Earlier this semester, the Master of Management in Retailing students attended their first Retail Leaders Talk event with guest speaker, Michael Ward, CEO and Chief Sustainability Officer of IKEA Canada, where he shared his insights on business from a digital and global perspective.
Michael’s journey with IKEA began with what started as an internship in 1986. From there he quickly progressed to various positions within IKEA Canada, and then moved onto IKEA globally where he held leadership roles in Sweden, the Netherlands and the United States. Michael has a passion for retail and a proven track record of driving growth and leading through change on both a country and a global level.
Discussions like this one provide a valuable practical element to the MMR experience, allowing us to connect with the material taught in the classroom through real-world examples and interactions with industry leaders. After the talk, we were given the opportunity to interview Ward, asking questions we prepared to gain a deeper understanding of the topics he touched on during the discussion.
These help us gain better perspectives in the retail industry and provide real-life examples to build on our theoretical knowledge.
One of the main topics Ward discussed during his time with our cohort was sustainable business strategy, including IKEA’s sustainability strategy and their implementation throughout the organization. For IKEA, sustainability means having a positive impact on people and on the planet, while achieving economic growth. The organization strives for resources and energy independence, positive impact on communities and access to sustainable raw materials.
Ward believes that “a sustainable world that provides a great quality of life for many people, respects human rights, protects the environment is not only possible but it’s absolutely necessary and it's something that IKEA needs to work on at the core of everything they do.” When designing products, sustainability is one of the most important principles that the organization considers.
Ward states that the organization incorporates circularity with their design approaches, which makes it easier to be more creative at the end of the life cycle. The focus on circularity aligns with IKEA’s belief that sustainability should not be a luxury that few can afford.
Ward also discussed IKEA’s sell back program which rolled out at the beginning of 2019. This sell back program allows anyone to take back their gently used IKEA furniture and give it another life where it is resold in the circular hub or it is donated through other organizations such as Habitat for Humanity. To this day, IKEA has received over 50,000 submissions nationwide through the sell-back program which they plan on scaling up in the future due to its big potential.
Another key topic discussed was IKEA's workplace culture and how they are creating a safe and welcoming environment for their employees. For six years running, IKEA has been named one of Canada’s best employers by Forbes. IKEA invests in their workers and prioritizes their health and safety, especially throughout the pandemic.
One example of this is the organization took their traditional sick pay program where workers had twelve sick days and turned them into “wellness days” to promote flexibility during these unprecedented times. IKEA promotes equality and respect for human rights as they strive for a welcoming and inclusive environment for greater ethnic and racial equality as well as gender equality for workers and communities.
Nationwide, IKEA has implemented mental health and first aid training for all leaders within the organization to improve health in all aspects.
After Ward’s presentation, we had a segment where the students of the MMR program could interview him and ask relevant questions. Some of the questions we asked included “The pandemic has greatly affected the last 2 years. How has IKEA’s strategy changed between 2020 vs 2021?” Also asked was “IKEA has a physical presence in over 50 countries worldwide. How does the business strategy differ between the different countries? Especially in Europe vs. North America?” These and “What does digital transformation mean for IKEA, specifically thinking about AI?” are a few of such questions asked by the students.
Ward proudly shared that they had already started their journey of massive transformation a year-and-a-half before the pandemic. He explained how the pandemic exposed their weaknesses and showcased their strengths. Click and collect and delivery sales grew from 12% to 40% overnight, demonstrating the importance of shifting focus.
He also mentioned that IKEA’s core values and business can be adopted in every part of the world as though peoples’ emotional connection to their home is the same. IKEA has done massive studies in all parts of the world to help in better implementation of strategies locally although their overarching business model remains the same at low prices and reaching many people. Ward explained how people in Germany like to sit on their sofa while those in North America prefer to sit into theirs! Therefore, it is important for IKEA to know these preferences for comfort and accommodate accordingly.
With regards to digital transformation, Ward mentions the importance of having a well-developed system architecture to accommodate the rapid changes in the digital world, before moving into AI. Having ease of use, self-serve and convenient shopping experiences online are now a priority to customers. IKEA also plans to have more data-relevant strategies implemented while ensuring data privacy of all their valuable customers.
Overall, this was a wonderful opportunity for us as students of the MMR program to not only meet a leader from an established retail company but to also be able to interview him. This session was one that truly helped the students get a feel for how businesses work globally, and this aligned well onto one of the core experiential components that the MMR program stresses on. We count it a privilege to learn from such prominent global business leaders, as it’s expanded and challenged our thinking to how business should be done with both a digital and global perspective.
Written by: Maria Shirokov and Jelena Rajkumar
MMR Program
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