This case is part of your Harvard Business Coursepack on the IKEA Group attached Imagine that you are Steve Howard, the IKEA Group’s Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO). What are your recommendations

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This case is part of your Harvard Business Coursepack on the IKEA Group attached 

Imagine that you are Steve Howard, the IKEA Group’s Chief Sustainability Officer (CSO). What are your recommendations for the next steps for the company’s sustainable wood procurement initiatives? Consider this, given IKEA’s aggressive growth plan to double its sales by 2020 with the focus on emerging markets, especially China and Russia.

Specifically:

  1. Evaluate whether wood procurement is a sensible place for the IKEA Group to be focusing its sustainability efforts.
  2. Considering the four alternative approaches IKEA Group can pursue to improve the sustainability of its wood procurement practices–(1) owning or leasing more timber forests, (2) driving higher FSC-certified wood procurement targets, (3) using more particleboard, and (4) using more recycled wood in particleboard manufacturing–what are advantages and disadvantages of each option?
  3. Considering the IKEA Group’s approaches to post-contract supplier management, what is your recommendation for improvement to enable sustainable wood procurement initiatives moving forward?

Assignment Guidelines: 

  • Your  case assignment should be no longer than 2 single-spaced pages, supported by no more than 2 pages of figures and/or charts.