Orientation to the Professions IKEA

Class: Names of group members: ICV1E Aline Villalpando Eline Vranckx Hanneke Hoitink Isa Grube Tom Chapple

Date:
Table of contents

21st January 2013

1.Introduction 2. Profile organization 2.1. Background information type of organization 2.2. Motivation for choice of organization 2.3. Profile organization 3. Defining the Content of the Poster 3.1. Role of communication within the organisation, looking at the communication subjects 3.2. The communication professions, the work tasks and professional products 3.2.1. Corporate Communication 3.2.2.Marketing 3.2.3.Public Relations 3.2.4. Crisis Management 3.2.5.Event Management 3.2.6. Internal Communication 4. Visualizing the Poster and preparing for the Poster Presentation 4.1. The visualization process 4.1.2. The content 4.1.3 The layout 4.2. Choices for the Poster Presentation day 5.Conclusion 6. Reference list 7. Appendix

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1.Introduction
The way IKEA uses communication is very important for them, so how is their communication done? IKEA is a very large and worldwide very well known company with 338 stores in 40 countries across the world. For such a large company it is of course essential to have a good communication system. We are students from Hanze University of Applied Science in Groningen and have been asked to write a report on research we did about the communication of IKEA which will coincide with a poster presentation on the same topic. IKEA has six main communication departments. Event management, Crisis management, Corporate communication, Public Relations, Marketing and Internal communication. The main goal of this report is to get a good understanding of IKEAs communication as a whole. To achieve this each of the six main communication departments have been separately researched. The first and following section is about IKEA in general by providing background information and a profile of the company. The second section consists of the findings of our research by showing results of research of the six most important communication departments of IKEA and answers the question: How is IKEAs communication done? To coincide with this research we have been asked to create a poster and present our research to a group of communication professionals. Section 3 is about the visualisation of this poster. Finally, at the end of the report there is of course a conclusion.

2. Profile Organization
2.1. Background information type of organization We decided on multinationals within our group, because this kind of organization seemed to interest the majority of the group members. A multinational can be defined as a company or corporation Having operations, subsidiaries, or investments in more than two countries (Farlex, n.d.). This means the company does not just sell its products internationally but has also stores in, at least two, other countries than its headquarter-country. IKEA, our chosen company, is clearly a multinational with more than 260 shops in 25 different countries (Ikea, n.d.).

2.2. Motivation of choice of organization After we decided for a multinational organization, we had two companies in mind: Shell and Ikea. Through a democratic poll, weve chosen Ikea for our block project. Each of us went at least a couple of times shopping at the furniture retailer and we found the marketing strategies, the company design and corporate communication very interesting and worth to research about. Some of us can even image to work for the company in the future. Another major reason for our decision was the size of the company which promised to give us enough resources for our research. Finally, the fact that the company has a subsidiary in Groningen convinced us, because this is a good basic to conduct an interview.

2.3. Profile Organization The IKEA website provides detailed information about the companies program, history and general background information. IKEA was found in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad in Sweden and became the biggest furniture company in the world. The companies mission statement is to offer a wide range of home furnishing items of good design and function, excellent quality and durability, at prices so low that the majority of people can afford to buy them (Samples-help, 2009). All group members agree that the organization produces unique, affordable and trendy furniture; this is what IKEA is famous for. Other characteristics of IKEA are the colors blue and yellow, to be seen on advertising, bags, logo etc and the Swedish features in the store, like the food products which you can buy and especially the meals in the restaurant. Also Smaland, the kids area, is famous and a fixed part within the companies concept. The organization is a complex structure which consists of many different companies, foundations and subsidiaries.

Graph 1 (Foss & Jonsson, 2011)

The company IKEA belongs to the foundation Stiching INGKA which is based in Delft, Netherlands and was founded by Ingvar Kamper (Ikeafans, n.d.). The foundation owns the INGKA Holding B.V. which is again the mother company and supporter of the IKEA Group. All companies within the IKEA Group have a function in order to run the business, produce the products and provide service for example. IKEA is also franchising and therefore established the subsidiary Inter Ikea Systems B.V. which is responsible for that part of the companies business. The task of Ikea Service B.V. is to help the IKEA Group with their work (Ikeafans, n.d.).IKEA has also an organizational culture which is descripted as followed: At IKEA, we dont just want to fill jobs; we want to partner with people. We want to recruit unique individuals who share our values. Co-workers are not restricted at IKEA; we listen and support each individual to identify his or her needs, ambitions and capabilities. (Ikea, n.d.) Some of the named valued are togetherness, respect and simplicity (Ikea, n.d.) This approach can also be found in the Swedish management style of IKEA. Inger Buss (2004) from the Danish Leadership Institute explains that the leadership style of Sweden values respect, informality and trust between the management and the companies employees. He also states that the approach would be to keep the leadership style simple, democratic and that everyone, from every level, should care for everyone (p.2). 4

IKEA develops its business steadily and the newest development is the opening of an own city built by the furniture retailer in London (Beanland, 2012). In 2012, the company had to face a major crisis concerning the use of forced labor in the 1980 in former East Germany; the company engaged an investigation, confirmed the rumors and apologized (Day, 2012).

3. Defining the content of the poster

3.1. The role of communication within the organisation, looking at the communication subjects For IKEA, sending out a coherent message to its stakeholders is very important. The main idea of IKEA is making cheap, fashionable and nice furniture and other accessories for in and around the house. This is also referred to in their mission and business statements: "Our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people."(IKEA, 2012) and Offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them." (IKEA,2012). This is part of IKEAs corporate identity with which they try to create a good corporate image. The majority of the people have a good image when they think about the company, but if IKEA were to deviate from this image they would lose a lot of customers and would lose a lot of the stakeholders support. Because this image is so important to IKEA, to deviate from it would be disastrous. This is where corporate communication comes in. Corporate communication is all about making sure a company sustains a good, stable, coherent image (Wikipedia, 2013). Corporate communication achieves this by overseeing things like the code of conduct, looking after the environment and sticking to the mission statement (IKEA, n.d). IKEAs image is obviously very important to them and to maintain their image, their corporate communication has to be good, therefore corporate communication is very important to IKEA. Marketing is another communication department at IKEA. Marketing is about making sure as many people as possible buy your products, while making sure you stick to your mission statement and image. If people start to doubt that you arent sticking to your image anymore by selling products that dont suit it, there is a big chance they will stop buying your products. IKEAs image is very important for the company, therefore they must make sure that their products stick to their image and again, this is why the marketing department takes a major role within the companies business. By doing their marketing in an appropriate, IKEA-like way they will stick to their image and succeed in selling their products. Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics. (PRSA, 2012) Customers expect cheap, affordable and trendy products from the company, which reflects the mission statement of IKEA. This already builds a mutual beneficial relationship between IKEA and its customers. This is one of the most important relationship that IKEA needs to keep. IKEAs positive image is a key to this relationship, as mentioned before, if they were to deviate from this image they would lose customers. A good relation to the public will lead to satisfied stakeholders and this will lead to a good profit for IKEA.

Crisis management is a set of procedures applied in handling, containment, and resolution of an emergency in planned and coordinated steps. (Business dictionary, n.d). If a crisis is not dealt with properly this can harm a companys image by a lot. IKEAs image is so important to them that their crisis management must be as good as possible. If their crisis management wasnt good enough their image could become significantly damaged, this would be disastrous for a company like IKEA and could cause a loss on profit. By organising certain events companies can keep good relationships with all of their public groups. This will eventually give a companys image a boost and help them sustain a positive image. As IKEAs image is so important to them, they organise lots of events to maintain such an image, such as events like, the Functional Storage Solutions for ALL Areas of your Home-day (IKEA, 2013) and an event to celebrate planting 1.5 million trees in America (IKEA, 2010). IKEA is a very large company with stores throughout the whole world. It is important for companies to keep every employee as informed as possible on what is going on. For large companies such as IKEA this can be very hard, that is way they need a good internal communication. If this was not the case IKEA wouldnt be able to exist as it would lose an overview and eventually control over its subsidiaries and store and as a consequence IKEA would have very big problems. A good internal communication is therefore also of high importance to IKEA.

3.2. The communication professions, the work tasks and professional products The main departments of IKEAs communication are Corporate communication, Marketing, Public Relations, Crisis communication, Event management and Internal communication. An analysis of these communication departments is to be found in the following paragraphs. Communication is very important for IKEA, as IKEA is such a large company. It is important that their communication goes well and sufficient, if this was not the case IKEA probably would not have been such a popular company.

3.2.1. Corporate communication "Our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people."(Farfan, n.d) This is IKEAs mission statement. It is what the whole idea of IKEA revolves around; creating nice, affordable furniture for people to make peoples lives better. However, the mission statement itself is almost impossible to actually achieve, therefore they also have a business statement (Farfan, n.d).: "Offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them." (Farfan, nd.) This is what IKEA is known for, therefore this statement is very important for their corporate communication. If IKEA were to deviate from this statement they would be in trouble as their stakeholders etc. would probably lose trust in them, as IKEA would probably lose a lot of customers as a consequence of this. IKEA also does a lot for charity. Some people even go as far as calling IKEA as a whole a charity. This makes them popular because nearly everyone knows that they do a lot for charity. A big part of IKEA is the IKEA foundation. The IKEA foundation (IKEA, n.d) is all about funding money to charities to 6

prevent poverty among children around the world and to make sure that these children have a bigger chance of a good future. IKEA mainly does this by investing in long term programmes in developing countries, which try to make sure that every childs fundamental needs are fulfilled as well as possible. (IKEA, 2010) IKEA is also very involved in helping the environment. They try to help out the environment as much as possible by making sure their products are as environmental friendly as possible and by helping out the environment all over the world. For example, in 2010 IKEA planted 1.5 million (IKEA, 2010) trees across the whole of America. IKEA also started a Solar energy programme. They started placing solar panels on top of IKEAs in America to make sure IKEA would use as much natural energy as possible and therefore reduce their carbon footprint. (IKEA, 2010) IWAY. IWAY is IKEAs code of conduct and is short for, The IKEA Way on Purchasing Home Furnishing Products (IKEA, 2000). This code of conduct explains the expectations that suppliers should have of IKEA and the expectations that IKEA has of its suppliers. It is based on rules created by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Labour Organisation Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998), and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development(1992)(IKEA, 2000). The IWAY code of conduct is, according to IKEA (2000) all about how the working conditions of suppliers employees should be, the protection of the environment, making sure there are no cases of child labour etc.. Countering corruption is also important to IKEA. They have a clear anti-corruption policy, and even have a special investigation policy which explains what employees of IKEA should do if they detect corruption and other illegal behaviour in general. (IKEA, n.d) IWAY has created lots of benefits in the countries of the suppliers. Thanks to the rules and regulations which the suppliers must keep in order to cooperate with IKEA; most regions of the suppliers have improved a lot. For example, in India a lot of rules about looking after the environment are ignored, however, suppliers do keep to IWAY which has a lot of rules and regulations about the environment (IKEA, n.d). Suppliers must stick to IWAY to be able to work with IKEA, therefore these suppliers are forced to stick to the rules of IWAY even if they do not stick to the law of the country they are in. This has led to improvement of the environment in many places as working with IKEA is so important to a lot of suppliers. IWAY has also led to things such as healthier staff, more enthusiastic staff among other advantages (IKEA, n.d). Thanks to IWAY the suppliers must stick to more rules which improve the workplace environment, this has led to many benefits for employees. IWAY has hardly any bad consequences except for the costs of IWAY, however these costs are countered by the lowered production costs which are achieved thanks to IWAY (Bergmark, 2005). All in all IWAY is a very sufficient and successful code of conduct, a good example of IKEAs good corporate communication.

3.2.2. Marketing IKEA uses several devices to communicate with its costumers; internet, television, billboards, folders, a magazine for IKEA Family members, but the best known device is the IKEA Catalogue. The store and the Catalogue are the main parts of IKEAs Marketing communication. The Catalogue is in fact the main marketing tool, which takes up around 70% of the annual marketing budget (Wikipedia, n.d.) IKEA operates according to the motto we shall offer a wide range of well designed, functional Home 7

Furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them(IKEA, 2012). They want to be a lifestyle and family store. IKEA thinks their customers are very important, they come first, this is why they offer several facilities within every store, such as Smaland for the children and a food court. The IKEA also offers their customers the IKEA Family Card, which offers them discount on some products, a magazine four times a year and free coffee or tea at IKEA restaurants. Everybody who is older than 18 can get such a card (IKEA, n.d.) IKEA has a very clear house style. The first thing a customer will notice in the stores are the colours blue and yellow. IKEA clearly uses a cultural strategy, by, for example, using the colours of the flag and a Swedish style. They also name their products after typical Swedish things such as Swedish place names, Scandinavian lakes, rivers and bays and mammals (slideshare, n.d.) The motto, we shall offer a wide range of well designed, functional Home Furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them,(IKEA, 2012) of IKEA is represented in several messages they want to send out. The production statement: We do our part (Ikea, n.d.) focuses on their commitment to product design.

3.2.3. Public relations The main goal of IKEAs public relations department is making sure its global image is healthy and fresh. The general target group of the company are younger customers with a low to middle income, young families and customers who are willing to transport and assemble furniture themselves (Radomski, 2007). Some examples are given in order to explain the work of IKEAs Public Relationdepartment. Example 1: Political PrisonersWhen IKEA was faced with the accusations that former DDR prisoners helped develop products for IKEA during their imprisonment in the 80s, the company reacted by stating: "Even though IKEA Group took steps to secure that prisoners were not used in production, it is now clear that these measures were not effective enough." (Reynolds J., 2012) At first, IKEA did not seem to have taken any actions except from apologising, though they were the first company to openly do so. IKEA does seem to focus more on their positive marketing skills and had announced to donate funds to research projects on forced labour in the DDR. Connolly KNevertheless, the Public Relation department of IKEA decided to openly admit their mistake, which leads to a more positive relation to their stakeholders than to deny obvious facts. Example 2: Women in Saudi ArabiaAfter erasing women from the photos of its catalogue for Saudi Arabia, IKEA received several strong, negative reactions. To maintain a good relationship to its public, the company apologized again for its action."We should have reacted and realised that excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalogue is in conflict with the IKEA Group values."(Quinn B., 2012) In this case, IKEA apologises but they dont really seem to do anything about it, as can be seen in the catalogues from Saudi Arabia. In the 2013 catalogue they keep erasing or cutting women out of pictures in spite of stating that it is against their policy. If this practice will be continued remains to be seen. 8

Example 3: IKEAs big sleepover IKEA also used a promotion campaign, designed and executed by a Public Relation-team called Cake (http://www.cakegroup.com/). The campaign is about giving customers and journalists the chance to spend one night in the bedroom section of the IKEA store in London. The goal of the company is to promote its bedroom range and encourage customers to view the stores as places where they could get advice during the furnishing and design process (Owens, 2012) Campaigns like this one support the relation between IKEA and their stakeholders significantly; the customers feel valued by IKEA and the media has something interesting and positive to write about the company.

3.2.4 . Crisis management According to Mathias Hrdemann (personal communication, December 4, 2012), Business Navigation and Operation Manager at IKEA Oldenburg, IKEAs crisis management always consists of a board of managers who are in charge of the planning of processes within crisis management. IKEA (n.d.) officially calls this board of managers its steering team. Hrdemann divides the crisis management into three levels; local, national and international. If the crisis is small and concerns just the local area of a subsidiary, the board of managers of this subsidiary comes together and discusses what to do. A basic crisis-management-plan is provided from the head office for every subsidiary in the country. The same happens on a national and international level. The difference is, Hrdemann explains, that subsidiaries have no independent PR-department and therefore they must contact the Public Relation department at IKEAs head office of the retail country for advice. IKEAs PR-departments employ so called Communication Responsibles, who play a major role in the companies crisis management. As IKEA (n.d.) states on its website, the task of the Communication Responsibles is to support the store Crisis/Steering team by assisting in the development of key message statements and Q&A documents *+ to efficiently minimize any potential negative impact on our brand. One example is the key message statement, made by Jeanette Skjelmose, sustainability manager at IKEA, concerning the last big IKEA crisis concerning forced labors in the former DDR (Forbes, 2012): We deeply regret that this could happen. The use of political prisoners in production has never been acceptable to the IKEA Group. At the time, we didnt have todays well-developed control system and obviously didnt do enough to prevent such production conditions among our former GDR suppliers. (qtd. in Forbes,, 2012) The task of the Communication Responsible is to formulate these statements in a way which supports the relationship with the public and the company in a crisis. The spokesperson during a crisis is normally the Store Manager who can be represented by the communication responsible in rare cases. (IKEA, n.d.) 9

3.2.5. Event management The event managers have a big job to do. They have to come up with a plan by brainstorming on how to achieve the perfect execution of the event until the end. They have to make sure it will be a success with benefitting results. You can find all the information about the events IKEA organize on their website. It is easy to find and you can see if there is anything to do in your town with a click on a button. There are cooking workshops held and workshops as how to buy the right mattress. The company offers workshops for cooking or also about how to decide on the perfect mattress for their customers. According to James Bryant, the first thing event managers have to do is research. They have to find out which area of products needs more publicity, for example, if they are not selling a lot of kitchens or the sales of mattresses is decreasing. If so, managers brainstorm and communicate with other departments to find out where help is needed. Communication between the different departments is very important to make sure everybody is up to date (Bryant, n.d). IKEA not only organize events for the company itself but also to raise money for charity. In 2008 there was a cuddle night in Amsterdam to raise money for save the children (IKEA, 2008) and in 2011 IKEA provided sleeping places for the people who participated at the Nijmeegse 4-day walking event. (IKEA 2011)

3.2.6. Internal Communication The people who work for IKEA are kept up to date via several media. In their report about sustainability-approaches(IKEA, n.d.), IKEA informs about their tools for good internal communication. The company provides an International Worker Magazine which is called: Read Me. Also there is a newsletter, a company radio and an IKEA-intranet, which is called IKEA Inside. The intranet is one of their biggest communication channels and is used in 41 countries. There are approximately 3,500 publishers for this intranet in total. The managers also have a responsibility of informing co-workers by holding regular meetings and annual development talks (Simply Communicate, 2012) Because of IKEAs core values, having honest and open dialogues with co-workers, internal communication is very important. Everybodys right of freedom of association, along with respect, is highly valued. IKEA also strongly believes in creative and dynamic teams. This is shown by the fact that among the top 200 of IKEAs managers around the world, more than 22 different nationalities are represented (Simply Communicate, 2012). This reflects the diverse IKEA customer base.

4. Visualizing the Poster and preparing the Poster Presentation

4.1. The visualization process 10

This section will concentrate on the final step of our project; putting the research into an appealing poster. We divided the tasks of finishing the report and create the poster in two teams. Nevertheless every group member is responsible for the major research and for the ideas for the poster layout and its content. 4.1.2. The content Our goal for the poster was it to keep the content as clear and simple as possible to make it easy for the visitor of the poster presentation to understand our findings. Our group took it for granted to include a short overview about the company IKEA. This overview should contain background information like the mission- and vision-statements, the management style and current developments. We then had the idea to use the Communication Responsible of IKEA and its tasks to the related subtopics to present the professional fields. In our group, we decided on six different subtopics for our poster which are crisis management, internal and corporate communication, Marketing, Public Relations and Public Affairs. We did not include Event management and Intercultural Communication, because of the lack of information. On the on hand, it turned out to be difficult to find major events for IKEA due to the individual organization of every subsidiary. On the other hand, the internet did not provide sufficient information on intercultural communication thats why we decided to concentrate on the other professional fields. 4.1.3. The Layout We all agreed right from the beginning to use IKEAs colors blue and yellow for the poster as well as the font style the company uses. First, we created a poster draft with a collage of black and white IKEA pictures in the background and oval boxes arranged like a sun around a box which was supposed to include general information about the company. The thought was to design the oval boxes, containing the information about the professional tasks, in yellow with a blue frame so they would stick out on the grey background. Additionally we planned to involve the IKEA ruler and pencils in the design; two typical objects and everywhere to find in the company. Our media-skills teacher than advised us to use squares instead of ovals and one big picture in the background instead of many little ones due to a better overview. We refined our draft and the idea of using IKEAs store-map as main layout came into discussion but was outvoted. When we talked about our layout during our next coach meeting and our tutor came up with the idea of using the IKEA-map himself. In his opinion, it would be a very nice way to combine the squares we designed and a typical IKEA-layout. We had another discussion within the group about the poster layout and our final decision was to use the IKEA-map with one big black and white image in the background and the information about the tasks of an Communication Responsible in the different showrooms of IKEA. The colors of the poster remain blue, yellow and grey and the text should be less than 50 % of the poster. We decided about a vertical orientation of the poster while the size is already given; A1.

4.2. Choices for the poster presentation The whole presentation of our project will be based around a poster. Around and on the poster we will place certain props from IKEA such as pencils from IKEA, tape-measures from IKEA, IKEA 11

catalogues and balloons in blue and yellow; the colours of the company. Next to the poster there will also be a laptop showing certain IKEA adverts and other videos about IKEAs communication which can be used to explain certain aspects of IKEAs communication. To seem as professional as possible we will all be wearing formal clothes such as suits. One of us will be doing the oral presentation. The presentation will explain what our research is about, why we chose IKEA and what we have discovered. The poster will mainly show the key points of the communication sections. Everyone in the project group will know as much as possible about all the different communication sections so that while people are looking at our poster we will be able to answer questions about all of the sections, the key words and engage in as much discussions as possible. We will also be providing brochures about our research during the presentation which will be made my Aline Villalpando.

5. Conclusion
All in all it can be said that IKEA uses a wide range of communication professions. IKEA is such a large company and therefore their communication is very important. When we started with this project we hardly knew anything about IKEAs communication, thanks to this report we now know a lot about how IKEAs communication works. This report has also helped us to learn more about communication in the professional field in general. We now realise how important communication is for companies and that if the communication of a company fails, everything can fall to pieces. This is especially the case for IKEA, a company who relies on its image a lot. Without communication and things such as Public Relations and Crisis management it is very hard to maintain a positive image. Without good communication departments, IKEA would not be as successful as it is today. Communication is also the reason for a lot of good in the world, especially when it comes to IKEA. Thanks to things such as their code of conduct; working conditions are becoming better, the environment is being given a boost and the lives of people in developing countries are becoming better. We now feel that we, as a group, have now gathered enough information, and are ready for the poster presentation.

6. Reference list
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Bergmark, R (2005). The IKEA code of conduct (IWAY) and the effects on the supplier. Unpublished master thesis, Lund institute of technology, Lund.
Buss, I.. (2004). Leadership Development: A Scandinavian Model. Retrieved January 15, 2013, from http://www.mbaworld.com/blr-archive/educational-resources/12/index.pdf

Bryant, J. (n.d.). How to manage a business event. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://www.ehow.com/how_6331964_manage-business-event.html#ixzz2E15XR9Rw

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Business dictionary. (n.d) Definition of crisis management. Retrieved 21 January, 2013, from http://www.businessdictionary.com/definition/crisis-management.html

Connolly K. (November 16, 2012). Ikea says sorry to East Germany political prisoners forced to make its furniture. Retrieved 26 December, 2012, from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/nov/16/ikea-regrets-forced-labour-germany
Day, M. (November 16, 2012). Ikea regrets forced labor use in East Germany. The Telegraph. Retrieved December 17, 2012, from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/sweden/9683613/Ikea-regrets-forced-labouruse-in-East-Germany.html

Farfan, B (n.d). IKEA Stores Mission Statement - A Global Vision and a Branded Business Idea. Retrieved December 23, 2012, from http://retailindustry.about.com/od/retailbestpractices/ig/Company-MissionStatements/IKEA-Stores-Mission-Statement.htm
Farlex. (n.d.). The free dictionary. Retrieved January 14, 2013, from http://www.thefreedictionary.com/multinational

Forbes. (2012). Five ways your company can avoid a crisis like Ikeas. Retrieved December 22, 2012, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/csr/2012/11/18/five-ways-your-company-canavoid-a-crisis-like-ikeas/
Foss N.J., Jonsson A. (2011). International expansion through flexible replication: Learning from the internationalization experience of IKEA. Journal of International Business Studies. 42.

IKEA. (2011). Fans Nijmeegse Vierdaagse nemen in trek in droomkamerdorp. FRetrieved December 3, 2012, from http://www.ikea.com/nl/nl/about_ikea/newsitem/pb_droomkamerdorp IKEA.(2008). Minister Koenders bij knuffelnacht in IKEA Amsterdam. Retrieved December 3, 2012, from http://www.ikea.com/nl/nl/about_ikea/newsitem/persbericht_ministerkoenders

Ikea. (n.d.). About IKEA. Retrieved January 14, 2013,from http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/facts_and_figures/ikea_group_stores/index.html Ikea. (n.d.). Work hard, be yourself. Retrieved January 20, 2013, from http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/jobs/join_us/ikea_values/index.html

IKEA (n.d). Our code of conduct. Retrieved January 4, 2013, from http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/our_responsibility/iway/index.html IKEA (n.d). IKEA Foundation. Retrieved January 5, 2013, from http://www.ikeafoundation.org/About-Us
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IKEA (2010). Our Responsibility. Retrieved January 5, 2013, from http://www.ikea.com/ms/en_US/about_ikea/our_responsibility/index.html IKEA. (n.d.) Privacy Policy. Retrieved: January 6, 2013 http://www.ikea.com/us/en/privacy_policy_new.html IKEA. (n.d.). Jobs@IKEA. Retrieved January 4, 2013, from http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/IrwJobSearch IKEA. Family Card Benefits. Retrieved December 28, 2012 http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/DisplayPage?layout=memberBenefits&st oreId=7&langId=-20&catalogId=11001&localStore=10096
IKEAFANS. (n.d.). Ikea Corporate Structure. Retrieved January 14, 2013, from http://www.ikeafans.com/ikea/ikea-corporate/ikea-corporate-structure.html

IKEA. (n.d.) Sustainability Report. Retrieved January 9 2013 http://www.ikea.com/ms/pl_PL/pdf/sustainability_report/group_approach_sustainability_fy 11.pdf

IKEA. (2013). Whats happening next? Retrieved 21 January, 2013 from http://www.ikea.com/us/en/store/frisco/activities

Radomski, Ben. (December 17, 2007). Ikea. Retrieved 18 January, 2013, from http://benradomski.blogspot.nl/2007/12/ikea.html Reynolds J. (November 19, 2012). Ikea admits using political prisoners to help make its products. Retrieved 19 December, 2012, from:http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/1160372/Ikea-admits-using-political-prisonershelp-its-products/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH Owens J. (October 19, 2012). Social Media: Ikea happy to bed down its customers. Retrieved 19 December, 2012, from: http://www.prweek.com/uk/features/1155154/ Quinn B. (n.d). Ikea apologizes over removal of women from Saudi Arabia catalogue. Retrieved 2 October, 2012, from: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/02/ikeaapologises-removing-women-saudi-arabia-catalogue
Samples-help. (2009). Retrieved January 14, from http://www.samples-help.org.uk/missionstatements/ikea-mission-statement.htm

Simply Communicate (2012) How Benchmarking helps IKEA keep its intranet check. Retrieved: January 20, 2013 http://www.simply-communicate.com/case-studies/companyprofile/how-benchmarking-helps-ikea-keep-its-intranet-check Slideshare. IKEA building a global brand. Retrieved January 6, 2013 http://www.slideshare.net/gregbodenlos/ikea-building-a-global-brand
14

Slideshare. IKEA Marketing Idea. Retrieved December 28, 2012 http://www.slideshare.net/pimpisaj/ikea-marketing-idea Slideshare. IKEA Global Success Strategy. Retrieved January 6, 2013 http://www.slideshare.net/sanil/ikea-global-success-strategy Online.wsj. (August 12, 2012) IKEA's New Catalogues: Less Pine, More Pixels Retrieved: January 10, 2013 from: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444508504577595414031195148.html Wikipedia. (n.d.) IKEA Community Impact. Retrieved: December 18, 2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA#Community_impact
Wikipedia. (n.d) Corporate communication. Retrieved 21 January, 2013, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_communication

7. Appendix
Table of contents 15

1. Telephone interview 2. Subproduct 1: The Project Management Plan 3. Subproduct 2: Team Contract 4. Subproduct 4: Profile of the organisation 5. Subproduct 5: Becoming familiar with the thematic areas 6. Subproduct 6: Analysing the thematic areas in your chosen company: Step 1 7. Sub product 7: Mid-term Peer assessment 8. Sub product 8 and 9: Thematic areas further analysed (Step 1 and 2) 9. Sub product 10: Making a draft 10. Sub product 11: Explaining the visualisation process 11. Sub product 12: Preparing poster presentation

17 19 21 23 28 29 32 41 46 47 47

1.Telephone Interview

16

The interview was conducted on the 30st of December 2012. H: Hrdemann? I: Hello hier ist Isa Grube. Guten Morgen! H: Morgen! I:Ich habe eine Frage, ich studiere Kommunikationswissenschaften in Groningen und wir machen momentan ein Projekt ber IKEA und ich htte ein paar Fragen ber ihr Krisenmanagement. Htten Sie da eventuell Zeit oder passt das bei Ihnen mir 2-3 Fragen zu beantworten? H: Mhm..das kommt darauf an was das fr Fragen sind aber generell schon. I: Ja also das ist jetzt nichts Groes, ich wollte einfach nur Sachen Fragen wie das z.B. systematisch aufgebaut ist bei IKEA. Wer involviert ist in ihrem Krisenmanagement, welche Personen dafr verantwortlich sind so einen Krisenmanagementplan zu erstellen H: Um einen Krisenmanagementplan zu erstellen? I: Ja also wir haben gelernt, dass die Firmen immer einen Plan in petto haben falls mal Etwas passieren sollte und Szenarios planen und wer dafr verantwortlich ist. H: Ja im Prinzip wird das bei uns durch die Zentrale geplant die in Wallau sitzt und hmm..die haben eine Abteilung die sich speziell mit solchen Geschichten beschftigt und die macht Vorgaben wie man sich wie zu verhalten hat in solchen Situationen. I:Okay, das heit also das jede IKEA-Filiale einen festen Plan von der Zentrale bekommt dafr? H: Ja genau, richtig! I: Okay gut uunnddsie haben doch auch Kommunikationsleute, die auch fr Kommunikation verantwortlich sind oder? H: Falls Sie PR meinen.. I: Ja genau! H: Die sitzen auch in der Zentrale.. I: Die sitzen auch in der Zentrale.Das heit die sind jetzt nicht bei IKEA-Oldenburg? H: Richtig! I:Knnen Sie mir da die Frage beantworten was die genau fr eine Aufgabe bernehmen in der Krisenplanung oder msste ich dann bei der Zentrale anrufen? H: Ja also ich was natrlich nicht 100-prozentig die genauen Aufgaben vor den Leuten dann vor Ort aber aus Erfahrung setzen sich die Leute dann mit den Medien auseinander wenn es wirklich zu Krisenszenarien kommt und ja, schreiben Pressemitteilungen und so weiter. I: Okaydas heit mit den Media kommuniziert dann wahrscheinlich der Filialleiter. 17

H: Ja also das ist eine Zusammenarbeit zum einem aus dem Filialleiter, also dem Management-Chef und der PR-Abteilung in der Zentrale. I: Okay, das heit der Kommunikationsbeauftrage wrde dann zum Beispiel die Reden schreiben und der Filialleiter kommuniziert dann mit den Medien? H: Das wird unterschiedlich gehandhabt. Also wenn es wirklich ein groer nationaler Fall ist dann ist meistens nur PR natrlich dann involviert aber wenn das nur eine lokale Angelegenheit ist dann stimmt sich der einzelne Chef mit der Zentrale ab und trifft dann meistens selbst vor die Medien. I: Okay, und im Falle, einer Krise welche Personen sind da mit betroffen, welche Personen beschftigen sich da mit? Ist das jetzt das Management, jemand aus der Kommunikationsabteilung, jemand vom Human Resource, also wissen Sie welche Abteilungen da mit betroffen ist? H: Also das ist bei uns die Geschftsleitung die das macht bei uns. Dann ist da keine Abteilung da die in dem Sinne mit involviert sind. Also das sind jetzt nicht Human Resources oder bei uns auch PE genannt, es ist die Geschftsleitung die aus dem Chef, der Personalleitung, der Personalchefin und meiner Wenigkeit, der Verwaltungsleiter besteht. Wir sind dann das Gremium sie dann in solchen Feldern aktiv werden muss. I: Okay viel Dank fr ihre Zeit. Drfte ich dann nach ihrem Namen fr die References fragen? H: Mein Name ist Mathias Hrdemann. I: Okay danke und Sie sind bei IKEA offiziell der? H: Bei IKEA nennt sich das Business Navigation and Operations Manager. I: Okay und so Allgemein wrden Sie sagen, dass das Krisenmanagement eher eine Sache der Zentrale ist? H: Das wrde ich nicht so sagen, im Prinzip verantwortlich hm..die Verantwortlichkeit liegt schon bei der lokalen Einheit aber es ist so, ich sag mal die Basics, die Grundlage die wird von der Zentrale zur Verfgung gestellt. I: Okay, das schreib ich dann mit auf. Vielen Dank und einen guten Rutsch ins Neue Jahr! H: Danke gleichfalls!

1. Subproduct 1

Project Management Plan

18

What are the goals of the project? 1. to create an informative, attractive poster about communication within our organization 2. to reach the goal together 3. maintain the team spirit throughout the whole project

Gantt-Chart Period 1 Creating a base Period 2 Analysing Holidays Period 3 Period 4 Period 29th 5 January

Week number Activity

Get a general idea about project Create Management Plan Write contract Write profile of shell Individual preparation for next period (thematic areas) Peer assessment Decide about thematic areas (themes, poster content) Divide individuals in groups for thematic areas Research on

19

themes Analyzing themes Writing texts about themes Prepare Video assignment Holidays, work on things which are not up to date Discuss poster layout Summarize information Make a draft Discuss further presentation tools Finish and reread report Work on poster Print poster Discuss tasks on presentation day Practise Presentation Presentation

What group-skills and competencies are important throughout the project? Being structured Creativity Problem-solving Task-focused Team-work Involvement 20

Work actively Reliability Motivation

2. Subproduct 2 Contract Team name: Forska

Goals: Research a certain company and to make a good report and poster presentation out of this research. We want a grade between at least a 7.5 and a 8. We want to reach this goal together and throughout the process maintain a good team spirit. - The roles per week: Week 1: Chairman: Isa, Secretary: Hanneke, Document manager: Aline Week 2: Chairman: Hanneke, Secretary: Eline, Document manager: Aline Week 3: Chairmain: Eline, Secretary: Aline, Document manager: Isa Week 4: Chairman: Aline, Secretary: Tom, Document manager: Isa Week 5: Chairman: Tom Secretary: Isa, Document manager: Eline Week 6: Chairman: Isa, Secretary: Hanneke, Document manager: Eline Week 7: Chairman: Hanneke, Secretary: Eline, Document manager: Tom Week 8: Chairman: Eline, Secretary: Aline, Document manager: Tom Week 9: Chairman: Tom, Secretary: Aline, Document manager: Hanneke The secretary has to upload the minutes on Dropbox before the evening of the next day. The chairman is responsible for the agenda, has to lead the meeting. The document manager has to send the documents to the coach one day prior to the meeting. -The quality criteria: Every week we will meet on Monday after MES2 for at least an hour and if necessary we will meet on other days. During these meetings we will look at each others work. During these meetings we will all be critical of each others work and make sure that everything has a high quality. Your work should be done according to University standards in proper English while mentioning the sources that you have used and following the criteria of the assignment. -Criteria to make sure we are successful as a group: Everyone must show up to every meeting and be on time. We are going to give each other constructive, positive feedback. We are going to take everyones thoughts into consideration and not judge each other too soon. Having a good relationship and keeping harmony with each other is very important to us. We are going to be critical of each other though to make sure everything has as high a quality as possible. 21

-Group meetings: We are going to meet each other in person once or twice per week depending on how the task is going. During these meetings everyone must concentrate and work effectively, no one should distract or talk about their free time. Depending on the length of the meeting we will have a 5-10 minutes break to have the opportunity to relax, eat, drink etc. Besides the meetings we are going to keep in contact with each other every other day and discuss what we have worked on during the past days. -Consequences: If team members do not keep up with their tasks there will be consequences. If someone is late with one of their tasks two times they will receive a warning, after two warnings that persons peer assessment grade will be lowered and the coach will be informed on what has occurred. If a team members product is not of a sufficient quality they will be told this. We will be as critical as possible to make sure everything has a high quality. It depends on how bad the quality of a product is but if after three times a group member is still handing in insufficient products and doesnt have a good reason for this then he or she will receive a warning. Good reasons for not working sufficiently are domestic problems, bus delays, accidents etc. Bad reasons for not working sufficiently are coming up with excuses every week, not hearing their alarm, not feeling like coming etc.

Contacts: Tom Chapple 0615473639 t.d.chapple@st.hanze.nl Hanneke Hoitink 0683243465 h.m.m.hoitink@st.hanze.nl Aline Villalpando 0637174505 i.a.viveros.villalpando@st.hanze.nl

Eline Vranckx 0615690201 e.m.vranckx@st.hanze.nl Isa Grube 0612301877 I.grube@st.hanze.nl

Signature:

22

Name:

Date:

4.Subproduct 4
Type of organisation: Multinationals Definitions/ Descriptions

1. A company or corporation operating in more than two

countries.

2. A multinational corporation (MNC) or multinational

enterprise (MNE) is a corporation that is registered in more than one country or that has operations in more than one country.

3. A corporation that has its facilities and other assets in at least

one country other than its home country. Such companies have offices and/or factories in different countries and usually have a centralized head office where they co-ordinate global management. Very large multinationals have budgets that exceed those of many small countries.

Organisation

Name: Ikea Location(s):

Delft, Netherlands is the headquarter, company has 332 stores in 38 countries

Mission Statement:
"Our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people." "Offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them."

Short description in own words (max 5 sentences):

23

Ikea is known by almost every person and the furniture store with the highest popularity in my point of view. The companies furniture is unique, affordable and trendy which makes Ikea so famous. Next to its furniture, Ikeas restaurant is highly valued and people often just go there to eat. Organisational Characteristics Blue/yellow colour Affordable Scandinavian food products Cheap Restaurant (with Swedish dishes) Typical IKEA-store layout Affordable prices IKEA family (family-card) Smaland (kids-area)

Objectives, standards and values of IKEA

Objectives: Too produce cheap and affordable product for the public/customers. Better life for those who cant afford expensive products. Ensure the customer finds what they are looking for in store. Low prices. Standards:

Values

Every supplier of Ikea should fullfill basic requirements of law and IKEA IWAY (=document about Ikea standards) and more e.g. minimum wages of country of supplier work-conditions : not more than 60 hours a week, compensation of overtime, work-contract, one day a week off No child labour Environmental (no wood from protected areas, no endangered tropical tree species, air pollution within the requirements of countries law) No discrimination (choose employees regarding to individual skills, ability to job not on e, sex, age, political direction, sexual orientation etc) worker safety (safety instructions, health and safety training, first aid trained person, appropriate hygiene) Housing facilities (provide accommodation after law, if there is no law at least 2 m, separate sex washing facilities) Constantly working on improvements Leadership by example (managers shell be good 24

examples for co-workers and other way around) Humbleness and willpower ( respect to each other, getting things done) Daring to be different (question old ideas and willingness to use new ones) Togetherness and enthusiasm (solve problems together) Cost-consciousness (use small resources in order to offer customers cheap prices) Constant desire for renewal (change and use of new innovations in order to satisfy customers and keep a cheap price) Accept and delegate responsibility ( Give co-workers new, challenging task in order to grow, mistakes are natural and accepted)

Internal organizational structure

Ikea belongs to the foundation Stiching INGKA, based in the Delft, Netherlands. It is a non-profit organisation and founded by Ingvar Kamper, the founder of IKEA in order to protect the company. INGGKA HOLDING B.V. is owned by the foundation and is the parent company and supporter of the whole IKEA Group. The IKEA GROUP is divided into 5 companies which have all the function to carry out the necessary products and services to bring the products to the market INTER IKEA SYSTEMS B.V. is the franchise company of IKEA and makes sure, that the IKEA concept reaches all parts of the world. It is not owned by the 25

foundation or parent company. IKEA SERVICE B.V. has the function to support the work of the IKEA GROUP companies

Organisational culture

A corporate culture based on shared values. At IKEA, we dont just want to fill jobs; we want to partner with people. We want to recruit unique individuals who share our values. Co-workers are not restricted at IKEA; we listen and support each individual to identify his or her needs, ambitions and capabilities. Here are a few examples of our shared values: TOGETHERNESS COST-CONSCIOUSNESS RESPECT SIMPLICITY``

Management style

IKEA is using a very Scandinavian way of leadership-style. It values: Democracy, no hierarchy Informality Openness Caring simplicity responsibility in every level modesty It can be said that it is a involving/democratic leadership-style.

Current developments within IKEA

1. Ikea just opened its own city in London with own designed houses, offices, yoga-centres, a hotel and shops. The houses are all furniture with IKEA products. The company has planned more of these cities in other areas e.g. Hamburg. 2. Biggest IKEA-store in Canada opened on the 38th of November

Current developments outside

1. IKEAs use of forced labour in east Germany 25-30 26

organisation related to IKEA (e.g. consumers, competitors, media)

years ago. The scandal attracted media attention, but the company immediately ordered a company to investigate. IKEA confirmed the rumours and deeply regrets it. Political prisoners of the Stadi worked on parts of the production of the company between 19821987.

Other relevant information about IKEA

Ingvar Kamprad is the founder of IKEA and lives with his family in Sweden. He and his family still have big power within the company, even though they do not own the company anymore. In order to protect the company of being sold by members of his family or being a reason for a family fight, he created a Dutch foundation in 1982 called Stichting INGKA Foundation. The foundation is controlled by the Kamprad family.

5.Subproduct 5

27

What are the com. tools? Internal Communication How much efford is put on IC?

Who is responsible? What do they communicate? How to they communicate? How do they communicate?

Corporate Communication

What is the major strategy?

Who is responsible? Marketing

What are past projects?

Communication professions within IKEA Crisis Management

Who is involved?

What is the crisis plan?

What gets communicated?

Who is responsible? PR What is the PR-Strategy?

How good is IKEAs PR?

What are the tasks?

Event Management

Who is responsible?

6.Subproduct 6
Thematic area: Corporate Communication

28

Findings (in bullet points) - What? For Ikea sending out a coherent message to its stakeholders is very important. The main idea of Ikea is making cheap, fashionable, nice furniture and other accessories for in and around the house. This how everyone sees Ikea, this is their main image. If they were to deviate from this image they would lose a lot of credibility and would lose a lot of the stakeholders support. Because this image is so important to Ikea to deviate from it would be disastorous. -Why? Ikeas image is so important to them, its the main reason why ikea can exist. Their image is that of selling cheap, nice, durable furniture. Everyone knows this image and thats why people go to Ikea. They dont go to ikea to buy very expensive, state of the art furniture. Ikeas stakeholders need to know that Ikeas image is stable and coherent because if this isnt the case they may aswell stop supporting ikea. This is why corporate communication is so important to Ikea. If their corporate communication were to be incoherent and deviate from their image this would be disastrous for Ikea. This is why corporate communication is so important to Ikea, without it Ikea would be nowhere. -Where? The corporate communication of Ikea happens at the headquarters of Ikea in Delft, the Netherlands. From here it is decided how to send a good coherent message to their stakeholders. It doesnt happen per shop, it happens from the headquarters of Ikea.

Sources (in APA)

Thematic area: Risk and crisis management Findings (in bullet points) Reaction to crisis: communication professionals task are to create/ write key messages and Q&A documents (Question & Answer document) Store manager communicates in case of crisis, supported by a communication professional Question and answer documents prepared for individual crisis to answer all questions of media Communication professionals have to be on call if crisis occurs to support crisis management ERT-Teams (Emergency respond teams) on each level of IKEA Reducing risk at workplace: savety instructions, heath&savety training, first aid trained person, appropriate hygiene) Reaction after rumours of companies usage of forced labours in DDR: Sources (in APA) http://www.ikea.c om/ms/pl_PL/pdf/ sustainability_repo rt/group_approach _sustainability_fy1 1.pdf

http://thespinbin. wordpress.com/ta g/crisismanagement-2/

http://cmnsu.com/ 29

1. Company reacted 2. company proved case with external company 3. company communicated the outcome of approval 4.company apologize

communicationsresponsible-ikea/

https://sjobs.brass ring.com/1033/asp /tg/cim_jobdetail.a sp?PartnerId=1390 0&SiteId=5005&ty pe=mail&JobReqLa ng=1&recordstart= 1&JobSiteId=5005 &JobSiteInfo=4506 48_5005&gqid=41 7&jobId=792960

Thematic area: Internal Organisational Communication Findings (in bullet points) IKEA-Intranet Regular meetings Notice boards Company radio Newsletter Plasma screens International worker magazine Readme Managers responsible to inform co-workers Annual development-talk Sources (in APA)
http://www.ikea.com/ms/ pl_PL/pdf/sustainability_r eport/group_approach_su stainability_fy11.pdf

30

IKEA marketing communication What IKEA says about that: Getting our messages to the many people Marketing allows us to reach the many people to explain the IKEA offer to them. IKEA wants to reach the many people on each local market. This is why we have jobs in marketing and communication in all IKEA retail countries, even if numbers are limited. The overall task is to build the IKEA brand and inspire people to come to the stores.

We use various channels outside the store to explain the full IKEA offer, but the starting point is always our customers needs. The best known channel is the IKEA Catalog, which is developed by IKEA Communications in lmhult, Sweden. Other important channels are IKEA websites, publications, brochures, advertising and PR.

Our communication reflects IKEA values both visually and in tone of voice, so marketing and communications coworkers include art directors and copywriters, interior designers and project leaders. Together they work with the IKEA catalog, IKEA websites, publications, brochures, advertising, internal communication and public relations.

Typical roles in this work area Project leader Art director Copywriter Interior designer Web designer

31

7.Subproduct 7
Assessed student: Aline 1 Project Management Skills: (Poor) 1. Student addresses issues related to the group process (e.g. in group conflicts or problems, or when there is a lack of motivation in the group) 2. Student is committed to the group goals and group rules related to deadlines and attendance 3. Student prepares well for the meetings 4. Student often gives his/her opinion 5. Student can explain well what s/he wants to say 6. Student listens attentively to others 7. Student often takes initiative and is proactive 8. Student is motivated 9. Student contributes positively to the general team spirit 10. Student gives feedback in a positive and constructive way 11. Student receives feedback in a positive way, and is open to criticism 12. Student is flexible and is open to other viewpoints 13. Student performed well as the chairperson and as minute taker 32 x x x x x x x x x x x x (Average) x (Good) (Excellent) 2 3 4

1 Quality Criteria: (Poor) 1. Student is able to conduct proper research, using the techniques learned in Research Skills 1 (especially secondary research) 2. Student has the ability to generate ideas and concepts 3. Student has a clear sense of purpose and relevance in carrying out the tasks 4. Student produces high-quality work 5. Student has a good level of English 6. Student is a hard and efficient worker. 7. Student is able to apply and use the terminology learned in Communication Theory 8. Student pays an important contribution to the poster presentation 9. Student pays an important contribution to the written report x x

2 (Average) x

3 (Good)

4 (Excellent)

x x x

Total number points:

Assessed student: Eline Project Management Skills: 1 2 3 4

33

(Poor) 14. Student addresses issues related to the group process (e.g. in group conflicts or problems, or when there is a lack of motivation in the group) 15. Student is committed to the group goals and group rules related to deadlines and attendance 16. Student prepares well for the meetings 17. Student often gives his/her opinion 18. Student can explain well what s/he wants to say 19. Student listens attentively to others 20. Student often takes initiative and is proactive 21. Student is motivated 22. Student contributes positively to the general team spirit 23. Student gives feedback in a positive and constructive way 24. Student receives feedback in a positive way, and is open to criticism 25. Student is flexible and is open to other viewpoints 26. Student performed well as the chairperson and as minute taker

(Average) x

(Good)

(Excellent)

x x x

x x

x x

1 Quality Criteria: (Poor) 10. Student is able to conduct proper

2 (Average) x

3 (Good)

4 (Excellent)

34

research, using the techniques learned in Research Skills 1 (especially secondary research) 11. Student has the ability to generate ideas and concepts 12. Student has a clear sense of purpose and relevance in carrying out the tasks 13. Student produces high-quality work 14. Student has a good level of English 15. Student is a hard and efficient worker. 16. Student is able to apply and use the terminology learned in Communication Theory 17. Student pays an important contribution to the poster presentation 18. Student pays an important contribution to the written report x x x x x x x x

Assessed student: Hanneke 1 Project Management Skills: (Poor) 27. Student addresses issues related to the group process (e.g. in group conflicts or problems, or when there is a lack of motivation in the group) 28. Student is committed to the group goals and group rules related to deadlines and attendance 29. Student prepares well for the meetings 30. Student often gives his/her opinion x 35 x x (Average) (Good) (Excellent) x 2 3 4

31. Student can explain well what s/he wants to say 32. Student listens attentively to others 33. Student often takes initiative and is proactive 34. Student is motivated 35. Student contributes positively to the general team spirit 36. Student gives feedback in a positive and constructive way 37. Student receives feedback in a positive way, and is open to criticism 38. Student is flexible and is open to other viewpoints 39. Student performed well as the chairperson and as minute taker

x x

x x

1 Quality Criteria: (Poor) 19. Student is able to conduct proper research, using the techniques learned in Research Skills 1 (especially secondary research) 20. Student has the ability to generate ideas and concepts 21. Student has a clear sense of purpose and relevance in carrying out the tasks 22. Student produces high-quality work 23. Student has a good level of English 24. Student is a hard and efficient worker. x

2 (Average) x

3 (Good)

4 (Excellent)

36

25. Student is able to apply and use the terminology learned in Communication Theory 26. Student pays an important contribution to the poster presentation 27. Student pays an important contribution to the written report

Assessed student: Tom 1 Project Management Skills: (Poor) 40. Student addresses issues related to the group process (e.g. in group conflicts or problems, or when there is a lack of motivation in the group) 41. Student is committed to the group goals and group rules related to deadlines and attendance 42. Student prepares well for the meetings 43. Student often gives his/her opinion 44. Student can explain well what s/he wants to say 45. Student listens attentively to others 46. Student often takes initiative and is proactive 47. Student is motivated 48. Student contributes positively to the general team spirit 49. Student gives feedback in a positive and constructive way 37 x x x x x x x x x (Average) x (Good) (Excellent) 2 3 4

50. Student receives feedback in a positive way, and is open to criticism 51. Student is flexible and is open to other viewpoints 52. Student performed well as the chairperson and as minute taker x x

1 Quality Criteria: (Poor) 28. Student is able to conduct proper research, using the techniques learned in Research Skills 1 (especially secondary research) 29. Student has the ability to generate ideas and concepts 30. Student has a clear sense of purpose and relevance in carrying out the tasks 31. Student produces high-quality work 32. Student has a good level of English 33. Student is a hard and efficient worker. 34. Student is able to apply and use the terminology learned in Communication Theory 35. Student pays an important contribution to the poster presentation 36. Student pays an important contribution to the written report

2 (Average) x

3 (Good)

4 (Excellent)

x x x x

Assessed student: Isa Project Management Skills: 1 2 3 4

38

(Poor) 53. Student addresses issues related to the group process (e.g. in group conflicts or problems, or when there is a lack of motivation in the group) 54. Student is committed to the group goals and group rules related to deadlines and attendance 55. Student prepares well for the meetings 56. Student often gives his/her opinion 57. Student can explain well what s/he wants to say 58. Student listens attentively to others 59. Student often takes initiative and is proactive 60. Student is motivated 61. Student contributes positively to the general team spirit 62. Student gives feedback in a positive and constructive way 63. Student receives feedback in a positive way, and is open to criticism 64. Student is flexible and is open to other viewpoints 65. Student performed well as the chairperson and as minute taker

(Average)

(Good)

(Excellent) x

x x x

x x

x x

1 Quality Criteria: (Poor) 37. Student is able to conduct proper

2 (Average)

3 (Good)

4 (Excellent) x 39

research, using the techniques learned in Research Skills 1 (especially secondary research) 38. Student has the ability to generate ideas and concepts 39. Student has a clear sense of purpose and relevance in carrying out the tasks 40. Student produces high-quality work 41. Student has a good level of English 42. Student is a hard and efficient worker. 43. Student is able to apply and use the terminology learned in Communication Theory 44. Student pays an important contribution to the poster presentation 45. Student pays an important contribution to the written report x x x x x x x

40

8.Subproduct 8 and 9
1. According to Mathias Hrdemann (personal communication, December 4, 2012), Business Navigation and Operation Manager at IKEA Oldenburg, IKEAs crisis management always consists of a board of managers who are in charge of the planning of processes within the crisis management. IKEA (n.d.) officially calls this board of managers its steering team. Hrdemann divides the crisis management into three levels; local, national and international. If the crisis is small and concerns just the local area of a subsidiary, the board of managers of this subsidiary come together and discusses what to do. A basic crisis-management is provided from the head office for every subsidiary in the country. The same happens on a national and international level. The difference is, Hrdemann explains, that subsidiaries would have no independent PR-department and therefore, they would contact the Public Relation department in the IKEAs head office of the retail country for advice. IKEAs PR-departments employ so called Communication Responsibles, who play a major role in the companies crisis management. As IKEA (n.d.) states on its website, the task of the Communication Responsibles is to support the store Crisis/Steering team by assisting in the development of key message statements and Q&A documents *+ to efficiently minimize any potential negative impact on our brand. One example is the key message statement, made by Jeanette Skjelmose, sustainability manager at IKEA, concerning the last big IKEA crisis concerning forced labors in the former DDR (Forbes, 2012): We deeply regret that this could happen. The use of political prisoners in production has never been acceptable to the IKEA Group. At the time, we didnt have todays well-developed control system and obviously didnt do enough to prevent such production conditions among our former GDR suppliers. (qtd. in Forbes,, 2012) The task of the Communication Responsible is to formulate these statements in a way which supports the relationship with the public and the company in a crisis. The spokesperson during a crisis is normally the Store Manager who can be represented by the communication responsible in rare cases. (IKEA, n.d.)

IKEA. (n.d.). Jobs@IKEA. Retrieved January 4, 2013, from http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/IrwJobSearch Forbes. (2012). Five ways your company can avoid a crisis like Ikeas. Retrieved December 22, 2012, from http://www.forbes.com/sites/csr/2012/11/18/five-ways-your-company-can-avoid-a-crisis-likeikeas/ 41

2. Ikeas corporate communication "Our vision is to create a better everyday life for the many people." This is Ikeas mission statement. It is what the whole idea of Ikea revolves around, creating nice, affordable furniture for people to make peoples lives better. However the mission statement itself is almost impossible to actually achieve, therefore they also have a business statement: "Offering a wide range of well-designed, functional home furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them." This is what Ikea is known for, therefore this statement is very important for their corporate communication. If Ikea were to deviate from this statement they would be in trouble as their stakeholders etc. would probably lose trust in them for Ikea would probably lose a lot of customers as a consequence of this. Ikea has an information technology department which is very important to them. Information technology is the use of computers and telecommunications equipment to store, retrieve, transmit and manipulate data (Wikipedia.) Ikea has shops all over the world, therefore it is very important for them to make sure every shop matches the companies way of working, this is what the information technology department is used for. A modern IT network also enables Ikea stores to share information with one another efficiently, handle orders and communicate with suppliers and customers with continuity (Ikea, support functions) By doing this Ikea makes it easier for themselves to send out of cohersive message to its customers and stakeholders, which is one of the key factors of successful corporate communication. Ikea does a lot for charity. Some people even go as far as calling Ikea a charity in itself. This suits popular is because people know that they do a lot for charity. A big part of Ikea is the Ikea foundation. The Ikea is all about funding poverty among children around the world and making sure that these children have a bigger chance of a good future. Ikea mainly does this by investing in long term programmes in developing countries which try to make sure that every childs fundamental needs are fulfilled as good possible. Ikea is also very involved in helping the environment. They try to help out the environment as much as possible by making sure their products are as environmental friendly as possible and by helping out the environment all over the world. For example, in 2010 Ikea planted 1.5 million trees across the whole of America. Ikea also started a Solar energy programme. They started placing solar panels on top of Ikeas in America to make sure Ikea would use as much natural energy as possible and therefore reduce their carbon footprint. IWAY. IWAY is Ikeas code of conduct and is short for, The Ikea Way on Purchasing Home Furnishing Products. This code of conduct explains the expectations that suppliers should have of Ikea and the expectations that Ikea has of its suppliers. It is based on rules created by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the International Labour Organisation Declaration on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work (1998), and the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992). The IWAY code of conduct is all about how the working conditions should be, the protection of the environment, making sure there are no cases of child labour etc. Countering corruption is also important to Ikea. They have a clear anti corruption policy, and even have a special investigation policy which explains what employees of Ikea should do if they detect corruption and all illegal behaviour in general.

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As you can see all of the things that Ikea does coincide with their mission statement. Keeping to this mission statement and their image is obviously very important for Ikea, therefore their corporate communication is of high importance. 3. Marketing Communication of the IKEA. The IKEA uses several devices to communicate with their costumers; internet, television, billboards, folders, a magazine for IKEA Family members but best known is the IKEA Catalog. The store and the Catalog is the main part of IKEAs Marketing communication. The Catalog is in fact the main marketing tool, which takes up around 70% of the annual marketing budget. The IKEA operates by the motto of we shall offer a wide range of well designed, functional Home Furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them. They want to be a lifestyle and family store. The IKEA thinks their customers are very important, they come first, this is why they offer several facilities within every store, such as Smaland for the children and a food court. The IKEA also offers their customers the IKEA Family Card, this card offers them discount on some products, a magazine four times a year and free coffee or tea at the IKEA restaurants. Everybody can get this card, older than 18. The IKEA has a very clear house style. The first thing a customer will notice in the stores is the colours blue and yellow. Clearly the IKEA uses cultural strategy, with the colours of the flag and the Swedish style. They name their products with typical Swedish things such as Swedish place names, Scandinavian lakes, rivers and bays, mammals etc. The motto (we shall offer a wide range of well designed, functional Home Furnishing products at prices so low that as many people as possible will be able to afford them) of the IKEA is represented in several messages they want to put across. The production statement: We do our part focuses on their commitment to product design.

Online.wsj. (August 12, 2012) IKEA's New Catalogs: Less Pine, More Pixels Retrieved: January 10, 2013 from: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10000872396390444508504577595414031195148.html IKEA. Privacy Policy. Retrieved: January 6, 2013 http://www.ikea.com/us/en/privacy_policy_new.html Wikipedia. IKEA Community Impact. Retrieved: December 18, 2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IKEA#Community_impact Slideshare. IKEA building a global brand. Retrieved January 6, 2013 http://www.slideshare.net/gregbodenlos/ikea-building-a-global-brand Slideshare. IKEA Marketing Idea. Retrieved December 28, 2012 http://www.slideshare.net/pimpisaj/ikea-marketing-idea Slideshare. IKEA Global Success Strategy. Retrieved January 6, 2013 http://www.slideshare.net/sanil/ikea-global-success-strategy

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IKEA. Family Card Benefits. Retrieved December 28, 2012 http://www.ikea.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/DisplayPage?layout=memberBenefits&storeId =7&langId=-20&catalogId=11001&localStore=10096

4. Public Relations from IKEA are about keeping its global image healthy and fresh but does it succeed? Some examples of mentionings in the media and the reactions of IKEA. Example 1: Political Prisoners When IKEA was faced with the accusations that former DDR prisoners helped develop products for IKEA during their imprisonment in the 80s, the company reacted by stating: "Even though Ikea Group took steps to secure that prisoners were not used in production, it is now clear that these measures were not effective enough." At first, IKEA did not seem to have taken any actions except from apologising, though the first company to openly do so. IKEA does seem to focus more on their positive marketing skills and has announced to donate funds to research projects on forced labour in the DDR. Sources: http://www.prweek.com/uk/news/1160372/Ikea-admits-using-political-prisoners-help-itsproducts/?DCMP=ILC-SEARCH http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2012/nov/16/ikea-regrets-forced-labour-germany Example 2: Women in Saudi Arabia After erasing women in ads from its catalogue for Saudi Arabia, IKEA received strong reactions several strong reactions. "We should have reacted and realised that excluding women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalogue is in conflict with the Ikea Group values." In this case, IKEA apologizes but they dont really seem to do anything about it as we can see in the catalogues from Saudi Arabia. In the 2013 catalogue they keep erasing or cutting women out of pictures in spite of stating that it is against their policy. If this practice will be continued remains to be seen. Source: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/oct/02/ikea-apologises-removing-womensaudi-arabia-catalogue
Example 3: IKEAs big sleepover IKEA used a promotion campaign designed and executed by PR Team Cake (http://www.cakegroup.com/) to promote its bedroom range and encourage customers to view the stores as places where they could get advice during the furnishing and design process. Source: http://www.prweek.com/uk/features/1155154/

5. What kind of events does IKEA organize, what are the benefits and reasons? The event managers have a big job to do. They have to come up with a plan via brainstorm to the perfect execution of the event till cleaning up. They have to make sure it will be a success with benefitting results. You can find all the information about the events IKEA organize on their website. Its easy to reach and you can see if there is anything to do in your town with a click of a button. There are cooking workshops held and workshops as how to buy the right mattress. 44

First thing event managers have to do is research. They have to find out which area needs more publicity, if they dont sell a lot of kitchens or the sales of mattresses is decreasing. If so, managers brainstorm and communicate with other departments to know where help is needed. Communication between the different departments is very important so everybody is up to date. IKEA not only organize events for the company itself but also to raise money for charity. In 2008 there was a cuddle night in Amsterdam to raise money for save the children and in 2011 IKEA provided sleeping places for the people who participated at the Nijmeegse 4-day walking event. (source: How to Manage a Business Event | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how_6331964_manage-businessevent.html#ixzz2E15XR9Rw ) ( source: http://www.ikea.com/nl/nl/about_ikea/newsitem/persbericht_ministerkoenders ) (source: http://www.ikea.com/nl/nl/about_ikea/newsitem/pb_droomkamerdorp )

6. Internal Communication of the IKEA

IKEA is a privately held company that is owned by INGKA Foundation. Which is a non-profit organisation in Leiden, the Netherlands. Its controlled by the Kamprad Family. This Dutch Foundation, which is worth 36 billion dollors in 2006 (according to the Economist) is created by Kamprad in 1982. He stated the following purpose: to promote and support innovation in the field of architectural and interior design. INGKA Foundation is the owner of INGKA Holding B.V. INGKA Holding B.V. is the parent company for all of the IKEA Group companies.

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9.Subproduct 10

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10.Subproduct 11
The content: no long sentences, keywords, we have put Event management and PR into the same section. The Layout: Yellow and blue colors, grey as background, use squares to put information in, squares in yellow colors with blue frames, use IKEAS rulers and pencils in the layout

11.Subproduct 12
Extra Material: Self-presentation? Oral presentation: Ballons, Laptop, ruler, pencils Everyone in black/white, black suits or dresses, no casual clothes Everyone should be prepared to do the presentation, but we choose one major spokesperson

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