Ingvar Kamprad. The story of success
I Read and translate the text.
As it is written in all possible known autobiographic notes, Kamprad was born in the South of Sweden in 1926.He started his own business as a young boy, selling matches to neighbors from his bicycle. Kamprad found out that he could buy matches in bulk very cheaply in Stockholm and sell them individually at a low price but still make a good profit. Then he sold fish, Christmas tree decorations, seeds, ballpoint pens and pencils. When Kamprad was 17, his father gave him a reward for doing well at school. What did he spend it on do you think? He founded IKEA. No doubt it is still one of the largest, most successful privately held companies in the world, with over 200 stores in 31 countries, employing 75000 people and generating over 12 billion in sales annually. The name of IKEA was formed from Kamprads initials (I.K) and the first letters of Elmtaryd and Agunnaryd, the farm and village where he grew up. He continued to expand his business to a variety of goods, including wallets, watches, jewelery and stockings. Then he set up a kind of mail-order business and hired the local milk van to deliver the orders to the customers.
During his teens, Kamprad attended some pro-Nazi meetings. Later, in 1994, he said "This is part of my life I bitterly regret...After a couple of meetings in pure Nazi style, I quit". Kamprad wrote some letters of apology to all IKEA employees of Jewish descent. It is believed that the fact that IKEA is one of the few retailers to have a store in Israel even though it also does business with the Arab world reflects an attempt to temper this controversy.
Kamprad has lived in Epalinges, Switzerland since 1976. It is known that he drives a 15 year-old Volvo, flies only economy class and encourages IKEA employees to write on both sides of a paper. In addition Kamprad has been known to visit IKEA for a cheap meal. He is also known to buy Christmas paper and presents in the post-Christmas sales. While Kamprad frugality is well documented, it is also an important part of the carefully managed image presented to IKEA employees and the general public. Kamprad doesnt often mention that he owns a villa in an upmarket part of Switzerland, a large country estate in Sweden and a vineyard in Provence in France or that he drives a Porsche for several years.
Ingvar Kamprad has published a few notable works. He first detailed the IKEA concept of frugality and enthusiasm in a manifesto entitled "A Testament of a Furniture Dealer". This work has been considered the fundamental ideology of the IKEA furniture retail concept. In 2008 Forbes magazine called Ingvar Kamprad the 7th wealthiest person in the world with an estimated net worth of around 31 billion US dollars.
II Answer the questions to the text.
1. Where and when was Ingvar Kamprad born?
2. Where is he living now?
3. He started his own business at 40, did not he?
4. What were his goods for selling?
5. Why did his father give him a reward?
6. How did Kamprad spend the money?
7. How is IKEA owned?
8. What did Kamprad call a great mistake of his life do you think?
9. Kamprad drives only new and modern cars, does not he?
10. What is known about his publications?
11. How much is his net worth?
