19 Behind-The-Scenes Secrets Of IKEA Employees

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Chances are good you have a piece of IKEA furniture in your home. The Swedish company is the world's largest furniture retailer, selling billions of dollars worth of goods each year.

Its massive blue-and-yellow stores are kept well-stocked and running smoothly thanks to the efforts of more than 150,000 employees across the globe. What's it like to work for one of the world's most recognizable retail stores?

How Marketers Convinced Us That We All Need Mint To Fix Bad Breath

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Modern society provides us with all sorts of breath-freshening products: toothpaste, mints, mouthwash, gum, and even weird, translucent strips that dissolve in your mouth. All these products have one thing in common: their default flavor is mint.

By now, this seems quite natural. So it's hard to appreciate how interesting it is that spearmint and peppermint, a pair of shrubs native to Europe and Asia, have come to symbolize freshness for all of society. What's more, the idea that mint equals freshness is more of an illusion than anything else. It's a triumph of advertising.

How Samsung Grew Into One Of The Largest Companies on Earth

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The Burj Khalifa in Dubai is the tallest structure ever constructed. Guess who built it? And guess who built Taipei 101, tallest building ever before it was dwarfed by the gargantuan Burj Khalifa? And the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur, tallest building ever before that? It's Samsung.

Lee Byung-chul founded Samsung in 1938 as a trading company dealing in local groceries (photo above). It produced noodles before expanding into sugar and, later, wool. It had 40 employees. Today it has 500 000.

The Biggest Business Rivalries Of All Time

We've all known businesses to be competitive, but do some go so far as to become rivals? After all when you're both competing for similar sectors of the market, you're almost certainly not going to want your competitors to be doing as well as you.

This infographic by Glotech Repairs gives some background information about some huge brands, but also explains the top business rivalries and the story behind how they became as competitive as they are.

(thanks Dan)

10 Of The Worst Product Fails In History

image credit: Neubie

In the eyes of the law (in the U.S., at least), corporations are recognized as people. They can misbehave like people, they can be greedy like people, and they can be extremely dumb, which is very much like people.

This list is dedicated to ridiculing some of the dumbest corporate decisions that led to the most epic failed products of all time.

Top 10 Most Successful Companies Founded By Women

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Despite enduring the association of women with domesticity throughout much of world history, various women have nevertheless been major entrepreneurs and innovators.

A number of unique organizations you may be unaware were founded by women. As such, this list covers a broad range of businesses and organizations founded by famous females.

15 Common English Words That You Probably Didn't Know Were Still Trademarked

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The English language is a voracious eater, consuming words and digesting them into whole new things. Sometimes words that used to be trademarked by companies pass into generic use - like escalator, thermos, and aspirin.

And sometimes words live in limbo: still trademarked, but used all the time as generic terms. These are all words (except one) that the United States Patent and Trademark Office lists as being registered and 'live.'

The Sharecropper's Daughter Who Made Black Women Proud Of Their Hair

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American history books are filled with stories about titans of industry - invariably, white men like Andrew Carnegie and John D. Rockefeller. Yet few know the name of Sarah Breedlove (1867-1919), known as Madam C. J. Walker, a black female entrepreneur who built a hair-care company from scratch and became one of the most powerful African Americans in the early 20th century.

Walker was a woman who overcame great barriers to make it into the ranks of America's elite, choosing to reinvest her money in social causes and provide opportunity to those who had none. Collectors Weekly spoke with A'Lelia Bundles, Madam Walker's great-great-granddaughter, who helped uncover Walker's unique legacy in her detailed biography.

(thanks Hunter)

10 Products That Failed Spectacularly

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In the eyes of the law (in the U.S., at least), corporations are recognized as people, and why not? They can misbehave like people, they can be greedy like people, and they can be extremely dumb, which is very much like people.

This list is dedicated to ridiculing some of the dumbest corporate decisions that led to the most epic failed products of all time.

The World's Richest Companies That Don't Actually Exist

Ever wondered what the most successful fictional company would be? Here's an infographic about the world's richest companies that don't actually exist. The infographic provides information about made up companies from books, cartoons, TV shows, movies, computer games and comics including a description of each business and its annual turnover.

Dark Crystal: The Secrets Of Swarovski

image credit: Alexander Baxevanis

There are gems, there are crystals, and then there's Swarovski. The improbably successful Austrian crystal manufacturer is the epitome of shopping mall luxury. You can buy a pair of Swarovski earrings from Amazon for $17.60. The same total carat weight in diamonds, in a very similar setting, would cost you somewhere north of $5,000, depending on quality and provenance.

Swarovski makes glass and yet the company has managed to create for itself a brand that carries weight in the luxury world, something no other manufacturer of non-gems has ever even tried. How in the world did that happen?

Secrets Behind The Storage Wars

Storage facility Store On Call from Cambridge, UK, made this infographic which starts off by providing some statistics about the incredibly popular TV show Storage Wars and then goes on to offer information about picking good units, best storage unit finds, winning bidding strategies and a conclusion.

7 Proven Steps To A Better Workday

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While making a big sale or launching a new project can transform an ordinary workday into a great one, there's also the other side of the coin to consider: boredom, burnout, and anxiety can make the hours drag on endlessly.

But you can minimize or even eliminate those problems by giving your daily routine a simple tune-up. Here are seven things you can do to make every day as satisfying as it can be.

Inside The Colorful Crayola Factory

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Pictures of the incredible crayon-making process at the Crayola factory in Easton, Pennsylvania, USA. The factory produces around 12 million crayons every day.

Visitors Flock To South Korea's Sheep Cafe

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When South Korean café owner Lee Kwang-ho decided to add a couple of sheep to his payroll, it was the best business move of his life. Since 2011, the fluffy employees at Nature Café have been attracting hordes of animal lovers and tourists.

The shop serves all the café staples such as coffee, tea, and cake, but it all seems sort of extra-special when enjoyed in the company of a couple of fluffy sheep.

Motorized Advertising

Once upon a time on roads and streets. The golden age of motorized advertising.

(via Everlasting Blort)

Tenzin's House From The Legend Of Korra For Sale

In honor of the finale of The Legend of Korra this week, Movoto decided to find the value of Tenzin's house on Air Temple Island. You don’t have to shave your head to live there, but this iconic animated home still comes at a high price.

(thanks Chad)

The Meaning Of Famous Brands Names

Did you know that Nike is the ancient Greek goddess of victory? Or that PEZ comes from Pfefferminz, the German word for peppermint? You hear these brand names almost every day but have you ever wondered what they mean.

(thanks Cora)

9 Fake Products We Wish Were Real

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Every year, generally around the first of April, products are introduced that get our hopes up then dash them against the sidewalk like a soda bottle, as the pranksters tell us we were fools to believe such a product could exist.

But we live in a world full of clear toasters, bubblegum flavored toothpaste and pajama jeans, so why wouldn't we believe in the power of new products? These nine products could have changed our lives, but instead they're just something we wish actually existed.

What The Color Of Your Logo Says About Your Brand

Few design projects seem to require as much deep thinking as a corporate logo. One of the most basic decisions for any logo, though, is color. And if you think color choice isn't really that important, well - someday you're going to be beaten up by a psychologist.

This infographic explains a bit more about logos and their color - as well as the cost, value and evolution over time of some well-known corporate marks.