Mikael Ohlsson, the 55-year-old president and chief executive of Swedish ready-to-assemble furniture giant IKEA, sure knows how to make headlines. How else does one explain his big-buck India announcement at St Petersburg, Russia, on June 22? The three-day St Petersburg International Economic Forum, during which Commerce Minister Anand Sharma and Ohlsson met, was more in the news for IKEA committing ^1.5 billion to the Indian market, rather than for other economic and political developments there.
The man behind 336 stores across 26 countries, along with millions of cozy homes, is known for his belief in simplicity and is often described as “ordinary”. Ohlsson prefers sweaters to pinstripe business suits, and many a time travels by bus and second-class train. Reports suggest he doesn’t mind flying economy class either.
Recently, he had told the media 95 per cent of his home furniture was from IKEA, and it took him five minutes to assemble a sofa. He, however, feels sometimes, assembling can be complicated and IKEA should make its products simpler. This is also symbolic of the swing between ‘inspiration’ and ‘frustration’ he goes through, something he’s often referred to as the recipe for success.
Ohlsson’s statement about six months ago showed he wasn’t someone to mince his words. In January, just after the Department of Industrial Policy & Promotion (DIPP) had notified the rules increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) in single-brand retail from 51 per cent to 100 per cent, Ohlsson told the London-based Financial Times the conditions attached to the norms might work for food retailers, but certainly not for international chains like IKEA.
In its proposal to the DIPP on June 22, the company stuck to the point. Sourcing 30 per cent (of the sales value) from the Indian small industries sector was impractical and impossible, it said. “It would be impossible for the group to meet this requirement from day one, or anytime soon thereafter,” it said, referring to the mandatory sourcing condition. The company has suggested various measures to tweak the single-brand policy in India. The government, it is learnt, is actively considering these.
Earlier, too, Ikea had tried to enter India, under the 51 per cent FDI regime. However, it had dropped the plan, as it wanted to come on its own, not through a joint venture.
In countless interviews, Ohlsson has maintained formal education and university degrees do not mean much, both to him as well as the company. He should know — he’s the boss of more than 1,30,000 people. However, this did not stop him from securing a master’s degree in industrial engineering from Linkoping University, Sweden.
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Ohlsson encourages people to make mistakes. Without mistakes, one wouldn’t learn, he maintains. “The only area where I’m very strict about mistakes is ethics,” he had told a newspaper. His success mantra? Be honest, creative and a good colleague. Also, be yourself — at work, as at home. As he has famously said, “The person, not his or her CV, is the most important part.”
Despite the ethics IKEA claims to stand for, last year, the company’s labour practices at its US factories came under criticism. The Los Angeles Times reported IKEA’s behaviour was “un-Swedish” and, to “the dismay of the workers there, much more American.”
Ohlsson, who claims he never planned his career, focuses on “people who lead regular lives, have regular incomes and relatively small homes”. Always an IKEA man, ever since he started working some 30 years ago in the company’s carpet division at its Sweden office, Ohlsson was promoted as the group’s chief executive and president in September 2009.
Married, with two sons and a daughter, he now lives in Holland. Though he spoke of retiring “in a few years” some time ago, he now thinks differently. “Now, I shall stay at the post as long as people are confident in me, and as long as I find it fun,” he says.