If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example. I have to do so for all the Ikea employees.
Ingvar Kamprad
Ikea people do not drive flashy cars or stay at luxury hotels.
My theory was that good furniture could be priced so that the man with the flat wallet would be attracted to it, would make a place for it in his spending, and could afford it.
I look at the money I'm about to spend on myself and ask if IKEA's customers could afford it.
I'm not afraid of turning 80 and I have lots of things to do. I don't have time for dying.
It is in the nature of Smaland to be thrifty.
I'm stingy and I'm proud of the reputation.
I am very proud to follow the rules of our company.
Normally, I try to get my haircut when I'm in a developing country. Last time, it was in Vietnam.
Everything we earn we need as a reserve.
We ought to have more women in various management positions, because women are the ones who decide almost everything in the home.
How the hell can I ask people who work for me to travel cheaply if I travel in luxury? It's a question of good leadership.
We have to still develop the Ikea group. We need many billions of Swiss francs to take on China or Russia.
If we want to be cost-conscious, we should do it, not just talk about how cost-conscious we are.
People say I am cheap, and I don't mind if they do.
I decided that the stock market was not an option for IKEA. I knew that only a long-term perspective could secure our growth plans, and I didn't want IKEA to become dependent on financial institutions.
When the first million came in, I felt, 'My God, now I'm really independent.' That was a fantastic experience.
Our idea is to serve everybody, including people with little money.
I feel many responsibilities - to our customers, to our employees, to the environment, to the world at large. But I don't want to feel responsible to investors, to outsiders with financial concerns that may differ from those of the welfare of IKEA.
The company will never go to the market. We want to keep strict self-financing.
I see my task as serving the majority of people. The question is, how do you find out what they want, how best to serve them? My answer is to stay close to ordinary people because, at heart, I am one of them.
We have always looked at taxes as a cost, just as any other cost that comes with doing business.
An optimised tax structure gives us the possibility of flexibility in using our assets that have already been taxed in one market. They can be used in new markets for further business development without the additional burden of double taxation.
We don't need flashy cars, impressive titles, uniforms, or other status symbols. We rely on our strength and our will!
I've paid an awful lot of lawyers to protect what I've built. I can only hope the money was well spent.
