Praise for "The IKEA Edge"

"A very good book from a talented business leader that links] values, culture, and the achievement of business and social objectives together. I have read it now three times and learned something from every passage."
--Michael Spence, recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences, 2001

"With Anders Dahlvig's recommendations, we could solve many of the world's problems by persuading the big multinationals to change their Memorandum and Articles of Association. Big business working in the interests of humanity would be a powerful tool."
--Gordon Roddick, cofounder of The Body Shop

"The IKEA Edge is a fascinating case study of an entrepreneurial company's growth to maturity. Anders Dahlvig is incisive and surprisingly straightforward in sharing the IKEA story. As a fourth-generation family business owner, I recognize the inherent paradox of building a 'good, ' value-driven company and managing for profit. Anders Dahlvig proves it can be done."
--Antonia Axson Johnson, Chairperson, Axel Johnson AB

About the Book:

With Anders Dahlvig at the helm from 1999 to 2009, the furniture giant IKEA averaged 11 percent yearly sales growth and annual operating profits in excess of 10 percent. The company hired more than 70,000 new employees and opened new stores around the world--all while maintaining its reputation as one of the world's best corporate citizens.

In "The IKEA Edge," Dahlvig tells the story of how IKEA matured from an entrepreneurial startup to a leader in the furniture industry. He recounts his 26-year career at the company and what he learned along the way. In his rise from store manager to president, Dahlvig developed the unique vision he relied upon to lead IKEA through good times and bad--by combining traditional business goals like profit and growth with the progressive interests of social responsibility and environmental stewardship. Dahlvig proves that these objectives, which are usually viewed as polar opposites, can actually work wonders together.

"The IKEA Edge" serves as an expansive case study for "doing good business while being a good business." Dahlvig clearly lays out the cornerstones that support IKEA: a vision of social responsibility; market leadership with a balanced global portfolio; differentiation through control of the value chain; and building for the long term--four principles that can be applied in any business, in any industry. social and business agenda--and it continues to grow, even during the worst global recession in history. In a time when the public's trust of business has hit bottom, such an approach to business is more critical than ever.

A combination of personal memoir, call to action, and strategic vision, "The IKEA Edge" provides the inspiration and information you need to develop a social-good/good-business agenda for your own company. Public trust, brand recognition, customer loyalty, and a world-class reputation will soon follow.

Do you dream of the perfect company? That's the company where information moves freely between all functional areas, where you never have to enter data a second time, and everything is centralized in a single enterprise management system. This is the place where you rarely work on anything in a panic because everything is planned and well-structured, where everybody has permanent access to all useful information, and where all routine tasks are automated and easily controlled. This book presents a modern approach to retail and industrial management, giving you the tools for implementing this type of integrated management based on the open source software: Open ERP. It describes how you can integrate your different services and automate tasks: sales, purchases, process management, stocks, manufacturing, etc.

This handy guide is packed with information to help beginners and experienced market vendors develop a viable product line, create attractive displays and learn simple sales techniques. Whether you sell produce, preserves or crafts, you will learn how to buy supplies efficiently, cost and price your products effectively and handle all the intricacies of market life. This book will help you achieve your goals on your own terms and in keeping with today's important trends.

Mobile Marketing: 101 Inexpensive & Profitable Ideas for Small Business is the answer to any business that is looking for ideas that are affordable, easy to use, and proven to work. In Mobile Marketing: 101 Inexpensive & Profitable Ideas for Small Business you will learn about the mobile marketing tools you can use in your business, how much they cost, and how you can use them to spur company growth, create brand awareness, build a client database and achieve many other goals. The book gives you an in-depth look at the top mobile marketing tools and specific ideas you can use in your business today. -Mobile websites -SMS or text messaging -Mobile advertising -Location-based mobile social media -Proximity marketing -Mobile apps -QR codes There are over 275 million mobile phone subscribers in the U.S., and over 100 million of them are using the mobile web from their devices. That spells opportunity. Put simply, mobile marketing is the answer to one simple question: Do your customers have a mobile phone? "What's truly needed--actionable ideas in mobile marketing that anyone can use to grow their business." -Bridget McCrea, Award-winning business journalist and author of Second Homes for Dummies.

In this book, 21 Ways To Use Social Media, I'll show you quick tips and tricks on how to benefit from the most active and free social media sites online today

This major Handbook distils the exceptional experience of one of the world s leading museum store consultants, Andrew Andoniadis. Specializing in enhancing the profits of museum stores, he has now advised on over 300 separate projects, and is a recipient of the Museum Store Association s Service Award. The book is designed either to be read from cover to cover, or to act as a reference on specific issues. It aims to address both the art and the science of museum retailing. Key topics covered include: product selection; merchandising and display; customer service; layout and design; record-keeping; and pricing and inventory management. Throughout, the emphasis is on achieving better real-world results and on simple, effective implementation.

What are my start-up costs? How much will my store make? Should I sell online? How can I compete with larger stores? If you've ever considered owning a store but don't know where to start, The Everything Guide to Starting and Running a Retail Store is perfect for you. This resource will help you recognize the importance of an independent retail store in community life and the opportunities it offers for a rewarding lifestyle. This comprehensive guide shows you how to: Spot and capitalize on small retailer trends Conduct your own market analysis Research and select the most appropriate retailing software Run your business day to day Attract customers with effective advertising Make the leap to online selling This helpful handbook offers practical advice on retail store planning and management with valuable guidelines and real-world examples that can make the difference between your store's success and failure. This guide provides all the tools you need to run a store that your customers--and you--will enjoy for many years to come!

Living in the days of unethical debacles caused by professional and educated business people can easily symbolize human beings as animals who would do what they can to live and survive. However, a human being must be regarded as a social being whose development has been different from that of animals because of social relationships, cultures, and his or her concept of good and evil. This evolutionary advantage is based on morality and ethics demonstrated by honest individuals throughout the world in various industries. Moral development theorists have been concluding that as human beings mature, that is grow older and gain more experience, their ethical values tend to improve and they will become morally sophisticated. Research in human behavior suggests that individuals develop their ethical values through their family life, school, and other social influences. Business Ethics of Retail Employees is based on primary research with 602 retail employees and managers using the Personal Business Ethics Scores (PBES) survey. The PBES measures personal commitment to integrity, honesty, and observance of the laws regulating current business activities. The results of this research suggest that age, supermarket management experience, education, and gender are factors which impact the moral development of retail associates and managers. The question posed is "How ethical are modern workers?" and it turns out that they appear to be very ethical based on their PBES survey findings. If people are the common denominator of success and effectiveness, then the best way to promote fairness and cooperation, and to improve and empower employees, is to properly educate them so they can take personal responsibility for their own decisions, whether personal, professional, or business-related. The Business Ethics of Retail Employees book can help in this education process as it is a recommended reading for retail managers, trainers, human resource professionals, and business students.

The Ultimate Hot Tub and Pool Sales Book was written based on years of successful selling experience in the pool/hot tub industry, starting in retail sales, resulting in several senior sales management positions with multi-million dollar international companies. After reading this book you will have a better understanding of the fascinating world of selling. You will have all the tools, techniques and strategies to sell luxury items. While the book is written and geared directly to successfully selling hot tubs, the concepts are the same for selling anything in your store, be it a hot tub, a pool, a gazebo or a backyard setting. Anything. This book been designed to be interactive, with self-quizzes and exercises to provide you with the necessary tools to tailor your presentation to your specific needs, products and services, which will result in more sales. Reading and completing the exercises, and then incorporating these ideas, is just the first step on a journey that should see you better equipped to comfortably handle any sales situation, improve your communication skills both professionally and personally, AND have a lot of FUN along the way. If it is not FUN, you may want to consider a career change.

The choice of a store location has a profound effect on the entire business of a retail operation. Since GIS can be used to assemble large volumes of data from various sources with different map scales and in different coordinate systems, it is considered an important tool in location analysis. GIS offers a large number of techniques that have been successfully used by the retail businesses in location planning and strategic retail decision-making and applications. The objective of this retail location analysis is to develop and apply a methodology for analyzing the relationship between fast food store performance and the various socio-economic and demographic factors like the ethnic composition of population and median household income of Portage and Summit Counties in Ohio. This study conducts a retail location analysis of the relationship between the store performance of McDonald's and Burger King. Analytical procedures in GIS and statistical techniques have been applied using commercially available software to determine the impact of various demographic and socio-economic factors on store performance.

The trading, selling, and buying of personal transport has changed little over the past one hundred years. Whether horse trading in the early twentieth century or car buying today, haggling over prices has been the common practice of buyers and sellers alike. "Horse Trading in the Age of Cars" offers a fascinating study of the process of buying an automobile in a historical and gendered context.

Steven M. Gelber convincingly demonstrates that the combative and frequently dishonest culture of the showroom floor is a historical artifact whose origins lie in the history of horse trading. Bartering and bargaining were the norm in this predominantly male transaction, with both buyers and sellers staking their reputations and pride on their ability to negotiate the better deal. Gelber comments on this point-of-sale behavior and what it reveals about American men.

Gelber's highly readable and lively prose makes clear how this unique economic ritual survived into the industrial twentieth century, in the process adding a colorful and interesting chapter to the history of the automobile.

"Retail Crime, Security, and Loss Prevention" is destined to become the "go to" source of crime- and loss prevention- related information in the retail industry. Written and edited by two nationally recognized retail security experts and enhanced with 63 contributions by others who contribute expertise in specialized areas, this book provides over 150 definitions of loss prevention terms, and discusses topics ranging from accident investigations, counterfeit currency, emergency planning, and workplace violence to vendor frauds. No other single work contains such a wealth of retail security information.
The co-authors are Charles "Chuck" Sennewald, CSC, CPP former Director of Security at The Broadway Department Stores, a major division of Carter Hawley Hale Stores, Inc., founder of the IAPSC and author of numerous security industry books, and John Christman, CPP, former VP and Director of Security for Macy's West. They have put in one book a wealth of information, techniques, procedures and source material relative to retail crime and loss prevention which will prove an invaluable reference work for professionals at all levels within the industry.
* Tables, current industry figures, and statistics fully articulate the impact of loss prevention and theft in the retail setting
* Case examples from the authors' own experience illustrate real-world problems and connect theory to practice
* The most complete book available on retail security