Может кому скучно, и есть желание попрактковаться в переводе с английского на русский, помогите мне))Я бестолочь) С меня + , ну и еще раз вспомним об этом великом человеке). Ничего не требую, как сможет кто, помогите!!!
Ingvar kampard
"Only those who are asleep make no mistakes"- Kampard
It was in 1926, a child was born to a poor couple who was living in a farm near Agunnaryd, Sweden. That boy who got an innate challenging capacity of doing business, as well as a skilled decision maker. His first business was selling matches. He packs the things in his old bicycle and start selling to his neighboring houses.It was just at the age of 10.
When he was 17, he performed well in his studies. So his father gave him a reward for his success. In that adolescent age boys will normally spend money in a lavish way. But do you know what he did? He invested in his dream business; a home furnishing retailing store, IKEA. That young investor was Ingvar Kamprad founder of IKEA.
According to Forbes magazine 2008, Kamprad was the 7th richest man in the planet, with an estimated fortune of US$31 Billion. No doubt that IKEA is considered as of the most reputed companies in the world, with a man-power of 75,000 employees, and a growing network of 200 stores in 31 nations. Moreover IKEA shows a sales figure of $12 Billion per Annum.
Kamprad was never been still. From selling matches at the age of ten to scouring the world to enter innovative furniture markets, Kamprad used his time to the best of his abilities. Always search for what is the demand and go for it. Really understanding the demand is an Art.
The legendary Entrepreneur Ingvar Feodar kampard was born on March 30, 1926. Kampard grew up near Agunnaryd, a small farm called Elmtaryd.As a young boy he doesn’t have any boyish attitude of playing or spending parent’s money. Instead he got an innate quality of doing business.
Kampard’s entrepreneurial drive starts with an incident. When he was young he has get up early to milk the cows with his father, but he was so reluctant to get up early. Their parents always worry about the little kampard’s attitude. “You sleepyhead!” his father would say. “You’ll never make anything of yourself!”. All those things changed when he got an alarm clock on his birthday, “Iam going to change my life”, he said with determination he set the time for 5.30am .and he removed the off button from the clock.
At an early age of 10 he started his first business, buying matches at wholesale in Stockholm and selling them for small profits to his neighbours, the demand for this type of selling increased so he planned to give some discounts to make his sales bounce high. By studying the potential of the customers he began to sell other products like Seeds, Fish, Pen and Pencil.
When Kamprad was 17 years old, he showed excellent progess in his studies. So his father gave his money for his success in school.As he was very incisive and know what to do with that money he got. He founded his retail business and named it IKEA. The name IKEA was formed from Kamprad's initials (I.K.) plus the first letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, the farm and village where he grew up. He focused mainly on selling house hold goods like,stationeries,wallets,pens,picture frames.These are the goods that were really on demand at that time. He gave some discounts to his customers to move the goods faster.Kamprad attended all the sales calls single-handedly, without missing them.
In 1945, kamprad’s sales as well as business tactics grew up. He wanted to expand his business further, so he decided to advertise on local Newspapers. This simple decision really brings a positive response from the people, the result he got more sales calls. But this time Kamprad used milk trucks to deliver his goods.So he satisfied more customers by his speedy delivery. Soon in 1947, he included furniture as a major item in his catalogue.
Kamprad’s business doesn’t seem to move smooth after he started selling furniture, it had its tough times and struggles. When kamprad decided to concentrate only on furnitures, he began to get furniture from local manufactures. That time the competition in the furniture market was very high.Kamprad decided to open a furniture showroom at Almbult in 1953.The most interesting thing that people found there was, they can see and touch the furniture before ordering. That gave customer a sense of satisfaction, which made them privileged when they enter IKEA.
At the Beginning of 1955,the local furniture manufacturers began to boycott with IKEA.The competitiors formed a group among themselves and start giving pressure to Kamprad, to drove him out of business.But the Lion hearted Kamprad doesn’t step back.
“A Diamond is nothing but a piece of coal that performed
well under pressure” ~ Anonymous
The unshakable determination of Kamprad that kindled him to take a decision, which paved a path for IKEA to start designing and creating furniture of its own.This situation really shows the importance of decision making, which is the key factor of getting success in business.
Kamprad also introduced a classy style of furniture design,”Do it Yourself Kit”, allowing the people to save money and increasing their curiosity to assemble thing at home. This innovative way of packing things made customers to move towards IKEA, because it is very handy, they felt easy to carry. The interesting fact is that most of IKEA’s competitors followed the same technique.
IKEA’s PR manager told the Newspaper,”We will supply you with the design, the inspiration, the basic knowledge and the basic tools, then it is your responsibility is to go home, build it and use it.”. And she continues “it is a kind of philosophy which brings self-satisfaction”. This is one of the success factors of IKEA, to understand the customer and giving the best of what they deserve.
When anyone who doesn’t know Kamprad, meeting him for the first time, I bet, nobody will believe he is a billionaire.Kamprad can be seen in public transports so often.He always says,” If there is such a thing as good leadership, it is to give a good example”. Simply Kamprad Preaches what he practices. In one of his books, he wrote “How the hell can I ask people who work for me to travel cheaply if I am traveling in luxury?”. Truly he is a man with such an inspiring attitude, which brings him the real success.
Now IKEA stores spread all over the world in 31 countries, with a man-power of 75,000 employees. The man who stands behind the success of IKEA is really a simple man. Even though he can enjoy a life of luxury, he seldom, does it .When kamprad appeared in a TV interview all people came to know that, he still drives a 15 years old Volvo, always flies in economy class.Even in is office he encourage his employee to write both sides of a paper. From this we can understand his prudence in avoiding wastage.
One may ask why Kamprad spend so much time and energy, to maximize his business? He is man who lives for his vision, which has no limits. He once said to is employees,”We have to still develop IKEA group, we need billions of Swiss francs to take on China or Russia.” I think the spirit of achieving was weaved through every fibre of his being.
In his auto-biography kamprad revealed that he attended some pro-Nazi meetings in his youth, he regrets, and call it as the greatest mistake of his life. He also regrets as a recovering alcoholic.A pure and a daring heart can be able to apologize for his mistakes publicly.
Kamprad is a well-known philanthropist. He owns INGKA holdings, the parent company of all IKEA stores. This charitable foundation was reported by the business newspaper “The Economist” in May 2006 as the world’s wealthiest charity. With an estimated value of US$ 36 Billion. He is the chairman of the charity.
“The feeling of having finished something is an effective sleeping pill” ~ Kamprad
A company that feels it has reached its goal will quickly stagnate and lose its vitality. It not only important to get succeeded. But to maintain the success state that we have achieved is the real Himalayan task. Kampard said recently, Now, he is 80 years old, I don’t know what to do at this age, the only work that I know – is making furnitures.That is the spirit of man who revolutionized the furniture world.
