And the whole thing saves on taxes by being a Dutch 'charitable foundation'!

"IKEA: Flat-pack Accounting [2006]" – http://www.economist.com/node/6919139

And exploiting cheap, non-union labor in the US.

I assume you're referring to the customers who spend hours assembling this stuff?

No. they produce much of the flat pack furniture for their US stores in a domestic factory.

That changed in 2011, afaik.

http://www.labornotes.org/2011/08/furniture-workers-win-ikea...

"After scathing articles about conditions in the Swedwood plant appeared overseas, union woodworkers in Europe and Asia pressured the iconic Swedish brand."

Design-driven furniture development at its finest.

On a related note, looks like Ikea Hackers had a recent redesign: http://www.ikeahackers.net/

Not really recent. They've had that design since Oct. 2013.

https://web.archive.org/web/20131004002539/http://www.ikeaha...

Said Korean IKEA

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cM3de1ETvks

Doesn't look whole lot different than other IKEA I've seen.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrSnTCaENhk

In my opinion, IKEA is successful largely because they have huge breadth of products in terms of variety, design, quality, and price points.

It also helps that Koreans have been overpaying for furniture for decades.

No Ikeas in South America, afaik.