https://www.mdu.se/

Date: June 4, 2008

Level: Master Thesis EFO705, 10 points (15 credits)

Authors: Wannapa Chaletanone (05-11-1982, Thailand)

Wanee Cheancharadpong (03-09-1983, Thailand)

Title: Internationalization of IKEA in the Japanese and Chinese markets

Supervisor: Leif Linnskog

Problems: Why did IKEA internationalize into Japanese and Chinese markets? And what factors did influence IKEA’s success in Chinese market but failure in the Japanese market of the first round?

Purpose: The aim of thesis is to understand the internationalization of IKEA in Asia by comparing between Japanese and Chinese markets.

Method: This master thesis based on qualitative approach in order to investigate the internationalization of IKEA in Asian markets as a case study since it is beneficial in understanding the observation and explanation of behavior in the certain cases.

Conclusion: IKEA is considered as retailer internationalization who expands into Japanese market as a result of deregulation and asset-based advantage while internationalize into Chinese market because of supporting environments such as political, social and economic conditions as well as transaction advantage. To success and failure, psychic distance and learning, strategic decision making process, degree of adaptation of retail offer, entry strategy, characteristics of organization and management characteristics are the influencing factors on internationalization of IKEA in the Japanese and Chinese markets.