The man who wants to turn Ikeas pleasant well groomed image on its head is Johan Stenebo. Stenebo, who has working at Ikea more than 20 years, left the company nine months ago after disputes with the management. Now he has written a tell-all book, “Sanningen om Ikea” (“The Truth About Ikea”), that has attracted much attention in Sweden. In the book he claims Ikea:

1.    employed methods akin to those used by the East German secret police, the Stasi.
2.    repeatedly denigrated foreigners  as “niggers.” They apparently had no chance of promotion within the company – blatant racism exists within the company.
3.    practiced unethical purchasing practices –

“I know that even in China you can’t buy legal wood for the price that we paid there,” “But instead of using the best, they use the cheapest.”

“Charitable gestures are cheaper than a clean conscience and have the added advantage of being tax-deductible”.

Whether or not any of the above are true is not the point, rather that brand risk can exist through a company’s employees or through other relationships such as suppliers for many years after the relationship is ended.

Confidentiality, agreements are a common tool in managing relationships with suppliers, but perhaps not so common with staff, particularly governing behaviour after they leave our employ. Whilst such an enforcement approach, is probably justified in some cases, it detracts from the most important behaviour – to protect the brand and manage your reputational risk profile.

’Being seen to do the right thing’ in dealings with staff and stakeholder relationships.

For staff this means investing in training and development, establishing effective feedback mechanisms and focusing on employee engagement and of course rewarding them. Happy, rewarded employees build loyalty to the organisation and can positively impact the company’s marketing efforts. There is no better spokesperson for a company, product, and brand than someone who is happy in their work and has respect for their employer and peers.

The picture painted of Ikea, presents a vision of an insular organisation with a paranoid like control and command management style which affords little countenance for views not sanctioned by the core command.  Such can be the seeds of destruction in today’s global, multi-racial economy – something all companies should heed.

Nuff said …