Får vi lov? : IKEA:s etablering i Karlstad sett ur ett resursberoendeperspektiv

Sammanfattning: IKEA is probably one of the most well known Swedish companies in the world. During thepast decades millions of people all across the globe have decorated their homes according tothe style of IKEA. But just exactly how big and influential are they? Many, if not to say all,municipalities in Sweden wants IKEA to establish and build their famous stores in one oftheir towns. But at what cost? When deciding on a municipality to establish in, IKEAnormally tends to have an advantage when it comes to controlling the conditions and terms ofthe establishment.To undertake this dissertation I use a theory based upon the inter-organizational theoriescalled resource dependency theory. The theory stresses the importance of controlling andobtaining resources as an organization among other organizations in order to survive. Fromthe theory one can see a pattern that organizations with a lot of resources tend to have biggeradvantage when dealing with other organizations.The question I want to answer was if the municipality of Karlstad has eroded its dominantplane when dealing with strong financial actors like IKEA?This is a case study of IKEA and their establishment in Karlstad. Unfortunately IKEA choosenot to be a part of the thesis due to lack of time. The method used in the dissertation is basedupon interviews with high senior officials that were involved in the establishment in one wayor another. To supplement the interviews a document study was performed.The result of the study is surprising in two ways. First of all the fact that IKEA has been sucha strong actor during the negotiations which gave them nearly whatever they asked for. Thesecond reason is the fact that the municipality has eroded its dominant plane in such anobvious way. If IKEA did want to, they could have built a store where ever they wanted.IKEA is probably one of the most well known Swedish companies in the world. During thepast decades millions of people all across the globe have decorated their homes according tothe style of IKEA. But just exactly how big and influential are they? Many, if not to say all,municipalities in Sweden wants IKEA to establish and build their famous stores in one oftheir towns. But at what cost? When deciding on a municipality to establish in, IKEAnormally tends to have an advantage when it comes to controlling the conditions and terms ofthe establishment.To undertake this dissertation I use a theory based upon the inter-organizational theoriescalled resource dependency theory. The theory stresses the importance of controlling andobtaining resources as an organization among other organizations in order to survive. Fromthe theory one can see a pattern that organizations with a lot of resources tend to have biggeradvantage when dealing with other organizations.The question I want to answer was if the municipality of Karlstad has eroded its dominantplane when dealing with strong financial actors like IKEA?This is a case study of IKEA and their establishment in Karlstad. Unfortunately IKEA choosenot to be a part of the thesis due to lack of time. The method used in the dissertation is basedupon interviews with high senior officials that were involved in the establishment in one wayor another. To supplement the interviews a document study was performed.The result of the study is surprising in two ways. First of all the fact that IKEA has been sucha strong actor during the negotiations which gave them nearly whatever they asked for. Thesecond reason is the fact that the municipality has eroded its dominant plane in such anobvious way. If IKEA did want to, they could have built a store where ever they wanted.