“We try to keep the center of the company relatively lean, and not make too many decisions centrally that would be better made in stores or factories close to customers and suppliers. Therefore, we must have a strong group of co-workers who can make the right decisions to support our strategies.”
(ook) IKEA wordt beïnvloed door de huidige crisis. Een logische (….) stap zou dan zijn (of lijken) door juist nu te ‘besparen’ op je uitgaven dus ook op de investering in je medewerkers (e.o. ontslagen). Da’s niet waarvoor IKEA koos.
Ian Worling, director of business navigation: “We didn’t focus on cutting costs, because that’s the easiest thing to do in retail. You just lay people off, and cut back some of your capital expenditure, and it reduces your variable costs. But it also weakens you. Instead, we decided to make structural changes — to rethink our practices.” Heroriënteren ofwel: wat gaat Goed, wat kan Beter?
De 4 voorstellen waarmee men kwam zijn: “First was lowering operational costs, especially where customers didn’t see. Second, we had to become even better at increasing volume, because that allows us to lower our cost of goods and operating costs. Third, we had to develop an even better-functioning supply chain. The fourth area involved empowering our co-workers.”
Worling roemt de cultuur van IKEA: Our biggest advantage was Ikea’s culture and value. Culture is extremely important at Ikea, even more so than at other companies. We work hard to ensure that as new people come in, they understand who we are and what we’re trying to do. The people who work here genuinely want to be here and share Ikea’s core values of cost consciousness and humility.
I suppose that we must do a lot of things reasonably well, but we never talk about that. We always talk about where we’ve disappointed people and how we can do better. When we have a particularly good triumph, you’ll hear someone say: “Okay, we’ll take one minute now for satisfaction, and then move on.”
Tot slot is zijn advies: “We don’t see low costs and high quality as incompatible; we find ways to increase resources where it is the right thing to do.” W.o. (dus) investeren in je medewerkers (nb: ‘human resources’) ook, of zeker, in tijden van ‘crisis’. We noemen dat ook wel ‘anti-cyclisch denken & handelen’……
Mooie casus. Lees ook: How Ikea Reassembled Its Growth Strategy.
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is om jezelf als “goed werkgever” te presenteren, IiP-erkenning als een onderscheidend vermogen op een krappe (arbeids)markt, dus.
