Abstract
The main Ikea's service is to provide all consumer design furniture at a low price. IKEA entails a qualitative change by making design and practical products at the same price than the basic one. IKEA creates something new by creating new processes through innovative design, production, distribution, and sales techniques.
The production of IKEA is innovative, for instance, through the use of wood coming from sustainable forests. IKEA works in partnership with the National Forest Office in order to support and improve rebuilding and protection of forests. The distribution process and sales techniques are also innovative. Indeed the innovation is the "cash and carry" or "self service" systems. People take products in the warehouse; assume the transportation and assemble the furniture. All these innovative processes raise the productivity of IKEA because IKEA needs less employees, less sales man, less deliveryman for the same amount of sales.
IKEA has developed some technological instruments like the IKEA® Home Planner, which enable customers to plan the organization of their rooms with Ikea's products. But technical development is not the key point of Ikea's innovation. Technologies are not their comparative advantage but this is not an important point in their activity and in the furniture's market.
As IKEA fulfils the fifth criteria of the innovation's definition, we can say that IKEA developed a service innovation.
