Business Leader

Why has Ikea been such a success in the UK? Why did it open its first shop in Warrington, Cheshire? What is "chuck out your chintz" all about? And what does this unique business look for in staff?In part two of our look at how Ikea became one of the biggest retailers in the world, Graham Ruddick speaks to Peter Jelkeby, the chief executive and chief sustainability officer for Ikea in the UK and Ireland, and a man who started his career with Ikea as a forklift truck driver.Then, Graham speaks to Dougal Shaw about what they have both learned about Ikea and the reasons for its success after studying the business. In case you missed it, in part one of our look at Ikea, Dougal Shaw spoke to Jesper Brodin, the chief executive of Ingka Group, the business that runs Ikea shops around the world...

From humble beginnings in rural Sweden in the 1940s, Ikea has grown into one of the best-known brands in the world. But do you know the story behind it?Over two episodes, Dougal Shaw and Graham Ruddick will look at Ikea from two different perspectives for Business Leader. In this first episode, Dougal speaks to Jesper Brodin, the CEO of Ingka Group, the business behind Ikea's global retail operations. They meet at a new store on Oxford Street in London as it undergoes a renovation. In the next episode, Graham will speak to Peter Jelkeby, the CEO of Ikea in the UK and Ireland, to find out how the UK fits into Ikea's global strategy.Ikea is still best-known for its mammoth, out-of-town warehouses and flatpack designs. There's no other business quite like it in terms of the concept. And its size is staggering. Ikea's retail arm employs more than 162,000 people and it generates more than €40bn a year in revenue. But in the past decade this vast company has reinvented itself. Realising it was slow to adapt to the rise of digital shopping, Ikea has been focusing on a new omni-channel strategy, spearheaded by new, smaller, inner-city stores.

Fraser Smeaton co-founded MorphCostumes with his brother and a friend in 2009 in Edinburgh. It began as a side-hustle specialising in a particular kind of striking, head-to-toe party costume made of Spandex, the "Morphsuit". An immediate success, the co-founders quit their jobs and the company turned over £1m in its first year. However, by 2014 it was clear the company was becoming a victim of its own success. The product was no longer novel and the business was in real danger of going under. In this episode of the Business Leader Podcast, Fraser Smeaton explains to Dougal Shaw how they were able to reinvent themselves to find success all over again, in a new guise - with lessons for others.

What does it take to run a sport? What does the job involve? And how do you end up in a job like that? Simon Brownell is the chief executive of the World Snooker Tour. He is in charge of running the top snooker events and trying to expand the sport's audience around the world. Snooker is a quirky sport in many ways, but its growth in China is extraordinary and many businesses would love to be able to match it. In the latest episode of the Business Leader Podcast we look into Simon Brownell's unusual job, the success in China, how to balance tradition and innovation, and why his biggest challenge is finding table-fitters

Kimberly-Clark was founded in 1872 in Wisconsin in North America. It initially operated paper mills and today owns Andrex, Kleenex, Huggies nappies and other well-known consumer brands. More than 150 years after it was founded, the company is still thriving and relevant to consumers. Kimberly-Clark was one of the companies that featured in Jim Collins' definitive business book Good to Great, which looked at why an exclusive collection of companies have been able to deliver extraordinary results over not just the short-term but a sustained period of time. We take a look into the culture of Kimberly-Clark and how it has sustained success. We speak to Dan Howell, the managing director of Kimberly-Clark in the UK and Ireland. The episode covers:-Why health is foundational to success and high performance-How to adapt to changing consumer tastes-The latest thinking on marketing for Andrex and Kleenex

Philips is the electronics brand behind a host of household appliances and it launched the air fryer, one of the most successful new products of the 21st Century so far. The history of the Philips brand dates back to the 1800s. Today the company that makes Philips products for consumers is called Versuni and the chief executive is Veronique Pauwels. In this episode of the Business Leader podcast we speak to her about the business, why it is capable of producing innovations like the air fryer and why playing chess makes you a strategic thinker...

Monday.com is a global software giant worth more than $14bn (£11bn) that has emerged from outside Silicon Valley. It lets companies build their own work and project management tools. This approach is often referred to as low code or no code. It gives teams the flexibility to build their own apps and control workflows. Monday.com was founded in Israel in 2012 and went public in the US on Nasdaq in 2021. It now has more than a quarter of a million customers in over 200 countries and the UK is its second-largest market globally. Co-founder and co-CEO Eran Zinman tells Dougal Shaw how the company has scaled so rapidly.

Huel is one of the fastest-growing companies in the UK. The food and nutrition business has ambitions to be the next billion-dollar food brand and has already succeeded where many other UK brands have failed by breaking into the US. This is the story behind Huel's unique recruitment, marketing and growth strategy...