International expansion through flexible replication: Learning from the internationalization experience of IKEA

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Jonsson, Anna; Foss, Nicolai J.
• 署名单位: Lund University; Copenhagen Business School; Norwegian School of Economics (NHH)
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS STUDIES
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0047-2506
• DOI: 10.1057/jibs.2011.32
• 发表日期: 2011
• 页码: 1079-1102
• 关键词: primary data source; Case theoretic approaches; Internationalization theories and foreign market entry; knowledge-based view; Organizational learning

摘要

Business organizations may expand internationally by replicating a part of their value chain, such as a sales and marketing format, in other countries. However, little is known regarding how such international replicators build a format for replication, or how they can adjust it in order to adapt to local environments and under the impact of new learning. To illuminate these issues, we draw on a longitudinal in-depth study of Swedish home furnishing giant IKEA, involving more than 70 interviews. We find that IKEA has developed organizational mechanisms that support an ongoing learning process aimed at frequent modification of the format for replication. Another finding is that IKEA treats replication as hierarchical: lower-level features (marketing efforts, pricing, etc.) are allowed to vary across IKEA stores in response to market-based learning, while higher-level features (fundamental values, vision, etc.) are replicated in a uniform manner across stores, and change only very slowly (if at all) in response to learning (flexible replication). We conclude by discussing the factors that influence the approach to replication adopted by an international replicator. Journal of International Business Studies (2011) 42, 1079-1102. doi:10.1057/jibs.2011.32