Furniture rooms, children's areas and Swedish food restaurants: This will be the first Ikea store in Chile and South America

The space is expected to open in the middle of the year in the Open Kennedy shopping center in Las Condes, while a second branch is expected to start operating in the second half of the year, in Mallplaza Oeste.

The multinational founded in Sweden in 1943, stands out for offering furniture and accessories for the home. It has more than 400 stores in 50 different markets, and a branch in Santiago is expected to start operating in the middle of the year.

Among the features that the store will have, the firm said, is a children's area (called Smland), which functions as a supervised playground. In addition, it will have a restaurant and a bistro where visitors can taste preparations such as meatballs and other Nordic products.

There will also be a space called "Swedish Market", characteristic of Ikea stores in the world, which offers products from that country, as well as a place for plant-based foods.

"When you visit Ikea stores we want you to feel at home and for this, we will offer a complete experience, which invites you to try, touch and feel our products. In addition, you will be able to explore and be inspired by our home decoration ideas," he explains. Marita Marante, operations and customer experience manager at Ikea Chile, Colombia and Peru.

The tour of the store The first Ikea campus in Chile will follow the same logic as all the company's stores in the world. Thus, when visitors enter, they will find themselves in the furniture exhibition rooms with different styles and decorations designed for the different spaces of the home, recreating real rooms.

You will be able to open the closets and measure them. Test how comfortable a bed is and how many people fit on a sofa; You can even allow your children to try the toys and then make the decision to buy them or not. You will feel as if you were in your own home," said Marante.

Advancing in the store, other spaces appear such as the children's area, dedicated to toys, stuffed animals and children's decoration, and a room dedicated to home deco, where customers can find products such as candles, kitchen utensils, sheets and towels.

All these products will be available, starting this year, both in the first store to be located in Las Condes and in the Ikea.cl e-commerce. Also, during the second semester, the chain will open its second store in Chile, located in Mallplaza Oeste.

Based on the information presented and your own research, answer each question.

1. According to the paper The creation of shared value by Michael E. Porter and Mark R. Kramer exemplify all the ways that the company could create shared value. Be clear in your argument. Reflect on whether the company can be considered to create shared value during its existence in another country through its business model.

2. What transactional relationship (nature and purpose of international companies) does IKEA have with other companies in host countries?

3. How would you measure the productivity of IKEA in Chile? Argue the feasibility of improving productivity considering the health and economic crisis

4. Considering Marita Marante's hierarchical level, what functions and administrative skills should she carry out with greater weighting of time? Support your answer with a diagram that relates these concepts.

5. What strategic decisions have already been made in the area of operations -and are evident in the case presented- for the branch that will open in the first half of this year in Chile?

6. As seen in class, exemplify the use of forecasting and inventory management in a company like IKEA through its different sales channels.

7. Comment: "The competitive advantage that IKEA presents comes from operations, since it understands very well the role played by the components of operations management" answer true or false and complement or justify.

8. Give an example (design and propose) the different types of advertising to communicate the launch of the IKEA branch in Chile.

9. According to the administration's approaches, which one(s) could be used for the development of the products offered by IKEA?