Anders dahlvig biography

To the uninitiated, the name Ikea is associated with large, garishly coloured, out of town superstores selling flat-packed modern design for the home that can lead to marital discord as the hapless customer tries to self-assemble a kit that sometimes lacks essential parts.

Hardly the formula for a runaway global success story that is bucking the current economic crisis and whose CEO of the past ten years is winning awards for socially responsible business leadership.

And yet, over the past ten years under the stewardship of chief executive Anders Dahlvig, Ikea has grown from 7.3 to 21.5 billion euros, with over 565 million visitors dropping in to one of 296 stores in 36 countries during the last financial year alone.

During his ten years at the top, Dahlvig has received the Swedish award for Good Environmental Leadership (2002), in recognition of his work with environmental and sustainability issues; the US Foreign Policy Association’s Global Social Responsibility award (2006), g