2.1) Design plans which promote goals and objectives for own area of responsibility.

The geographical area associated with a combatant commander has authority to plan and
conduct operations. Area of responsibility (2006) Dictionary/thesaurus [online] (updated 26th
June 2011), Available at http:// www.thefreedictionary.com/area of responsibility. The reason
the author has chosen this definition of own area of responsibility because there has been a
recent development in the process of CRM (SAP) and as well as the author was closely
linked to the CRM process of IKEA. The development of CRM was huge success for IKEA
because APL first piloted the process of SAP (Project Tantra) which saw a huge response in base
country and then expanded their SAP process to the international operations which was further
saw rise in the revenue generation & faster customer acquisitions.
The areas of responsibilities of IKEA are Internal & External customers, Customer
orientation, Market Research, Product development, and time management and CRM.
IKEA have both internal and external customers in their organisation, e.g. of internal customers
to IKEA are Suppliers, workers, stakeholders etc. Whereas external customers are those people
who help the organisation to meet its objectives who work for the organisation externally. For
example Customers, government, market agencies etc. Viva Books Private Limited, (2009)
Business essential: Management (1st edition) BPP learning media: London.
IKEA follow a market driven/ led business. IKEA bestow their resources in order to satisfy
their customers. Miller, A., et al (2004) Strategic management (2nd edition) New York: USA.
Whereas the other area of responsibility of IKEA is product development, where they carry
out strategic analysis for reviewing their existing plans and identifying newer opportunities
and risk associated. Out of the two main forms of strategic analysis i.e. SWOT Analysis and
Ansoffs matrix, IKEA uses Ansoffs matrix as their model to review their product
development.

PRODUCTS DEVELOPED
MAINLY FOR home users
only but now they
started for industrial
purpose also. Leads to
achieve in business
objective of rapid
growth.

PERSONAL,
ORGANISATION,
CORPORATE, ALL
STANDARDS FURNITURE

Targeting their products to new

foreign countries like
Caribbeans, Fuji and merging
WITH BRANDS TO PROMOTE
CONSUMERISM. Achieving in
the objective of increase
sales of international
operations
Figure 2.1 Ansoffs matrix (2008) Papers4you.com

Product development
The purpose of product development is to draw new customers and maintain existing customers.
IKEA has made many product developments like in the category of wall IKEA it has developed
emulsion IKEA which are washable called Tractor and acrylic emulsion. IKEA royal was also a
product development strategy which has helped them to gain potential new buyers.
Planning is the keystone for any business in order to achieve its objectives. The functions of
organising, leading, and controlling carry out the decisions of planning. Although some
environments are less predictable than others, all organisations operate in uncertain
environments. For an organisation to succeed, management somehow must cope with and adapt
to, change and uncertainty. David, A., Fischer, (1983) Strategies towards political pressure: A
typology of firm responses. Academy of management review, pp.71-78. Therefore, for IKEA
planning is the only tool management for them to adapt to change in their organisation and
succeed in the future. Planning helps IKEA to define its purposes and activities.
It enables them to set performance standards so that results can be compared with the standard to
help managers to see how the organisation is progressing towards its goals.
The need for planning also is demonstrated by the relationship between planning and the other
management functions. IKEA knows that planning is one of their essential tools which are the
beginning of the management process. Arthur C. Beck and Ellis D. Hillmar, Positive
Management Practices: Bringing out the best in organisation and people (San Francisco:
Jossey- Bass, 1986).

IKEA considers four major elements of planning and they are as

follows:-

Objectives

Actions

Resources

Implemetati
on

Figure 2.2 elements of planning in IKEA

IKEA objectives are integral to plans because they specify future conditions that the
management considers adequate, for example as stated above one of their area of responsibility
as well as their corporate objectives states to improve Customer Relationship Management
process as well as in figure 1.2 (in CRM: customer satisfaction, develop a direct link to the
customers, standardize the sale delivery processes used by IKEA home solutions providers,
and improve financial controls).
Actions are specified, chosen means to achieve the objectives. The chosen course of action is to
install SAP and ERP softwares systems in the organisation nationally and internationally.
Resources are those factors of production which will help them to initiate the implementation
process as well as getting acquainted to the newer technology in the organisation for e.g. Land,
labour capital and enterprise of IKEA. Finally the implementation process is where it involves
the assignment and direction of personnel to carry out the plan.
As stated above in one of the Business Objectives that objective is to improve CRM for the year
2011, they came up with higher end technology of SAP and ERP management software where
they have significantly improved their CRM and have managed to achieve their goals and
objective with the help of this process.

IKEA realized that the firms long term growth

depended on their ability to forge even closer ties to the end consumers. The author has drawn
a business plan of CRM SAP process for APL in designing a business plan in order to
promote goals and objectives.

Figure 2.3 Business plan of CRM SAP process

IKEAS own area of responsibilitys plan is to improve CRM process in the organisation with
the help of the above mentioned elements of planning will help them to gain their corporate
objective.