IKEA as a High Culture Institution , Global Cult brand

The IKEA Concept began when Ingvar Kamprad, an entrepreneur from the Småland province in southern Sweden, had an innovative idea.
In Småland, although the soil is thin and poor, the people have a reputation for working hard, living frugally and making the most out of limited resources. So when Ingvar started his furniture business in the late 1940s, he applied the lessons he learned in Småland to the home furnishings market.
Ingvar's innovative idea was to offer home furnishing products of good function and design at prices much lower than competitors by using simple cost-cutting solutions that did not affect the quality of products.
The vision was to create a better every day life for the most people by offering a wide range of well designed function  home furnishing products at price so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. (no big difference with Panasonic founder Vision:-)
Fundamental activities such as eating, sleeping, storing items, socialising and so on create a demand for furniture and practical products that solve essential human needs. Furthermore, the vast majority of people have limited budgets and limited space in their homes. The IKEA range includes products for every part of the home.
Without Ikea many people couldn't have approached contemporary design and the main reason is cheapness.
To sell nice products (created by designers) with a cheap price Ingvar used every opportunity to reduce costs, and he scraped and saved in every way possible except on INNOVATION of ideas and Quality.
Today, the IKEA trademark represents the leading home furnishings brand in the world with more than 300 stores in more than 35 countries and more than 130,000 co-workers.
Ikea sell not only furnishing products but more than 7000 different items (from dishes to toys) and some pieces of swedish culture and identity: In almost every shop there is a restaurant with swedish tipical dishes and Furniture are named with sweden toponysm.

IKEA Culture is based on:
1.Lack of hierarchy: In some special weeks all Senior Manager work in the shops; everybody (also Top Managers) fly in economy class; Ikea employees don't grow rich but they work autonomously in flat organization and in a friendly atmosphere. 

2.Competitiveness: Always try to improve in cutting price (sofa "Klippan" price decrease of 40% from 354 to 202$ from 1999), selecting best suppliers of materials and purchasing huge quantity of goods and materials at global level.

3.Design: The big challenge is to draw and create nice products, cheap and both pretty and practical. But each design is approved only if production cost is affordable (product test could last until 3 years).
While most retailers use design to justify a higher price, IKEA designers work in exactly the opposite way. Instead they use design to secure the lowest possible price. IKEA designers design every IKEA product starting with a functional need and a price.
Then they use their vast knowledge of innovative, low-cost manufacturing processes to create functional products, often co-ordinated in style. Then large volumes are purchased to push prices down even further.

Most IKEA products are also designed to be transported in flat packs and assembled at the customer's home. This lowers the price by minimising transportation and storage costs. In this way, the IKEA Concept uses design to ensure that IKEA products can be purchased and enjoyed by as many people as possible.

4. Customers cooperation: Sales strategy has a specific focus on Customer cooperation.
IKEA customers also contribute to keeping prices low. They select and pick up the products themselves, transport them home and then assemble them themselves. And they can enjoy them already later that day.