Gabbert: IKEA Inverted Furniture Retail by Outsourcing Manufacturing in the 1970s
John Gabbert · Room & Board: John Gabbert. A Broken Deal, a Family Rift, and the Birth of a Furniture Giant · May 11, 2026 · at 11:36
Room & Board founder John Gabbert recalls learning about IKEA's manufacturing and retail supply chain model during a 1972 visit to Europe.
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“What really fascinated me was their process in that they designed everything, and then they went to, at that time, Eastern Europe to have it made. So they kind of turned the process upside down. And they said, we are the creators of the product. You are going to be the manufacturer and manufacture what we determine for the value that we want for the period of time that we'd like you to continue to make it.”
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