Store Manager
Frank Briel has been with Ikea since the 1990s. He seems to have a real knack for the job, having performed it at several stores, including one that he opened in New England. Because Frank Briel has been with the company for so long, he was uniquely positioned to tell us about the company culture, the reason for the company’s successes.
Throughout our discussion, Frank Briel explained the new infamous history of Ikea. It started as a mail-order company in 1943 in a small town in Sweeden. Through its mission of “creating better everyday life for the many”, the affordable furniture business was able to grow on a global scale. Ikea is focused on providing what the company calls democratic design: sustainability, form, low price, quality and function. It has ingrained these values in its employees and is always encouraging its employees to think of ways that products and packaging can be improved. For example, when Ikea expanded into the United States, the employees noticed that customers were buying vases by the dozens. When asked why they needed so many vases, the customers replied that they were using them as cups because the cups were too small. As a result of this inquiry by employees, the cups sent to the US markets after that incident were much larger. In order to stay ahead of trends and to provide the best products to consumers, Ikea publishes an annual Life at Home report, where it analyzes how consumers go about their lives at home and tries to find ways in which furniture can be used to improve daily activities. It is small things like these that make Ikea such a successful and beloved company.
What I found to be particularly impressive about the company, though, is its commitment to its core values. Ikea is focused on items to fill the home and that’s it. So, in 1980, Ikea was reluctant to expand into Japan, where it would have to relinquish control of the store operations to a franchisee. After fifteen years, the franchisee decided that it wanted to sell tires as well. Ikea tried to explain to the franchisee that that’s not how things were done at Ikea stores; it sold only household items. So, instead of selling out like some companies might have, Ikea decided to pull the plug on Japan for the time being. It has since reentered the market and only sells the typical Ikea products.
What stuck with me at the end of this discussion was the transparency between the leadership and the employees at the store. Frank Briel explained to us that at one point his annual earnings had somehow been made public by accident. The Human Resources department told him to tell the employees that those reports were faked because they were worried that the employees would resent him for the amount of money that he made. Briel told them that he would not lie. So, he called a storewide meeting that morning and used it as a motivator; he told his employees that that was in fact the amount that he made every year and that each one of them can make those figures if they worked hard enough and rose up the ranks. Not only did he avoid a situation that might have caused severe resentment among the workers, but he motivated them to work harder because of the report. In my opinion, it’s this transparency and honesty that keeps employees faithful and hardworking.
Overall, Frank Briel gave us a very comprehensive look at the history and strategy of the company but what I enjoyed the most were the anecdotes that truly explain the successes of the company and that cannot simply be found online.