Hello and welcome to Business Daily from the BBC World Service with me Sam Fennek.

Today, what began on a humble farm in rural Sweden has grown into a global household name.

Practicality, versatility and good value.

We're buying for our first flat together.

Like you can see in the trolley, you can't leave with just nothing.

IKEA has transformed living spaces around the world.

Like the designs, innovation, how things are moving along,

loads of things you can put together.

Quickly becoming renowned for his flat pack modern

Scandinavian furniture that's assembled at home. He dedicated his business and vision to people

within wallets. He was not interested in selling to people of affluence. You'll hear from

IKEA's CEO, Jesper Brodin, about how the company transformed into a global brand

and became the world's largest furniture retailer, achieving total revenues last year of more than $32 billion US dollars.

Waiting lists for house hunters are the bogey of estate agents.

Searchers for homes are all too familiar with the sorry answer.

Home hunters include, for the duration only tenants, the returning servicemen, the bombed out and the displaced persons.

After the Second World War, there was a significant demand for new homes across most of Europe.

Large-scale house building projects were initiated, but material shortages and economic constraints

from the war meant that the new homes were often small, practical and designed for efficiency.

American-style prefabricated homes became increasingly popular, as did flat-pack furniture,

as this newsreel from 1945 demonstrates. And while on the subject of modern fittings,

here's an idea from Sweden. Furniture, ready-packed and in sections delivered by post.

...