IKEA is a worldwide renowned company. They are for anyone who dreams of a better life at
Question:
IKEA is a worldwide renowned company. They are for anyone who dreams of a better life at home, no matter if that dream is about creating more time and space, doing more with less, or just enjoying something beautiful. Fortunately, it’s often the small changes that make the biggest difference. IKEA has a dream to create a better life for as many people as possible, whatever the size of their wallet. This dream is and will always be IKEA driving force. IKEA love a challenge and firmly believe that a product can have a low price and not compromise on anything else. And when they set their minds on making something happen, they never give up (taken from IKEA website; https://about.ikea.com/en/who-we-are; accessed on 14.09.2020).
In a rapidly changing world, IKEA realised that working together with others helps them respond better to people’s needs. By collaborating with designers and brands that think very differently from the company, they can learn and prepare for future challenges. Here are a few examples of IKEA collaborations taken from their website (https://about.ikea.com/en/who-we-are/making-homes-better/collaborations; accessed on 14.09.2020).
Collaborating with Icelandic-Danish artist
Did you know that more than one billion people around the world live without access to electricity? By teaming up with Icelandic-Danish artist Olafur Eliasson and his colleagues behind the social business Little Sun, we hope to raise awareness about these issues. Our goal is to co-create a series of beautiful, functional and sustainable everyday tools for people living off-grid.
Collaborating with LEGO
In 2018, we also started a collaboration with the masters of play, LEGO creating a collection called BYGGLEK. Because we believe play makes the home – and the world – a better place.
We know that adults and children sometimes have very different ideas when it comes to play. Often the kids want to get everything out and make a big mess, while the grown-ups want to keep things tidy. How can we keep everyone happy? That, and much more, is what we’re working on with LEGO at the moment.
Collaborating with Adidas
Another example is Adidas, who we teamed up with to improve our understanding of how people share their time between exercising, sleeping and eating at home. The collaboration with the sports giant is about making fitness work as a part of our daily routines – all with a special focus on young women. How can we make it easier for people to have an active lifestyle? Keep your eye out for the RÖRLIGHET collection.
So why are we interested in design collaborations? Is it just a bid to cash in on a hip company’s coolness? Not at all. We’re collaborating with creative thinkers to solve urgent and future problems in order to create a better everyday life for the many people. Together with designers, brands, artisans, students and many others, we’ll dare to explore new possibilities and tackle new challenges. We love the free flow of ideas and it’s our desire to create an open, inclusive design culture that can move in any direction. Do you have an idea that could help people live better? If the answer is yes, we’d love to hear from you.
Question
Despite its success, why has IKEA decided to team up and collaborate with other companies? Analyse the partnership that you have chosen as your case study from the above mentioned three partnerships.
Excellence in Business Communication
ISBN: 978-0136103769
9th edition
Authors: John V. Thill, Courtland L. Bovee