![]() “It took us many many years to get profitable in Russia,” says Brodin.” But then, of course, none of us had in our scenario list. ![]() When Russia invaded Ukraine – a move that accelerated the inflation that’s rocked European business – the sanctions that Western governments placed on companies doing business with Moscow left Ikea with no choice. Ikea, along with many other global corporations, is already cooling its heels from one display of agility in 2022. “Maybe you see things earlier when you have an integrated value chain but soon we’re going to have shortages and overstocks, inflation and deflation, so in the coming period you will need to be really agile.” Now, he says, the economic storm that began with the spiralling cost of materials and shipping is about to get choppier. “We don’t have to see these as the most profitable years,” says Brodin, conceding that Ikea’s private status makes such decisions easier when away from the glare of shareholder scrutiny. That, though, was followed by an announcement the next month that in the year to the end of August, Ikea’s profits halved. “So we decided to take a lot of the hits on the cost variation on our own profit and loss.” To an extent, consumers rewarded Ikea’s largesse, with the retailer posting record sales in its most recent full-year results in October 2022. “We have a resilient economic set-up, Ingka Group has no loans and some money in the bank,” he says. With many companies putting up their prices to protect their bottom lines, Brodin, along with the Ingka Group board and Ikea, decided that Ikea should absorb some of the higher prices of raw materials rather than passing them on to consumers. Supply-chain difficulties and inflation have hammered retailers around the world. That might sound like corporate spin but on that latter characteristic, Ikea has walked the walk in recent months. Its conspicuously Swedish blue and yellow logo was originally red and white, “and it was a conscious decision to build the brand with an understanding of the culture of Sweden: the aspects of togetherness, simplicity and cost-consciousness”. “But it’s also deeply value-based.” The company’s alignment with its mother country is intentional, he adds. With its doorknobs named after Swedish towns and the meatballs it sells from Nagoya to Santiago, “Ikea’s Swedishness is something quite fun – it stands out,” says Brodin. ![]() During times of geopolitical and economic calm, that might be a mere quirk of corporate branding but in times of flux, the clout that global companies wield in the public imagination can turn them into soft-power embassies for their home countries – think McDonald’s in the Soviet Union of the 1980s. The tracks here are recent stuff and demos where I am usually on guitars and vocal contributions with George covering everything else down to the mix.For many consumers around the world, Ikea is also one of Sweden’s most recognisable touchpoints, so any stance that the retail giant takes carries greater resonance than the average company. These influences continue to inform what I like in music. I started off by playing punk on Saturdays, church music on Sundays and wanting to be like the Beatles. I've written a lot of stuff over the years and it's great to capture the moment especially working with others. Mellow Yellow Productions is a songwriting and production collective between Mark Steell and George Falconer.
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