Influence of culture and national image on marketing : A study of IKEA’s promotion in Sweden and France

Abstract:   This thesis investigates how cultural differences between Sweden and France are manifested in IKEA’s promotion material and the extent to which Sweden is emphasised as the country of origin. The study analyses the photos and the language in the IKEA catalogues in Sweden and France, the content of five different TV commercials and data from previous empirical studies. The thesis follows a deductive strategy as conclusions are drawn based on existing theories on marketing and national cultures. It can be concluded that both cultural adaptations and a focus on Sweden are present in IKEA’s marketing material, however, in both cases to a limited extent. The cultural adaptations are mainly found in the TV commercials and the references to Sweden in the catalogues. Thereby, neither cultural adaptation nor the use of Swedish references solely characterises the studied promotion material.