Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad has died • Hacker News Board

Re: Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad has died

#71

Post by loceng » Sun, Jan 28, 2018, 2:46 PM UTC

5_minutes wrote: post #42

afriend4lyfe wrote: post #38

"In the later years of his life, Mr Kamprad had faced questions over his past links to the Nazis." It's crazy how he ran Ikea for over 70 years but a quarter of the article deals with his ties to Nazis. Granted, he admits it was the "greatest mistake" of his life, so I suppose the attention to it may not be unwarranted. But I think it would have been prudent to touch on what caused him to shift his perspective. "Yout…

Objectively, what IBM did, in helping the nazis, and was collaborating with them, for many years into the war - even when the US was getting involved —, was much worse then what this guy was doing. There’s also Porsche, Volkswagen (basically, Hitler’s own brand) and any other brands that were involved, and basically the catholic church was preaching in many EU countries for their sons to join the German army...

The important part is that these ideologies don't propagate within these organizations - an important part of this however is - within the leadership of each organization - publicly acknowledging and owning the organization's past.

Re: Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad has died

#72

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jan 28, 2018, 2:46 PM UTC

coldtea wrote: post #50

WisNorCan wrote: post #45

Europe has less of a philanthropic tradition than the United States. For example, Warren Buffet and Bill Gates have both pledged to give away the vast majority of their fortunes. Jeff Bezos is now making plans for his philanthropy. This happens in Europe too, but is less common. I was looking to see if there were any specific plans for Mr. Kamprad’s wealth, but unfortunately did not see anything.

Europe doesn't believe as much in handouts from the rich, or in depending on arbitrary goodwill. We believe more in structuring society, government, welfare, healthcare, funding, etc, such that they're not needed.

[deleted]

Re: Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad has died

#73

Post by loceng » Sun, Jan 28, 2018, 2:47 PM UTC

reimertz wrote: post #32

I worked at Ikea for some time and it's quite amazing the possibilities you had as an employee pursuing a career within the company. Rather than them basing your performance on past studies and grades, you definitely had the possibility to pursue any role within the company as long as you had the "right" mentality and really wanted it. Just like any early-stage startup I've work with. I was a lazy university student…

Do you know of any good books that talk about the culture like this at Ikea? I'd love to read it.

Re: Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad has died

#74

Post by edraferi » Sun, Jan 28, 2018, 2:49 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #26

Emouri wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've still got an Ikea table my in-laws bought in the early 70s, it'll last another 30 years no problem. Some of it wasn't so bad.

Stuff from that era was really good. High quality woods and good finishing work. Then it went downhill with the low point somewhere around '97 or so and since then it has been slowly climbing back up. But there is a long way to go if they ever want to get back to their old quality level and their profit margins would likely suffer as a consequence.

IKEA has several price/quality options. I’ve shopped there for a long time and slowly moved up the product line. Their breadth makes it hard to compete with.

On the low end, pretty much anything cheaper than IKEAs entry level is total garbage. I’m looking at you Target! That stuff is little better than a cardboard box.

On the high end, price rapidly outpaces quality. Every time I think “maybe I’ll get real furniture this time” the prices jump 10x. That’s just not worth it to me.

Re: Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad has died

#75

Post by the-dude » Sun, Jan 28, 2018, 2:51 PM UTC

5_minutes wrote: post #42

afriend4lyfe wrote: post #38

"In the later years of his life, Mr Kamprad had faced questions over his past links to the Nazis." It's crazy how he ran Ikea for over 70 years but a quarter of the article deals with his ties to Nazis. Granted, he admits it was the "greatest mistake" of his life, so I suppose the attention to it may not be unwarranted. But I think it would have been prudent to touch on what caused him to shift his perspective. "Yout…

Objectively, what IBM did, in helping the nazis, and was collaborating with them, for many years into the war - even when the US was getting involved —, was much worse then what this guy was doing. There’s also Porsche, Volkswagen (basically, Hitler’s own brand) and any other brands that were involved, and basically the catholic church was preaching in many EU countries for their sons to join the German army...

But you got to wear Hugo Boss!

Re: Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad has died

#76

Post by loceng » Sun, Jan 28, 2018, 2:52 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #10

5_minutes wrote: post #3

Nice trivia: he actually started with delivering self-made furniture on his bike in his local town.

I'll bet that was the highest quality stuff Ikea ever produced. I was in a store for recycled stuff a week ago or so looking for a typewriter and some old comic books for my kids and it struck me that none of the furniture they was made by Ikea. That translates into there being a direct path to the landfill from Ikea.

Eventually once we build the post-usefulness processing costs into products, we'll process/recycle everything fully as it should be instead of going to landfill; it's one of those Genuine Progress Index vs. GPD measurement things.

Re: Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad has died

#77

Post by bjourne » Sun, Jan 28, 2018, 2:53 PM UTC

5_minutes wrote: post #42

afriend4lyfe wrote: post #38

"In the later years of his life, Mr Kamprad had faced questions over his past links to the Nazis." It's crazy how he ran Ikea for over 70 years but a quarter of the article deals with his ties to Nazis. Granted, he admits it was the "greatest mistake" of his life, so I suppose the attention to it may not be unwarranted. But I think it would have been prudent to touch on what caused him to shift his perspective. "Yout…

Objectively, what IBM did, in helping the nazis, and was collaborating with them, for many years into the war - even when the US was getting involved —, was much worse then what this guy was doing. There’s also Porsche, Volkswagen (basically, Hitler’s own brand) and any other brands that were involved, and basically the catholic church was preaching in many EU countries for their sons to join the German army...

In which countries were the Catholic Church preaching that? All I've read claims the opposite, that the church was against Nazism: https://www.ushmm.org/wlc/en/article.php?ModuleId=10005206 http://www.catholicherald.co.uk/issues/march-10th-2017/the-e... At the time the Catholic Church was the largest organization in the world, so some clergy is bound to have supported the Nazis, but the majority did not.

Re: Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad has died

#78

Post by [deleted] » Sun, Jan 28, 2018, 2:53 PM UTC

brndnmtthws wrote: post #58

seanmcdirmid wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wouldn’t that be true of most people? Being a rebel, even against an overtly oppressive regime, is not a light undertaking.

It is indeed true; the winners always earn the privilege of defining morality and rewriting history to their liking.

[deleted]

Re: Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad has died

#79

Post by jschwartzi » Sun, Jan 28, 2018, 2:55 PM UTC

vq wrote: post #15

marban wrote: post #8

And thanks for the Köttbullar. "It's difficult to do business with someone on an empty stomach."

IKEA is actually a köttbullar and lingonsylts (lingonberry jam) distribution system so that us Smålänningar can get our fix almost anywhere in the world.

It's also one of the few places I can get herring too. The Poulsbo stuff that I like is seasonal so I have to go to Ikea for canned fish in the summer.

That I can buy furniture and kitchen tools is a nice bonus.

Re: Ikea founder Ingvar Kamprad has died

#80

Post by johnchristopher » Sun, Jan 28, 2018, 2:58 PM UTC

erikrothoff wrote: post #4

I read the news in an IKEA sofa wrapped in an IKEA blanket resting my head on an IKEA cushion watching TV on an IKEA bench. He truly built a startup that changed the world.

I read it while getting ready to go and buy some white transparent boxes :).