Abstract
IKEA was born in 1943 in Agunnaryd, a small village in Sweden, while it is registered in the Netherlands. The founder of the firm was only 17 years old when he started his business. An interesting fact is that IKEA is an acronym of the founder's initials: Ingvar Kamprad, the farm where he grew up: Elmtaryd, and his hometown in South Sweden: Agunnaryd. The firm designs and sells a wide range of ready-to-assemble furniture, appliances and home accessories. Its vision is "to create a better everyday life for the many people". Since its creation, it has grown from being a small wood company in southern Sweden to being a major retailer present in 42 countries around the world.
India counts the world second most numbered population with more than 1.2 billion people. The average GDP growth rate of the country is rising to 7% and its economy is worth about 1.9 trillion US dollars. Moreover, the middle class is expected to be the 5th world's largest consumer economy by 2025.
As a result, the world largest democracy is one of the fastest growing economies and an important nation composing the current most successful emerging countries. Its furniture retail market possesses a middle class population of over 400 million and its purchasing power is rising regularly. It is known as one of the 14 largest furniture markets in the world. That makes it obviously a high potential market for IKEA. Indeed, the population is getting richer and the middle class part of it has grown significantly in the past decades and still does.
