Ingvar Kamprad founded IKEA in 1953 and opened the first store in Almhult, Sweden.
That control is so tight that not even Mr Kamprad's heirs can loosen it after his death.
No doubt that Kamprad is one of the wealthiest and most humble self-made entrepreneurs in the world.
Ingvar Kamprad is the seventh-wealthiest man in the world, but you wouldn't know it if you met him.
Kamprad responded by turning to Polish producers for inexpensive components that could be assembled at home from flat packs.
The Kamprad foundations compare poorly with the Gates Foundation in other ways, too.
In other words, Mr Kamprad is able to exercise control of Ingka Holding as if he were still its owner.
Mr Kamprad left a trapdoor for getting funds out of the business, even if its ownership and control cannot change.
The company began in 1943 in a small village in Sweden, when its founder, Ingvar Kamprad, was just 17 years old.
His low prices undercut the cosy Swedish cartel of the time which imposed a boycott on Kamprad's company in the late 1950s.
The Kamprad family (one of the richest in the world), is very focused on key values surrounding quality, heritage, market differences, customer loyalty, and sustainability.
Kamprad has shrouded his business in an opaque collection of trusts and holding companies, in part to shelter Ikea from Sweden's confiscatory taxes and death duties.
Based on Forbes' estimates, Kamprad is very rich, but not as rich as the Swedish news weekly Veckans Affaerer estimates (nor as poor as Ikea suggests).
To illustrate the importance of clear purpose, The Strategist touts Swedish home goods retailer IKEA, founded in 1943 by Ingvar Kamprad when he was 17-years-old.
FORBES: Why Leaders Stopped Caring About Strategy -- and How They Can Reclaim It
In 1951, IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad branched out beyond the basic business of mail-order Christmas tree decorations, ballpoint pens and bird seeds and added a catalog-only furniture business.
Mr Kamprad's wife and a Swiss lawyer have also been members of this committee, which takes most of its decisions by simple majority, since the foundation was set up.
We also discounted the portion of Ikea's sales that we estimate are earmarked for a charitable trust and subtracted a percentage of the sales that are held by another Kamprad company.
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