Swedish home furnishings manufacturer and retailer Ikea
during the past couple of years has implemented a mandatory ground
transportation policy that global travel purchaser Yves Galimidi told attendees
at an educational session during the Association of Corporate Travel Executives
conference in Berlin this month has reduced its carbon footprint, improved
employee work/life balance, increased productivity and significantly reduced
its travel expenses.
Ikea, which does business in 53 countries at about 700
sites, has put in place a few overarching policies and several country-specific
ones. In general, the company directs its employees when possible to use remote
conferencing and public transportation as their first choices and requires them
to use its preferred booking channels.
In its home market, which accounts for 50 percent of its
travel volume, Ikea has a preferred car rental agreement with Avis through
which it has negotiated one-way rates from Copenhagen, site of the airport
closest to Ikea's key Swedish cities. The car rental supplier also facilitates Ikea
employee car pools.
While Ikea's relationship with Avis in Sweden works well,
the company has made use of rail mandatory from Copenhagen to locations in
Almhult and Helsingborg, where Ikea has its headquarters and corporate
facilities Not only has Ikea negotiated attractive rates through its contract
with Swedish Rail, but it also persuaded the rail company to increase daily
frequencies between Copenhagen and Almhult from four to 16.
Galimidi said that Ikea also has created bus shuttles
between Helsingborg and Almhult that provide wi-fi service on roundtrip routes.
The company also has negotiated taxi deals in seven countries
In France, Ikea only permits the use of airlines for
domestic trips on four routes. Otherwise, employees must use rail or car
rental, for which it has a contract with Sixt. Galimidi said that has reduced
French domestic air expenses by 30 percent.
In the next two months, he said, the company will conduct
global mapping to accurately measure its ground transporation costs. Ikea also
is working to improve traveler tracking.
This report appeared
in the Oct. 25 issue of Business Travel News.