Ikea tops Swedish Innovation Index - as the most innovative company 2019

For the second year in a row, Ikea is ranked as Sweden's most innovative company. This, according to the Swedish Innovation Index, where researchers at CTF, Service Research Center at Karlstad University, have asked customers to evaluate the degree of innovation in companies and organizations in the Swedish market. Spotify and MTR Express come in second and third place respectively.

"Common for Ikea and others who rank high, or have made a big advance since our first survey, is that they have succeeded to adapt to changes in the market. They have introduced new services, which customers have appreciated, and implemented changes in their business that customers notice on a daily basis," says Lars Witell, Professor of Business Administration at CTF. "Listening to the customer and being able to capture and predict how the market is changing is an important key to increased innovation capacity and success."

According to the survey, Ikea's leading position is due to the fact that they test new products, services and business models to a greater extent than the competitors. Their success is also reflected in international measurements where Ikea is considered more innovative than, for example, Apple and Amazon.

"Our founder Ingvar Kamprad was a true entrepreneur whose innovative spirit lives on in our organization to the highest degree. We believe that our innovative power basically comes from listening to employees who dare to think differently, are curious and questioning. Our desire to be close to people's everyday life and understand the life at home also helps us to constantly challenge and create smart solutions that better meet our customers' needs," says Susanne Jensert, Customer Manager at Ikea Sweden.

Innovation needs to be measured in different ways since the views of innovation are different
"Innovation from the customer's perspective is about developing value for the customer, for example saving time, money or providing a smooth user experience," says Per Kristensson, Professor of Innovation and Consumer Psychology at CTF. "Take for example Swish, which has revolutionised our payment options in Sweden, or Spotify, which has changed the way we consume music. These value-creating processes are very much innovations, even though we could both pay and listen to music in the past. Shifting focus from product to value creation is thus becoming increasingly important for companies to remain competitive."

The Swedish Innovation Index 2019 includes responses from almost 14,000 customers who ranked the degree of innovation of approximately 80 companies and organizations in ten industries based on how the customers experience the company's innovativeness, and how attractive these innovations are perceived. The customers have evaluated the company’s offer, delivery, encounters, and interactions.

The purpose of the Swedish Innovation Index is to complement other surveys and contribute to create an overall picture of innovation to provide politicians and business leaders with a better measurement tool that provides us with knowledge of how Swedish businesses is doing when it comes to innovation.

The index is developed by researchers at CTF and Karlstad Business School at Karlstad University in collaboration with NHH Norwegian School of Economics and Fordham University, USA. The Swedish Innovation Index 2019 was presented at the Tjänsteinnovationsdagen 2020 on 24 September in via zoom.