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Fortune
Fortune
Nicholas Gordon

IKEA focuses on the little things when localizing products to new markets—like mattress stiffness

(Credit: Jason Alden—Bloomberg via Getty Images)

IKEA, the Swedish furniture maker whose products are ubiquitous in apartments the world over, has long prized itself on its “democratic design.” When thinking about a new product, the company’s designers evaluate it on five different dimensions: function, form, quality, sustainability, and low price.

But what happens when IKEA moves to a new market with very different tastes? How does it evaluate form and function for a different kind of home?

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