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Leading By Design: The Ikea Story
Ingvar Kamprad , and Bertil Torekull Manufacturer: Collins ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0066620384 |
Amazon.com
Leading by Design is really, of course, the story of Ingvar Kamprad, the Swedish furniture retailer who turned Ikea into a company that now has 41,000 workers at 150 stores in 30 countries who annually distribute 100 million catalogs and sell $6.25 billion in goods. And what a story it is. Based on extensive conversations with the subject, 100 additional interviews, and various documents both public and private, business journalist Bertil Torekull employs an unusual mixture of blunt first-person recollections and narrative overviews delivered with literary flair to peel away the intricacies of Kamprad's life. Along the way, Torekull reveals the creative forces that propelled Kamprad's distinctive entrepreneurial drive and fashioned a successful company. "Imagine one of the coldest little countries in the world. Think of the most barren part of that country. See in front of you a godforsaken place deep in the wild spruce forests," Torekull begins. "This book is about a man who grew up in that harsh environment, which was to mark his whole life and fundamentally color the philosophy with which he built his vast empire." Delving into a fascinating career that began taking shape at the unlikely age of 5, Torekull presents this tale in a way that entertains as well as educates. --Howard RothmanBook Description
Based on exclusive interviews with the legendary founder of IKEA, Ingvar Kamprad, Leading by Design tells the inside story of Kamprad's humble roots and of the visionary concepts and innovative strategies that turned a small, Swedish mail-order company into a worldwide commercial giant.When in 1943 at age seventeen Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA, he had no way of knowing that IKEA would come to represent dedication to quality, a distinct design style, and convenience to the harried modern consumer. Today, more than 195 million people worldwide frequent his 150 stores in thirty countries, and almost 100 million catalogs are printed each year.
As the grandson of German immigrants who went to Sweden in search of a better life, Ingvar Kamprad grew up on a farm in a rural village. But he was no farmer. Early in his life, he discovered his natural affinity for business. From cigarette lighters and fish to Christmas cards and pens, young Ingvar devoted himself to importing and selling anything he thought he could make a profit on. Furniture was just one item in a long and fairly undistinguished list'until, in an effort to best his main competitor, he took a chance on an armless nursing chair he called Ruth. It quickly sold out. Adding a coffee table and then a sofa bed and then a chandelier, Kamprad was astonished by how quickly the merchandise moved.
The rest is business history. In Leading by Design, Bertil Torekull, a well-known Swedish journalist, reveals the genius and the secrets behind IKEA's extraordinary success. With candor and detail, he offers insights into Kamprad's cutting-edge management strategies, his enthusiasm to embrace innovative methods (such as producing ready-to-assemble merchandise and using a car door factory to produce affordable products with universal appeal), and the tools he used to grow the IKEA brand into a veritable industry unto itself.
More than a standard business history Leading by Design captures the essence of Kamprad himself. It is a testament to the inspiration, the ideas, and the innovations that make a good business great.
Customer Reviews:
Misunderstood!.......2002-10-20
At first glanze this book is really boring. But if you give it time, let it melt in and try to see how it was in Sweden for 50 years ago: IF you can put the book in to context you really get a complete and a invaluable picture of THE IKEA WAY.
Without sounding to cooky I just wanna say that this book is right up there with the books about Nordstroms, Jack Welch and etc.
Really, buy this book if you wanna learn lean and mean business the IKEA way. The customers rule....this is the IKEA way...
So you think Jack Welch is better? Just wanna tell you that Ingvar Kamprad made the 50 riches people in the world list!!! THATS SOMETHING!!!
Nice Store, [bad] Story.......2002-03-10
Pass on THIS book and learn about IKEA and its very interesting challenges, history, strategy, and product line (and its founder) from better authors around the Internet.
Progress by Experiment According to Family Principles.......2000-09-03
The book claims to tell the IKEA story, but really focuses on writing a biography of Ingvar Kamprad, the company's founder. As a biography, the strength of the book is in describing the family and physical environment that were early influences on Kamprad. Past about the first 30 pages, the book doesn't add much. The most interesting parts of the biography come late in the book when Kamprad's early associations with a fascist group are detailed in the context of press reports exposed in the late 1990s. These should have been fully developed early in the book, rather than treated as a later discussion of how to handle bad publicity. Most good biographies teach you something that you need to know. When I was done with this one, I didn't feel like I had learned anything. There probably were lessons there to be drawn out, but the author did not succeed in helping me find them. That meant that I knocked the book down one star.
IKEA has been an interesting international success with an unusual formula. The book assumes a great personal knowledge of that formula. Yet there are very few of the IKEA stores in most countries, so many people who will read this book will lack the experience of knowing about what is being described. Originally written for the Swedish market, that lack of handling the perspective of what the store experience is like limits the book's ability to translate its lessons. I rated the book down one more star for insufficient background early in the book on the reasons why the business works and how it works today. These are dropped in occasionally, so many of them are there by the end. You would then have to read the book a second time to really understand the relevance of the points.
Next, the book attempts to describe the company's success. A lot of time is spent on this, but the author seems to lack the perspective to pick out what is important and what is not. Kamprod is a classic experimenter. If something works well, he does a lot more of it. After a while that pattern becomes something he will not vary from. Since he was not a systemmatic experimenter, it meant that many developments were delayed. On the other hand, he always made it a place where people liked to work so he had someplace to stand on for continuity as the experiments continued. Without the necessary perspective, this is a little like reading 30 annual reports. Unless you have lots of management background, you will have trouble seeing what the important management lessons are in this book.
Basically, Kamprod is an advocate of low-priced distribution of low-cost, mass-produced goods based on high quality designs. His personal values are those of family and treating people with hospitality (like an honored guest). Having started his business from the family farm in Sweden with family and neighbors having been the first customers and employees, you can see the influences quite easily. What is unusual is that his business model developed earlier than that of other furniture merchants. It was reasonably complete by 1960. Only in the last ten years have we seen a reasonably similar store experience in the Boston area.
The best part of the book is that it contains lots of first-person stories from Kamprad. As such, this book will be a valuable source for the first person to write a good book about IKEA as a management case history. I hope that book will soon be written. There must be important insights to be gained about how IKEA developed its business model so many years ahead of others, but I could not figure out what those insights were.
In the meantime, unless you have a compulsive interest in learning more about IKEA today, skip this book.
A fascinating history of a unique man and his vision.......1999-09-20
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Leading By Design: The Ikea Story
Ingvar; Torekull, Bertil Kamprad Manufacturer: Collins ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: B000OFDV9S |
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Gretzky's Game (Hockey Heroes Series)
Mike Leonetti Manufacturer: Raincoast Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 1551928515 |
Book Description
Customer Reviews:
Book-Gretsky's Game.......2007-03-08
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The Magic Hockey Stick
Peter Maloney , and Felicia Zekauskas Manufacturer: Dial ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 0803724764 |
Book Description
Inspired by a real event, this is the fictional tale of a little girl whose parents win Wayne Gretzky's hockey stick at an auction. When the child begins to play with it, she becomes her team's star. Meanwhile, "The Great One" goes into the greatest slump of his career. Realizing he needs the stick more than she does, the girl returns it to him, and Gretzky gets over his thousand-goal hump.Customer Reviews:
nice book.......2007-05-04
The Magic Hockey Stick.......2007-04-03
The Magic Hockey Stick.......2007-03-09
For the ultimate child hockey fan.......2007-01-09
My Little Hockey Junkies Love This Book.......2006-03-11
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Wayne Gretzky: The Making of the Great One
Mark Messier Manufacturer: Beckett Pubns ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 1887432477 |
Book Description
The making of The Great One. An informative biography of the legend of Wayne Gretzky told by Mark Messier, Brett Hull, Walter Gretzky, Gordie Howe, and others.Customer Reviews:
If you love Gretzky, you'll love this book/ fantastic photos.......1999-09-08
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Wayne Gretzky: Hockey Player (Ferguson Career Biographies)
Michael Benson Manufacturer: Ferguson Publishing Company ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items: ASIN: 0816055459 |
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The Great One : The Life and Times of Wayne Gretzky
Andrew Podnieks Manufacturer: Triumph Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover Similar Items:
ASIN: 1572433523 |
Book Description
One of this century's greatest athletes, Wayne Gretzky, The Great One, never failed to enthrall hockey fans with his incredible talent and skill.It was with bittersweet sadness that the hockey world accepted the retirement of its most beloved player after the 1998-99 season. For the past twenty years, Wayne Gretzky above all has epitomized the toughness, power, and excitement of hockey. A class act, admired by teammates and foes alike, holder of numerous records, and always a consummate sportsman, Gretzky simply defines the game of hockey.
Including more than 120 extraordinary black and white and color photographs, The Great One celebrates Gretzky, from his early days as Brantford, Ontario's whiz kid, all the way to his Stanley Cup glories. The Great One includes a compilation of number ninety-nine's records of achievement and game-by-game statistics for his two decades of excellence.
Expertly written and researched by hockey historian Andrew Podnieks, the book also includes rare interviews, anecdotes, and little-known facts about Gretzky.
With Wayne Gretzky's retirement, hockey fans everyone mourned the passing of an era. But Gretzky's words and achievements live on in The Great One. There is no better way to remember the career of hockey's most superb and charismatic player.
ANDREW PODNIEKS is the author of many books on hockey, including The Blue and White Book, Portraits of the Game, and Shooting Stars. A hockey historian, photographer, and former creative writing teacher, Andrew lives in Toronto.
Customer Reviews:
[Out of Four stars] Wayne accomplished more than Andrew expresses but still a good read on the 'Great One'.......2007-04-27
Not this time Wayne.......2005-02-26
The Great One: Life and Times of Wayne Gretzky.......2000-05-16
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On the Ice With Wayne Gretzky (Matt Christopher Sports Biographies)
Matt Christopher Manufacturer: Little Brown & Co (Juv Pap) ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0316137898 |
Customer Reviews:
da bomb" gretzky".......2000-03-17
Thie was a great book about the greatest player in hockey!.......1999-03-13
outstanding.......1997-09-22
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Walter Gretzky: On Family, Hockey and Healing
Walter Gretzky Manufacturer: Random House Canada ProductGroup: Book Binding: Hardcover ASIN: 0679311149 Release Date: 2001-10-23 |
Book Description
The inspiring story of an ordinary man who, from humble beginnings and against the odds of a devastating illness, has led—is leading—an extraordinary life.
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Jean Beliveau: My Life in Hockey
Jean Beliveau , Chris Goyens , and Allan Turowetz Manufacturer: Greystone Books ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 1553651499 |
Book Description
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Gretzky: An Autobiography
Wayne Gretzky , and Rick Reilly Manufacturer: HarperTorch ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback Similar Items:
ASIN: 0061099309 |
Customer Reviews:
GREATEST AUTOBIOGRAPHY EVER!.......2006-05-12
Good Book.......2006-03-03
My Favorite Autobiography of All Time.......2005-12-03
a GREATzky book.......2005-05-24
He's not Whine Bratzky for nothin'!.......2002-12-31
He imagines the kids who played with and against him growing up hated him because of his God-given talent. He takes a perverse pride in impregnating his wife 4 months before their wedding. He resentfully informs us that if a family member or friend wants to go to a game, the player has to buy the ticket. He gratingly talks about himself in the third person. Yet, his egomania is almost understandable, though not inexcusable. In an amazingly frank 1990 interview with the L.A. Times, he revealed how Walter Gretzky got his jollies toying with his boy's psyche and pushing him unforgivingly to make it beyond the 3rd line of his pee-wee team (the apex of Gretzky pere's career).
He slams everyone from his houseboy (for not being a coffee expert even though he comes from Columbia) to a woman at a newsstand (for demanding he pay for an issue of Time he was on the cover of). But he saves most of his bile for Peter Pocklington. True, he would've become a mega-star anyway, but Pocklington came along at a time when the NHL wouldn't touch him due to his age; for that alone, Gretzky should be thankful. Promblem is, he doesn't know the meaning of the word...I don't know what bothers me more, how he paints himself as the hapless victim of The Trade (he wasn't) or the smirk on his face on the cover. If Gretzky proves anything, it's that he's petty, emotionally immature, at times, a real jerk, and even something of a bigot ...anything but the "class act" the media - and himself - believes he is.
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Wayne Gretzky: Hockey Great (Achievers)
Thomas R. Raber Manufacturer: LernerSports ProductGroup: Book Binding: Paperback ASIN: 0822598485 |
Book Description
After nearly two decades in the NHL, Wayne Gretzky continues to hold most of the league's major scoring records. In fact, he holds more NHL records than any other player. Growing up in Ontario, Wayne started playing hockey when he was only four, on an ice rink his father built in their backyard. He went on to become known as "the Great One," playing in 18 All-Star games, named MVP nine times, and ranked as the league's leading scorer 10 times. This completely revised and updated biography follows Wayne's exciting career, from his four Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers to his achievements with the New York Rangers, and retirement from Hockey.Customer Reviews:
Wayne Gretzky.......2000-11-03
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