes
2.No
3.Maybe

Q5) How many times do you like to buy furniture items from IKEA?

1.Most of the times

2.Rarely
3.Moderate
4.Never bought anything from IKEA

Q6) Which category of product you like from the IKEA store?

1.living room
2.Kitchen & dining
3.IKEA food
4.Never bought anything from IKEA

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Q7) Do you know about the supply chain management of IKEA?

1.Yes
2.No
3.Maybe

Q8) If you buy items from IKEA, what was the range of your product? 1)100-1000

rupee
2)1001-10000 rupee
3)10001-30000 rupee
4)Never bought anything from IKEA

Q9) How much time does it take to deliver your product?

1.Within a day
2.2-3 days
3.Within a week
4.Within a month
5.Never bought anything from the store.

Q10) How was the supply or delivery experience of IKEA?

1.1
2.2
3.3
4.4
5.5

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Q11)Did the product deliver to you had any damage?
1)Yes
2) No
3)Maybe,not checked

Q12) How was the after sale service of IKEA?

1) 1
2) 2
3) 3
4) 4
5) 5

Q13) How much time does it take to resolve your problem?

1.2 days
2.6 days
3.within 2 weeks
4.Problem not solved yet.

Q14) How was your overall experience of IKEA? ( 5 being the highest and 1 being the lowest)

1.1
2.2
3.3
4.4
5.5

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Q15) Do you like to buy from IKEA?
1)Yes
2)No
3)Maybe

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