One way to make your audiences feel welcome and appreciated is to communicate inclusivity through language. Staying on top of what honours the humanity of each person that interacts with your content is not just about being politically correct 鈥� it鈥檚 about showing respect for individual differences, cultures and experiences.

However, if your content spans multiple languages, it鈥檚 hard to remain an expert in all of them. That鈥檚 where we at Sandberg can help. In this article, we discuss two of the most common inclusivity conundrums and share examples of solutions for them in English and the Nordic languages.

Gender and pronouns

Did you know that the non-binary pronoun they was Merriam-Webster’s Word of the Year in 2019 because of the significant increase in its lookups? It鈥檚 a plural pronoun that has doubled as a singular pronoun for more than 700 years. Writers including William Shakespeare, Emily Dickinson and Geoffrey Chaucer all used the singular they in their work.

In the English language, there are many other invented gender-neutral pronouns today; ze, hir, E, per, xi, ip, thon, heesh, co, um and le, and some of them are older than you might think. But only they is used by everyone who speaks English, the others are used by a relatively small number of people and only in some contexts. In the English-speaking world, seeing pronouns listed in various places, such as a person鈥檚 email signature or social media profile, and the use of they as a singular pronoun, has become increasingly common.

Language that avoids bias towards a particular sex or social gender can certainly have an impact both in terms of gender neutrality and gender fluidity. All Nordic languages are working towards gender-neutral job titles, e.g. politibetjent 鈥榩olice officer鈥� instead of politimand 鈥榩oliceman鈥� in Danish, or 别蝉颈丑别苍办颈濒枚 鈥榮upervisor鈥� instead of esimies 鈥榝oreman鈥� in Finnish. In Norway, there was even a great debate on whether jordmor 鈥榤idwife鈥� should be changed, but it was eventually left untouched.

The Danish, Swedish and Norwegian languages all have gendered pronouns for the third person singular. In Sweden, the official dictionary was updated in 2015 to include a third, gender-neutral pronoun. The new pronoun hen was added alongside han 鈥榟e鈥� and hon 鈥榮he’ to refer to those of unknown gender or where gender is deemed irrelevant.

A neutral third-person singular pronoun hen or 丑酶苍 was also introduced into Danish, but how well it鈥檚 been adopted is difficult to say. It鈥檚 not yet in the Danish dictionary nor is it acknowledged as a pronoun by the Danish language advisory Dansk Sprogn忙vn. Offence may be taken, however, if you don’t write gender-neutrally. If using the new pronoun feels artificial, you can write han/hun 鈥榟e/she鈥� or use the word vedkommende which is gender-neutral, but sometimes difficult to incorporate into a sentence. Simply using personen ‘the person’ is also an option.

Norwegian takes a similar approach to Danish 鈥� the use of 鈥榟e/she鈥� has been common, as has vedkommende in formal communication. The new neutral pronoun is hen. The national language authority Spr氓kr氓det recommends using hen for those who wish to be referred to as such but adds that it鈥檚 not yet widespread enough for them to recommend it beyond this purpose. However, even the national broadcaster NRK has started using it sporadically.

In Finnish, none of the personal pronouns are gender specific, so the existing gender-neutral third-person singular pronoun 丑盲苍 continues to be appropriate in modern usage.

If you are in charge of content creation in the Scandinavian languages, your brand style guide should specify whether your brand wishes to use gendered pronouns, the gender-neutral pronoun hen, or any gender-neutral alternatives. The following table is a great resource to help inform your decisions.

Race and ethnicity

References to skin colour and ethnic background tend to be more common in English texts than in the Nordic cultures. In English, you can find extensive instructions on how to refer to a person鈥檚 skin colour; for example, when referring to race, you may capitalise Black but you always write white in lower case. This is because capitalising Black reflects a shared identity and culture rather than a skin colour alone. On the whole, it鈥檚 good to approach such advice with the caveat of it being correct 鈥榝or the time being鈥� because what鈥檚 considered acceptable and respectful changes over time.

In the Nordic countries, people tend to avoid mentioning skin colour or ethnicity if it鈥檚 not specifically relevant in the context. They may understand expressions like POC 鈥榩erson of colour鈥� and BIPOC 鈥楤lack, Indigenous, and People of Colour鈥� that are common in US English, but the concepts of identity behind such terms are not yet widely known in the Nordic culture. This keeps Nordic translators on their toes as they struggle to find and create equivalents that would convey the required meanings of empowerment and solidarity.

If a person鈥檚 background absolutely has to be mentioned, a neutral way might be to refer to a geographical area or region, especially if the person themselves has publicly shared it. Rather than 鈥淗e is Asian,鈥� say 鈥淗e is from Beijing, China鈥� or 鈥淗e was born in Beijing but moved to the UK at the age of 5鈥�. The rule of thumb is to be specific whenever possible, and bear in mind that even when a person has referred to themselves with a certain term, someone else using that term might still come across as offensive.

What does this mean for you?

When you wish to communicate through inclusive language in a language that you 诲辞苍鈥檛 speak, it鈥檚 best to work with an experienced team of linguists. In doing so, you should share brand style guides, tone of voice guides and other resources that make it clear exactly how you want to communicate with your audience so that the linguists can make the best decisions possible when localising your content. If you鈥檙e unsure of the approach to take in the target language, consider consulting with linguistic and cultural experts first to understand how far some of the newly coined expressions have been adopted in different languages and cultures.

It’s good to remember that your choice of words is never just about the person or topic you are writing about. It鈥檚 also revealing about you and the brand you represent. When possible, ask people which pronouns and terms they wish to use about themselves. By showing respect and inclusivity through this process, you can build a more diverse and loyal global audience.

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Fate or choice?听

In the Old Norse myths, the Norns decided your fate, right up until your dying day. There was nothing you could do to change this; you could only decide how you met your end, either as a coward or as a fighter. When we see large companies and corporations around us today, it is easy to think that they are 鈥渢oo big to fail鈥�, but as several retailers in the UK have recently found out, no company is ever fully secure. Just as attacking is the best defence, driving change is the best way to remain relevant, and Nokia was a key driver of this change in the 90s and early 2000s. Then, change happened to it. 听

From paper mill to phones

The company that would later become Nokia started out as a paper mill in 1865, founded by the mining engineer Fredrik Idestam. The company chose the name 鈥淣okia鈥� in 1871 when the banks of the river Nokianvirta were chosen as the site for Idestam鈥檚 second mill. 听听

Around the turn of the 20th century, Nokia moved into electricity generation, which caught the eye of Finnish Rubber Works. It bought up Nokia in 1918 to secure access to the company鈥檚 hydropower resources. This new entity went on to acquire Finnish Cable Works in 1922, but the three companies continued as separate operations until they were formally merged in 1967, forming the Nokia Corporation.听

In the following decades, the company focussed mainly on the paper, electronics, rubber and cable markets, producing goods like toilet paper, bike and car tires, rubber wellies, TV sets, communication cables, robotics, computers and military equipment until 1979.听

The new age听

In 1979, Nokia entered into a joint venture with a company named Salora, a leading Scandinavian colour TV manufacturer, to create a radio telephone company called Mobira Oy. After a few years, Nokia launched the world’s first international cellular telephone system linking Sweden, Denmark, Norway and Finland, which it called the Nordic Mobile Telephone network. Shortly after, it launched the world鈥檚 first car-phone, the Mobira Senator, which weighed in at around 10 kg (hard to believe when compared to the pocket-sized smartphones we carry around today).听

With this, Nokia had seized the initiative in the mobile world, at least as far as Europe was concerned. In 1987, the company launched one of the first handheld mobile phones, which, including its battery, weighed in at 鈥渙nly鈥� 800 g (28 oz). The Mobira Cityman 900 was nicknamed 鈥淭he Gorba鈥� after Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev was seen using one to make a phone call during a press conference in Helsinki. The phone became the ultimate status symbol for the 1980s yuppies (young, upwardly-mobile professionals) mainly due to its high cost (), though it only had a talk time of 50 minutes. Still, this was more than enough time to tell your secretary to book you a table at a fashionable restaurant.听

The Nordic road to success听

In the early 1990s, Nokia shed the divisions of its business that were not directly related to telecommunications, such as data, energy, television, tyre and cable production, focussing its corporate attention on innovation in the growing mobile phone market.听听

was made on one of its mobile phones in 1991 by the Finnish Prime Minister Harri Holkeri to the Deputy Mayor of Tampere, Kaarina Suonio. The call lasted just over three minutes but reverberated through the following decades. The year after, the , the 1011 (named as such because it was launched on the 10th day of November), was released to the world. This was also the first mobile phone to allow for text messaging via the Short Messaging Service (SMS) as well as roaming. But it was the launch of another innovative handset that would make Nokia the mobile phone legend it was to become.听

The annoying ringtone听

In 1993, the eponymous 2100 series was released. It introduced the now (in)famous Nokia ringtone, based on a short phrase from the a piece composed for classical guitar by the Spanish composer Francisco T谩rrega in 1902. While the company had only projected sales of around 400,000 units, it went on to sell more than 20 million!听

Further innovation followed in 1996 with the , which could send e-mails and faxes (remember those?), browse the internet, as well as offer word-processing and spreadsheet functionalities. That same year, Nokia launched the , which had a cover over the keys that you could slide down for dialling. The slightly curved shape gave rise to the nickname 鈥渢he banana phone鈥�, and it achieved something of a cult following after being featured in the action sci-fi film The Matrix.

Yet another giant leap towards dominance in the mobile market came with the Nokia 6100 series. Almost 41 million units were sold in 1998, and Nokia overtook Motorola as the number one mobile phone maker that year. The Nokia 6110 was the first that came with the classic and addictive game 鈥淪nake鈥� pre-installed. Nokia continued to develop, produce and sell phones at an impressive scale, and its market share climbed to more than .听

Why did Nokia succeed?听

At this point, many articles on Nokia plunge right into the story of why the business started to falter, but it鈥檚 useful to reflect on what the company had done right up to this point. Firstly, they responded well to new and challenging circumstances. Finland had been through a recession in the 1990s and the Nokia Corporation was struggling financially. At the same time, the government had liberalised the telecoms market and Finland had joined the European Union, moving the country closer to Western markets. Nokia realised that the best growth decision was to specialise in the mobile telecoms market, so it started to divest from the non-telecoms divisions of the business. 听

Nokia also realised that its strength as a company lay in research and development for innovation. As Caroline Lesser writes in a paper for the OECD (Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development), called :

鈥淣okia鈥檚 efficient product and process development which lie at the heart of its competitiveness — were possible in large part thanks to the company鈥檚 R&D approach. First, Nokia increased its R&D expenditure dramatically. While in 1991, R&D spending as percentage of total sales represented approx. 5.5%, this share almost doubled by 2000, to reach approx. 9%.听 [鈥听听鈥淚n 2005, Nokia鈥檚 R&D expenses totalled 鈧�3.8 billion, representing 11.2% of Nokia鈥檚 net sales that year.鈥�听

Focussing its operations and investing in R&D were clearly important factors in Nokia鈥檚 spectacular rise.听

Nokia鈥檚 localisation strategy听

Furthermore, during this time, localisation became a key part of Nokia鈥檚 success in expanding internationally. Compared to competitors like Motorola and Ericsson, Nokia found potential in adapting its products to young and fashionable consumers; part of this included localising and translating content into their languages, cultures and tastes.听听

Most importantly, they had to localise the product, including the software itself and support documentation, such as user guides. For example, in 1999, Nokia realised that in order to penetrate the Chinese market, one of the biggest mobile phone markets in the world, it had to develop a User Interface (UI) in Chinese. This focus on localising products helped them build connections and secure success in new global markets.听

Other layers of localisation were just as important, such as Nokia鈥檚 sales and marketing materials. The localisation of these elements meant that more customers could understand what Nokia mobile phones were uniquely positioned to offer, and ultimately, decide to purchase the product. At this time, though, marketing was mostly done through traditional methods, like TV advertisements, billboards, newspapers, magazines, brochures, posters, and more. We can look back on advertisements in , , and many other languages to see the effort that was made to connect with these audiences. Nokia鈥檚 localisation even went as far as working with local carriers, like Verizon and AT&T in the US and Movistar in Latin America, to sell its products.听

Some mistakes were made too, of course, like when it went unnoticed that 鈥淟umia,鈥� the name of one of Nokia鈥檚 later phone models, could also mean 鈥渟ex worker鈥� in Spanish slang. Nonetheless, devoting focus and time to these localisation elements played a part in ensuring Nokia鈥檚 rise to the top, even though it turned out to be shorter-lived than the company had hoped.听

Why did they fail?听

In their book on the fall of Nokia, , the journalists Merina Salminen and Pekka Nyk盲nen argue that the company was ill-prepared to respond to the disruptive impact of the Apple iPhone when it was introduced by Steve Jobs in 2007. Nokia had a large army of engineers who were great at developing new hardware with innovative designs and quirky functions, such as the fashion-oriented 鈥渓ipstick鈥� phone, the Nokia 7280, which features in a Pussycat Dolls music video. But as Salminen and Nyk盲nen write, 听

鈥�The product portfolio of the company was exceptionally large. This strategy had worked well while business was still blooming, even if only a small part of the company鈥檚 vast product range was successful, those best-sellers brought in enough money for the business to be successful. By 2010 the vast product range had become a burden. There had not been a best-selling product in several years 听[鈥鈥� (Chapter 4, The lame legacy of Mr. Kallasvuo).听

The beauty of Apple鈥檚 iPhone is that each new version is essentially a new and improved iteration of one product. Over the years, the content has seen the most improvement, while the physical design has changed very little. Nokia鈥檚 R&D systems were, however, more geared towards hardware than software and content.听

By the late 2000s, Nokia was churning out a vast array of products. Even without a best-seller, it still shifted around 400 million units, but most of the volume was generated by basic phones priced at around 30 Euros, which did not do much to improve the bottom line. The organisation had also developed internal issues, with extremely long lead times to get phones to market and complicated management structures overflowing with internal politics.听

Time to get smart(phone)听

Many retellings of the Nokia story may not highlight this, but after the success of Apple鈥檚 iPhone, Nokia鈥檚 leadership quickly realised that the touch-screen smartphone was the only way forward in the industry. But even though the launch of the 5800 Xpress Music, running on the Symbian operating system, was moderately successful, with 8 million units sold, it was felt by many to have a lower quality user experience than the iPhone.听听

Nokia鈥檚 profits fell by 30%, sales by 3.1%, whilst Apple鈥檚 iPhone profits boomed by 330% during the same period. Then, in October 2008, the first smartphone with the Android operating system was launched, . Nokia meanwhile continued to try and make its operating system, Symbian, able to compete with iOS and Android, but the platform was difficult to adapt. Internally, hardware designers and Symbian software designers were pulling in different directions. The sheer number of different product lines also made it very difficult to keep up to date with development in a unified manner.听听

Nokia鈥檚 share of the market slipped strongly from 2007 to 2010, but after 2010 it dropped dramatically. So what happened? Some point the finger at the new CEO, former Microsoft executive Stephen Elop, appointed in 2010 by Nokia鈥檚 board to turn the company鈥檚 fortunes around. As a Canadian, he was the first non-Finnish CEO of Nokia, and although some had misgivings, he was well-liked early on in his tenure.听

Strategy and communication errors听

Due to the problems with Symbian 鈥� it was not touchscreen-friendly and often lagged and froze 鈥� Nokia joined forces with Intel to create a new operating system, MeeGo. Development had started before Elop came aboard, but he is reported to have helped focus the development teams鈥� efforts on attempting to produce a Nokia product to rival even the best phones on the market.听听

However, for various reasons, Elop decided that the cooperation with Intel would not be continued, as he said in his now infamous 鈥渂urning platform鈥� email. In this internal memo, he used the analogy of a man standing on a burning oilrig, where he must make a choice whether to be consumed by the fire or take a chance and jump into the cold sea. This illustrated where he believed the company stood in relation to its competitors.听听

The email accurately set out some of the challenges that Nokia was facing, such as the high-end appeal of Apple鈥檚 phones, but when he stated that MeeGo would not be continued, along with the knowledge that Symbian was not fit for purpose, he created the twin effect of undermining consumers鈥� confidence in new products and increasing the pressure on the board of directors to approve cooperation with a new operating system provider. The effects were soon visible, as .听

As a result, a cooperation deal with Microsoft was duly signed on the 21st of April 2011. On the surface, it ought to have been a match made in heaven, with the hardware masters of Nokia and the software wizards of Microsoft able to combine their efforts. However, the lack of confidence remaining in the existing Symbian OS was diminishing, as phones with this OS were being abandoned across Asia. Sales had initially held up in India and China, but device makers such as Huawei, ZTE, and Lenovo were on the rise, and Nokia’s devices were literally being replaced by Android units on the shelves. Nokia was forced to issue a market warning that revenue would be lower than expected, spooking the market and causing the share price to tumble by 18%.听

Finally, in 2011, the new Microsoft-Nokia phone was born and named the Lumia, apparently for the word鈥檚 association with snow in Finnish and light in English. The Lumia went on sale in Europe in November of 2011, and from January to March the sales exceeded two million. This was not too far off the initial sales figures for the iPhone, so the hopes were that sales would climb from there. But the loss in the first quarter was 260 million Euros.听

Sales in China had collapsed. In the US, the Lumia 900 had a software issue that could affect data transfer and refunds had to be offered to those affected. Moreover, Nokia鈥檚 presence as a brand in the USA was practically non-existent by 2011. The network selling the phone in the US, AT&T, soon started offering the Lumia 900 at a heavily discounted price, further damaging the Nokia brand鈥檚 image.听

Critics of Stephen Elop have pointed out that in terms of market value, Nokia dropped from 29.5 billion euros to 11.1 billion euros on his watch. This ended with the unhappy sale of Finland鈥檚 flagship company, a source of great national pride, to Microsoft in April 2015.听

In summary听

It is too easy to say that Nokia was simply slow to respond and that its leaders were resting on their laurels. When you read the account in Merina Salminen and Pekka Nyk盲nen鈥檚 above-mentioned book, (Operation Elop), you will see that within Nokia there was frantic work going on, including numerous realised and aborted development projects and a willingness to change and respond to changing market demands that refute this simplistic narrative of a hubristic company unwilling to accept that the world is changing around them. The fact that it appointed a non-Finnish CEO to run this national flagship company is in itself evidence of a willingness to change.听

In hindsight, it is also easy to underestimate how interruptive the iOS-based Apple iPhone was back in 2007. It significantly changed the everyday world of most people in both mundane ways, like how we check the weather or hail a taxi, as well as in ways that are truly profound, like how we communicate with friends and how we interact with politics. This change was driven by the vision of Steve Jobs and the many brilliant creators at Apple, and it was a very different vision than that which had driven Nokia鈥檚 success.听

Nokia was simply not prepared in its fundamental structures to adapt to a software and content-driven environment, and perhaps its greatest mistake was not to realise this soon enough. In nature, natural selection happens by the survival of the fittest. In the free market (if it is allowed to operate) the same principle goes; it is the business best prepared to meet customer demands that will survive.听

But finally, let us not forget another intangible hurdle Nokia was up against: iPhones were cool. They became a fashion statement for those who wished to align themselves with what they saw as the Apple brand鈥檚 values 鈥� progressive, fresh, innovative, well-designed and quality conscious. To win against Apple you would have had to be all that, plus more fun. And you know what they say about Finns and fun…听

Regardless of its later years, the Nordic company remains a great example of how taking the initiative to specialise in creating a product of relevance to people around the world, like the mobile phone, can pay off and lead to international success.听

The post Nokia: How a Finnish paper mill grew into a world-renowned company appeared first on sa国际传媒.

Origins and history听

The LEGO Group was in Billund, Denmark in 1932. At the time, Billund was a small, humble town with fewer than 300 residents. However, after the LEGO factory was established in the 1930s and as a result of the continued growth that followed, the town鈥檚 . Billund, now with just over 7,000 residents, is home to Denmark鈥檚 second-largest airport and has transformed into a hub for tourists who want to learn about the LEGO company鈥檚 history and visit the original LEGOLAND amusement park.听

While the brand was officially created in 1932 and named LEGO in 1934, its story started some years earlier. Ole Kirk Kristiansen , planning to build houses in the summer and sell furniture in the winter. He did this successfully for a few years, despite an accidental fire in 1924 that burned down his workshop and family home.听

After rebuilding both structures, Kristiansen hoped for more profits from his business. However, by the early 1930s, the global economic crisis had reached the Danish farmers, who could no longer afford to pay for Kristiansen鈥檚 services. As a result, he turned to producing goods that were cheaper to manufacture 鈥� 听

Although this was not a particularly profitable venture while Billund was in the throes of the 1930s Great Depression and the Nazi occupation of the 1940s, Kristiansen had found a passion for building toys. He liked encouraging children鈥檚 early development by producing toys like trucks and pull-along animals that promoted thought and creativity. This inspired him to in 1934, which is a portmanteau of the Danish words 鈥�leg godt鈥� or 鈥減lay well.鈥�听

Now, over 90 years later, the LEGO Group has more than worldwide, including stores and franchises, as well as . How did the business achieve such significant growth after a difficult start?听

Building initial success听

Several factors played a key role, including Kristiansen鈥檚 focus on producing only the highest quality toys possible, the transition to using plastic instead of wood and the creation of a clear company vision and purpose.听

The is 鈥�det bedste er ikke for godt,鈥� literally meaning 鈥渢he best is not too good,鈥� but officially translated into English as 鈥渙nly the best is good enough.鈥� This set a very high standard for quality, and it all started with Ole Kristiansen. , Kristiansen used beechwood that had been air-dried for two years and kiln-dried for three weeks. Then, it was cut, sanded, polished and painted with three coats of varnish or paint.听

that his son, Godtfred, once tried to cut corners in the production process by only giving the company鈥檚 wooden ducks two coats of varnish instead of three. Upon learning this, his father chastised him, telling him to give them the last coat immediately and teaching him a lesson about the importance of quality. The elder Kristiansen proceeded to carve out wooden signs of the company motto and hang them around the factory so that employees would never be tempted to compromise on the quality of LEGO toys.听

This was evidently a lesson learned for Godtfred, as when , he always ensured that every single brick was built to the proper specifications 鈥� so much so that any of the bricks created back then should still fit together with today鈥檚 LEGO bricks. When new automation and machinery started to increase the efficiency of production, Godtfred to ensure that the company would continue to live up to its own motto.听

The transition to plastic bricks听

The LEGO company began working with plastics in the late 1940s when Kristiansen purchased an injection moulding machine . This coincided with supply issues that the company was facing, as high-quality beechwood was becoming harder to find.

Around the same time, Kristiansen and his son, Godtfred, were sent plastic blocks from a British company. They redesigned them, developing what would eventually become LEGO self-locking bricks. They called these , giving them an English name as an homage to the Allied forces who had liberated Europe in 1945. They would be renamed (LEGO bricks) a few years later to more resolutely establish the brand.

But not everyone was immediately convinced by the idea of transitioning from tried-and-true beechwood to plastic. Godtfred believed that wood was a stronger material and that plastic would not be able to replace it. However, because of Kristiansen鈥檚 belief in the potential of these new plastic bricks, they continued developing and selling these over the following decades.

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, the popularity of LEGO plastic bricks grew across Western Europe. Meanwhile, the company鈥檚 wooden toys were never sold outside of Denmark. Eventually, after a third major fire (the first having occurred in 1924 and the second in the early 1940s) in , Godtfred accepted that the company鈥檚 future would need to rely entirely on plastic and that they could not return to producing wooden toys.听

The 10 characteristics of the LEGO brand听

Once Godtfred had decided that all efforts would be put towards producing plastic LEGO bricks, he focused his full attention on developing a clear goal and vision for the company. Despite Godtfred agreeing with his father that plastic was the right choice, his brothers, who were also working in key positions within the company, disagreed so strongly with his decision that they left the company entirely. As a result, in 1960, Godtfred became the sole owner.听

As part of his plan for the company鈥檚 future, he developed in 1963, which highlighted the goals of the brand moving forward:听听

1. Unlimited play possibilities听
2. For girls, for boys听
3. Enthusiasm for all ages听
4. Play all year round听
5. Stimulating and harmonious play听
6. Endless hours of play听
7. Imagination, creativity, development听
8. More LEGO, multiplied play value听
9. Always topical听
10. Safety and quality听

The next few decades of expansion that followed the 1960s came with plenty of struggles for the LEGO company. It was ultimately its adherence and return to these principles that helped the company to adjust, adapt and overcome the challenges it faced. These characteristics are still very much relevant today and have become a core part of the LEGO company鈥檚 production strategy and vision.听

Early expansion in the Nordic region, Western Europe and the USA听

As a Danish company, the LEGO Group followed the same path as many other companies from the Nordic region and . Sales began in Norway in 1953 and Sweden and Iceland followed in 1955.听

The elder Kristiansen viewed Germany as the gateway to the rest of Europe, as it was the global centre of toy production. As a result, this was the natural next step for the company. Although there was initial pushback from the purchasing managers at German department stores, Kristiansen managed to convince the toyshops closest to Denmark, in northern Germany, to sell LEGO products. The LEGO Group鈥檚 first foreign sales office was set up in Germany in 1956.听听

Kristiansen was right about Germany: the LEGO company saw rapid expansion across the rest of Europe, opening sales offices in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Austria, Belgium, Italy and Portugal from 1956 to 1958. What鈥檚 more, the first LEGOLAND, an amusement park dedicated to LEGO products, opened in Billund in 1968.听

In 1961, the LEGO Group licensed the American luggage company Shwayder (later Samsonite) to sell LEGO products in the USA. This helped the company get its foot in the door, and by 1973, it was able to buy back the rights to sell LEGO products from Samsonite, and build a factory in Enfield, Connecticut.听

The 1970s and 80s were a time of rapid expansion. The toy industry saw brought on by automation and the modernisation of machinery. This made the manufacturing process more efficient than ever. The 1970s also saw more discussion about product safety, including the impact of toy materials on the environment, and the LEGO Group joined various organisations working towards a European standard for toy safety.听

Over these very productive years, the company also released a , including building sets for older audiences to expand their customer base and engage those who might have played with LEGO toys as children. The focus during this period was on themed sets, such as LEGO Space, LEGO Castle, LEGO City and LEGO Pirates. The classic LEGO human figures, known as Minifigures, were also released during this time.听

The difficult decades: 1990s and 2000s听

By the 1990s, the third generation of the Kristiansen family (or Christiansen, as it was later spelt) was in charge. Under Godtfred鈥檚 son, Kjeld, the LEGO company experienced incredible growth, so much so that he even wondered if it would be possible to . Instead, they churned out new products at an incredible rate, including a line of LEGO-themed children鈥檚 clothing.听

However, a combination of factors soon began contributing to a growing crisis at the company. As a result, the LEGO Group suffered its first financial loss in 1998. To resolve this, was hired, but his attempts at cutting costs through layoffs and streamlining processes did not accomplish much. The company continued to spiral downward, with unprofitability taking it close to bankruptcy by 2004.听

What were the issues faced by the LEGO company? There was a lower demand for toys at this time in general, and LEGO products were beginning to be seen as expensive compared to other companies. Additionally, , meaning other companies had started producing essentially the same product and selling it for a lower price. It had also strayed very far from its original products, now producing video games and action figures. Even lifelong customers were moving to other brands.听听

Finally, the company itself couldn鈥檛 keep up with the speed at which it had created and sold its new products, often without taking time to determine whether the new product would be profitable in its intended market. It also couldn鈥檛 keep its inventory stocked appropriately. This added complexity to company processes was the source of the financial problems, and it meant that the company had to return to their core values of quality, creativity and connection with their customers.听听

, prioritising slow progression and reconnection with old LEGO customers. He noticed that the unchecked innovation was a problem, so he implemented measures to ensure that no new products were created that hadn鈥檛 first been researched extensively to understand how they would impact the company鈥檚 profits. He also did away with several of the new products introduced under Plougmann, which helped the company return to its simple core values and get back on its feet.听

The role of localisation in the LEGO Group鈥檚 international expansion听

As the toy company scaled up, a key part of its journey was finding a balance between standardisation of the product and brand, so that it was recognisable all over the world, and adaptation, so that each LEGO customer felt important and appreciated.听

The LEGO Group is an example of a company whose product is universally understood. Almost any child in the world, no matter the language they speak or their cultural background, can build with LEGO bricks. As former , 鈥淵ou put LEGO bricks in the hands of children in China, Afghanistan, South Africa, America or Germany, the play is the same, the idea is the same.鈥�听

While this might suggest that localisation is not necessary for the product itself, packaging, instructions, safety manuals and similar documentation must be adapted to new audiences. Moreover, even the products change depending on regions and cultural traditions or celebrations, such as The company鈥檚 key move in this aspect was expanding its staff and , rather than relying entirely on Danish product designers.听

Moreover, localisation has been essential to the LEGO marketing strategy and, in turn, its ability to give more children access to LEGO toys. Examples include the different structures that are built as advertisements in each country and store, often having a connection to that location or culture. For example, a new store opened in 2019 in Beijing featured LEGO replicas of the Great Wall of China and the Forbidden City. 鈥淟EGO stores are a great tool for building brand awareness and emotional connection with our fans.鈥澨�

The idea of localising for marketing purposes started with Godtfred, who in the late 1950s, as the company was on the brink of several decades of successful international expansion, 鈥淕ermans should preferably perceive them as German, French shoppers as French, etc.鈥�. By building cultural landmarks such as those in the Beijing store, the LEGO Group ensures that it is making a personal and familiar connection with customers that encourages them to engage with the brand.听

Importantly, even if those customers 诲辞苍鈥檛 buy a product, they still form a connection with the brand, which builds recognition of the LEGO brand around the world. This is an example of how the company has succeeded in making its product and brand more of an experience, rather than just something you buy and take home. Think about the memories you associate with LEGO products. They tend to revolve around much more than just the bricks, as perhaps you played with siblings, friends or your parents, and you built imaginary and creative worlds that you may still remember to this day.听听

Because of the nature of the product as something that anyone can universally experience, the emotional and nostalgic connection to childhood and the smart localisation of its stores and marketing materials, the LEGO brand has built very close connections with customers, so much so that many people are not just customers but fans and advocates of the brand.听

Looking ahead听

The company hit with a downturn in profits. It had expanded rapidly to keep up with high demand in the US and Europe, and when this demand declined, the company found itself too large, with too many products and employees to sustain. Layoffs and product scale-backs in Western markets helped, while expansion into new global markets meant that the LEGO Group was back on its feet by 2018.听

in Denmark, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Mexico and China. for the China factory, along with new factories in the USA and Vietnam. Currently, the company is looking to and invest in e-commerce to ensure that it remains able to compete with companies like Amazon. Finally, the leaders of the LEGO company have pledged to use in all products and packaging by 2030. They also ended the company鈥檚 partnership with Shell, the oil company, following . Hopefully, this marks a new era of sustainable and consistent growth in the company鈥檚 history.听听

There is no doubt that what has saved the LEGO brand over these past 90 years is its constant adaptation to new developments,听guaranteeing the longevity of the brand. From the shift to using plastic over 70 years ago to confronting the growth challenges of the 1990s and 2000s, the LEGO brand has consistently found a way to remain relevant in everyone鈥檚 lives. However, it will be interesting to see how the toy company grapples with the inevitable issues it will face in the future, like the decline of the toy industry due to technology. Additionally, whether it will be able to successfully enter new markets where copycat toys are perhaps more affordable for local people remains to be seen.听

As has been the case for the past 90 years, the company鈥檚 success will depend on its ability to adapt to new circumstances, quickly pivoting in a different direction when things go wrong. Not only has it learned from previous mistakes, but it has ensured that 鈥淟EGO鈥� is more than just a brand or a product 鈥� it is a memorable experience. If this continues, it will remain a classic brand for many years to come.听

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厂辫辞迟颈蹿测鈥檚 history听

Spotify was founded in 2006 in Stockholm, Sweden by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. At the time there was a lack of legal music streaming services, and platforms like Napster and LimeWire had been shut down due to piracy lawsuits. This inspired Ek and Lorentzon to find a way to convince music labels and artists to open their catalogues and sell music legally through Spotify. The process of persuading record labels to collaborate with them took over two years, and Spotify eventually launched in Scandinavia, the UK, France and Spain in 2008.听听

After launching in 2008, Spotify soon became the number-one audio streaming subscription service. As of , the platform has over 515 million active users every month, over 210 million premium subscribers and is available in . But what exactly did Spotify have to offer that helped the platform grow and expand so successfully into new markets?听

An industry solution听

By the late 2000s and 2010s, people had stopped buying physical media and were looking for ways to stream and share music over the internet. Producers and artists were becoming concerned as their music was being pirated online and they were seeing lower profits than ever before.听

Spotify provided a solution for both sides 鈥� consumers and producers 鈥� which also benefitted a struggling music industry in financial decline. The platform enabled users to listen to music without worrying about the legality of the website they were using and whether it would be shut down in the future because of lawsuits. Music producers were able to make revenues equalling, if not exceeding, those they used to make from selling CDs.听听

This two-sided approach revolutionised the way in which music was consumed. Music streaming grew from representing less than 10% of the music industry鈥檚 revenue in the US in 2010 to 83% in 2021 ().听

The freemium model听

Spotify also offered a unique 鈥渇reemium鈥� model, meaning limited services could be used free of charge, while more convenient, ad-free and higher quality services were available in a premium package that had to be paid for. This meant that users could try out the free service before committing to paying for 厂辫辞迟颈蹿测鈥檚 premium package, attracting a wide and diverse group of users around the world. By using this model, Spotify generated some revenue from its free service via advertising but made most of its money from paid subscribers.听

However, this model did not come without controversy, as many artists and music companies were unhappy with it. In 2014, Taylor Swift pulled her music from Spotify, arguing in a that artists did not receive enough money per stream and that valuable art, including music, should not be free. However, , explaining that without the free version, the paid version would not attract as many users and artists would make even less. Without Spotify, users would return to piracy sites or free streaming services, like YouTube and Pandora, and the industry would deteriorate again.听

Nordic values听

Over the years, Spotify has built a company culture of creativity and collaboration influenced by its Nordic roots. The founders may not have chosen blue and yellow as their brand colours or used their Swedish origins as fuel for marketing campaigns, but the innovative and rich Nordic countries provided the ideal environment for Spotify to thrive, particularly in the early stages of growth.听

Ek and Lorentzon already had connections in Sweden and the tech industry that would help them acquire investment from a variety of sources and recruit talented engineers to their team. Additionally, the first prototype version of Spotify was , who were able to give feedback to improve the app before it was shared with a more global audience.听

Like many other Nordic brands, Spotify initially launched officially in Scandinavia, as well as in the UK, France and Spain. The emphasis on innovation, transparency and collaboration in distinctly reflect its Nordic influences.听

Global expansion 鈥� Tackling the US market听

While Spotify launched in Europe in 2008, it did not expand into the US market until 2011. This was because the platform needed to obtain the correct international licences for music, faced fierce competition from other services such as Apple, Amazon and YouTube, and was reluctant to move too quickly into such an expensive market. Some other competitors, like Deezer, actively chose not to enter the US market because of the .听

Spotify took its time, gradually entering the US when it was ready to do so. Ultimately, combining forces with Facebook is what really helped Spotify become popular in the US. Allowing users to easily sign up to Spotify through Facebook overcame the barrier of having a separate sign-up process that had to be localised to each country and user. This partnership generated .听

Think global, act local听

In the end, Spotify has been able to scale up much faster than its competitors; for example, Amazon Music is only available in , while Spotify now operates in . One significant reason for this successful expansion has been the company鈥檚 localisation strategy, both past and present.听

By embracing the slogan the localisation and product development teams at Spotify have developed the understanding of the platform鈥檚 user base necessary to attracting new users, engaging them in the platform and thus retaining them, potentially for many years after they first hit play on Spotify.听听

But, what does this slogan mean? In short, it means building a user experience that is simultaneously global and local, both shared with others and personalised to you. To accomplish this, 厂辫辞迟颈蹿测鈥檚 teams prioritise understanding local markets as much as possible as well as creating a personalised experience for every user, regardless of where they are located.听

As former Chief Marketing Officer Seth Farbman explained: 鈥淭he localization is much more important within music and within Spotify than it would be within most global brands. That means we continue to maintain strong regional and local marketing teams, but it also gives us the opportunity to cut across all of it. No matter where you are in the world, there are shared experiences, and they are of interest to everyone.鈥濃��听

Understanding local music听

To be able to provide music to users from their own country or region, Spotify first invests time and money in understanding local artists and music preferences. This is particularly important as 厂辫辞迟颈蹿测鈥檚 own research shows that national preferences for local music have . While this could, of course, be partly the result of streaming services like Spotify increasing access to local music, it also means that users now expect to be able to listen to local music when they open a streaming app. For Spotify, this means creating regional teams to carry out the necessary research to discover what local users want.听听

For example, the spent time at concerts, at parties and just chatting with people around the country, which helped them understand that many listeners in India wanted to connect with music that others were listening to through the platform, and did not want to just listen to their own music. This resulted in the development of when Spotify launched in India in 2019, which track trending songs in Mumbai, Delhi, Bengaluru and Chennai. The team also realised that many listeners in India liked to stream songs from their favourite Bollywood, Tollywood, Kollywood and Punjabi actors, resulting in the 2019 India launch also including a series of playlists full of these songs.听

By researching local music, not only can Spotify satisfy local users by tailoring the platform to their wants and needs, but it also continues to maintain the two-sided approach to music streaming that gave the platform so much success in the first place. Users see Spotify as a chance to discover local music and music that they will like, while artists see it as an opportunity to grow globally as their music will be shared on playlists and discovered by people all around the world. For example, the , which anyone who uses Spotify will be familiar with, allow users to find new music regularly through a playlist based on their preferred genre and artists. Here we can see the 鈥淭hink Global, Act Local鈥� slogan come to life once again.听

Researching music habits听

As well as knowing how users consume music, regional teams at Spotify also research how they might use the app differently, what their expectations are in terms of music streaming features and which adjustments need to be made for new markets.听听

When Spotify decided to embark on a project called in 2021, during which it added support for 36 new languages, one of the key steps identified in this process was stripping the product down to determine precisely what mattered most to users in each market before building it back up with both standard and region-specific features.听听

Cecilia Qvist, 厂辫辞迟颈蹿测鈥檚 former Global Head of Markets, : 鈥淭he moment a user opens the app for the first time, we need to make sure their expectations鈥攆rom the sign-up flow, to general onboarding, to using our algorithm-based discovery tools鈥攁re met. These expectations are different from market to market and from user to user, and we are always looking to improve them. All these seemingly little adjustments go a long way in growing the user base sustainably.鈥�听

One example of this can be found in Japan, where into the platform because it realised that users expected this as a fundamental feature of a music streaming service. Without the inclusion of this, which was discovered during local market research, Spotify might not have been able to compete with Japanese streaming platforms.听

Adjusting subscription cost and payment systems听

Where we live plays a huge role in multiple aspects of our lives, and it certainly influences our expectations in terms of price. Cost is undoubtedly one of the greatest barriers to consumers purchasing products and services, and any global business understands this. Therefore, adapting cost, as well as payment systems, to local user expectations is an essential part of 厂辫辞迟颈蹿测鈥檚 strategy when successfully entering a new market.听听

For example, in Europe and North America than in Asia, Africa and South America. It is most expensive in Denmark and least expensive in India. This is somewhat in line with wages and cost of living in these countries, although some countries get better value than others. For example, in Nicaragua, the subscription costs nearly 4% of the average monthly income, while Qatar has the best value, as it costs only 0.1% of the average monthly income. So, while Spotify is affordable for many people, we 诲辞苍鈥檛 all get the same good deal.听听

Adaptation is also necessary when it comes to payment systems, as these vary greatly by country and region. Currently, Spotify accepts 130 different payment types. This means that users can pay for their subscription with ease and familiarity, getting rid of a barrier that might otherwise prevent them from subscribing. As , 鈥淲e love the fact that we can expand our addressable target market by offering new payment methods. We鈥檙e also conscious that we can significantly increase inclusivity by offering the right payment methods. We 诲辞苍鈥檛 want to disadvantage any demographics.鈥�听

Other adaptations 鈥� Older devices and internet access听

厂辫辞迟颈蹿测鈥檚 market research also goes beyond breaking users down in terms of region and language, as even age, internet access and device choice can determine how the platform may want to adjust its services. For example, and found that engagement with the platform was lower among older audiences and those with less advanced devices. The team then immersed themselves in local communities and learned that spotty internet access also sometimes limited people鈥檚 use of the app. Therefore, Spotify began to test how to develop smaller and faster versions of its app for installation on older devices, with the added benefit that these may also work better for those with worse internet access.听

This type of adaptation isn鈥檛 always an easy task, though. While some users may want an app with fewer features that work better and faster, . In the end, these are subjective stories that are gathered from customers, which makes a one-size-fits-all solution challenging. Through extensive research, though, Spotify can at least paint a clearer picture of what its users want, and then use this to inform future decisions.听

Adapting to linguistic differences听

When entering new countries, the language barrier is certainly one that a business must break through to make a positive and effective impression on new audiences and customers. Content that is linguistically adapted, when it is done well, typically has a more powerful impact on an audience than it would in a language they aren鈥檛 as familiar with. When it comes to tech products, like apps, it is especially important, as users want an easy-to-follow interface and aren鈥檛 interested in working hard to understand how to use the app.听

Spotify prioritises language localisation when entering new markets, as is made clear by their project. Looking at industry research and experience from previous years, the management and localisation teams could clearly see that translations were one of the main drivers of growth for the business. Knowing this, they could confidently set out to expand into as many languages as possible, laying the foundation for the project. The understanding of how localisation is a positive investment for a business, both in terms of growth and retaining customers, is a large part of why Spotify has been so successful.听

Launching Arabic

When Spotify launched in the regions of North Africa and West Asia, it had to offer an Arabic version of the app for customers in those regions. This was a challenge, since Arabic is a language that is read from right to left, as opposed to languages like English, which are read from left to right. This resulted in several difficulties, but the research done by the Spotify team meant that they knew what Arabic-speaking users expected and could adapt to this.听听

For example, in many instances, they had to flip the text and other elements to match the right-to-left nature of Arabic. This included icons and features such as navigation buttons or carousels, which Arabic speakers expect to scroll the other way to match the way they read the text. However, there are exceptions, as Arabic speakers as they would in a left-to-right language.听

厂辫辞迟颈蹿测鈥檚 focus on high quality localisation can be seen in every step of its internal process before launching; from conducting initial research into the market and user expectations to ensuring quality with beta tests and consultations with external agencies.听

Smaller languages 鈥� Catalan, Basque and Galician听

Being willing to engage in language localisation, even for smaller languages, also gives Spotify leverage to connect with users and customers in a personal manner. The best example comes from the . After becoming a sponsor and partner of the famous Spanish football club, with the historic stadium even renamed Spotify Camp Nou, Spotify also decided to add a new language to its repertoire; Catalan. This was a strategic move to engage with FC Barcelona fans by demonstrating a commitment to the local culture and pride in the Catalan language and identity.听听

In 2023, Spotify , two other languages also spoken in Spain. In the press release announcing this, the company writes that 鈥淭his expansion will unlock an even more personal experience for our users, giving them the ability to access Spotify in their native or local tongue. And the more people who can use Spotify, the more connections we can foster between creators and their audiences.鈥�听

Localising images听

The final piece of the puzzle in 厂辫辞迟颈蹿测鈥檚 localisation strategy is the adaptation of images based on differences in cultural norms and traditions. This is important, as Spotify wants users to be able to relate to the images so they can This includes choosing images that help users feel represented and images that make them feel comfortable and safe.听

For example, Spotify consistently celebrates cultural traditions and holidays in different regions by creating curated playlists that are available to users in those regions. In 2022 a series of celebratory playlists, devotional playlists and other festive features were created in India specifically for . As Nick Dahl, Senior Product Manager, explained, 鈥淭his is just the beginning of our commitment to building a better-localized product for listeners worldwide.鈥�听

Beyond cultural celebrations, Spotify also researches what might be deemed sensitive in certain countries and regions and changes images based on these norms. For example, the 鈥淧ure Seduction鈥� playlist in the USA was rebranded as the 鈥淟ove鈥� playlist in Saudi Arabia, with an image of two people kissing replaced with hands touching. This ensures that audiences in Saudi Arabia are still able to access the same content, but in a way that fits in better with their values. 

Since images can have such a different impact depending on the location and background of the audience, Spotify primarily tries to use images that are 鈥渂orderless.鈥� This might mean using sunglasses or a beach 鈥� images that are universally associated with warm weather 鈥� to represent a summer playlist. Image localisation is an enormous part of how Spotify connects with its users, ensuring that they feel represented and understood when using the app. 

A successful strategy 

As an innovative, practical and collaborative Nordic company, 厂辫辞迟颈蹿测鈥檚 commitment to the user experience as a personal one is impressive. Not only has this helped the company grow financially year after year, but it has also allowed Spotify to build a powerful connection with its customers, who have become passionate advocates for a brand that they love.  

It is hard to imagine what the world would look like without Spotify, especially as the music streaming service will be expanding into even more markets in the coming years. 厂辫辞迟颈蹿测鈥檚 approach shows that slow expansion, backed up by plenty of market research and a developed understanding of user expectations, can be a very effective strategy for global expansion.  

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Nordic values 鈥� and value for money

, one of the greatest success stories to come out of Scandinavia in the past few decades, embodies some of the most important Nordic values: it is straightforwardly unshowy (if persistent), democratically inexpensive (comparatively) and pragmatically practical (unless, like me, you are exceedingly clumsy with self-assembly), yet has a good eye on quality and design elegance.听听

One company slogan from 1981 ran, 鈥�Like Sm氓land鈥檚 farmers, our values are down-to-earth.鈥� It could be said that 滨碍贰础鈥檚 cheapest furniture may not be of the finest quality, but when compared with what you might pay somewhere else, it鈥檚 more than good enough for many people. Many of the store鈥檚 utensils and home accessories are exceptionally good value and quality. But only once you add the magic of Nordic designer chic do you get a winner like IKEA.听

Humble beginnings

By now it鈥檚 well-known that IKEA is named after the initials of its founder, Ingvar Kamprad, and those of the farm he grew up on, Elmtaryd, and his hometown, Agunnaryd. What鈥檚 less well known is that the initial investment came from Kamprad鈥檚 father, who had promised to give the young Ingvar a monetary reward for passing his exams with decent results in 1943.听

After a decade of trading, two important things happened in 1953: the first showroom opened in 脛lmhult, Southern Sweden, (apparently so that sceptical customers could come and see that the quality was good despite the low price) and the company adopted the concept of selling its furniture flat-packed for customers to assemble at home.听听

IKEA designer Gillis Lundgren, who designed the BILLY bookcase and IKEA logo, was on his way to a photo shoot for the IKEA catalogue with a table that he struggled to fit in his car. He took the legs off and the proverbial (LED) lightbulb went off in his head: why not design the furniture to be assembled at home by the customer, and thus save massively on transportation cost?听

Whilst IKEA does not claim that Lundgren invented the concept, he certainly contributed to bringing it to the masses and at a level that had never been seen before. The company has adopted the mantra 鈥淲e hate air,鈥� meaning that transporting the empty space inside a dresser or a table increases transportation costs, and therefore the cost to the end-consumer. Less volume, less cost, lower prices.听

Global thinking 鈥� learning from mistakes听

In 1963, a full decade after the first showroom opened and 20 years after the company was founded, IKEA opened its first store abroad, in Norway. Another 10 years passed before IKEA established its first presence outside Scandinavia, in Spreitenbach, Switzerland, with Germany soon to follow. Germany has since become 滨碍贰础鈥檚 biggest market with 53 stores as of 2019.听

After successfully establishing a presence outside Scandinavia, 滨碍贰础鈥檚 global expansion marched on steadily, but not at breakneck speed. Indeed, its first attempt at establishing a presence in Japan in the 1970s went wrong due to a lack of adaptation to local expectations. Japan is a service-oriented society, and the idea of buying furniture that you then have to assemble yourself is not seen as socially acceptable. Another problem was that the standard IKEA sizes did not fit the smaller sizes of Japanese homes. By 1982 IKEA had pulled out of Japan.

Another market that experienced size problems was America, but this time the other way around. Apparently, American customers weren鈥檛 used to such small glasses, so were accidentally buying . But for IKEA, these experiences were all extremely valuable lessons. This is where the Nordic value of pragmatism comes in, as when the company directed its longboats towards the US market in 1985, IKEA made sure that the standard sizes of the furniture and other products it offered met the larger expectations of the average American consumer.听

Then, in 2018, the now experienced global furniture trader entered India, a country that, like Japan, does not have a strong tradition of Do-It-Yourself. But this time IKEA was ready for it; the company set up service booths where IKEA staff could help the customers put the furniture together.听

Global standard with local twists听

Based on these experiences, IKEA developed an approach to the globalisation of its business that worked extremely well: stay true to the basic concept, but make just enough local adaptations to be relevant and acceptable to local customers.听

In China , as these are common in Chinese flats. It also cooperated with local businesses to provide delivery and assembly services because Chinese consumers saw it as lower status to have to assemble their own furniture.听

In Korea the company adapted its kitchen designs to , which are common for storing this traditional Korean side-dish. They also removed mentions of the Sea of Japan in a map of the store, instead calling it 鈥淭he East Sea鈥�, which South Koreans prefer.听

The approach that IKEA follows is a combination of standardisation and localisation. Wherever you go in the world, , but there will be subtle differences. The company has large teams of researchers interviewing thousands of consumers to learn about their habits, tastes and preferences.听听

Even the food offered in the IKEA restaurants is adjusted slightly to align it to local tastes. In some Chinese stores, this means offering dim sum and other local favourites on the menu in addition to Swedish meatballs, whereas in India, the meatballs are either made of chicken or are meat-free as Hindus 诲辞苍鈥檛 tend to eat beef for religious and cultural reasons.听

Translation, localisation and funny names听

You鈥檝e heard of BILLY, but what about FR脰SET, SM脜STAD, TORKIS, P脛RONHOLMEN, SKUBB or STUK?听

Exactly why IKEA founder Ingvar Kamprad decided to use place and personal names for the company鈥檚 various products is not really known. Some say it was to help his dyslexia, while others say that it was to give the products a more personable feel. What is certain is that for naming products, such as character length (4-12), no family names, use of 鈥溍�,鈥� 鈥溍も�� and 鈥溍垛�� is a plus, the word must not be trademarked, and it must be a 鈥渘ice鈥� word.听

Of course, a nice word in Swedish is not necessarily so in another language. In 2005 for example, IKEA named a children鈥檚 desk 鈥�鈥� (meaning 鈥渟peedy鈥� in Swedish) which caused a bit of a stink. The rather unfortunate connotation in English meant it had to be changed to something less gaseous for the English-speaking markets.听

But most of the time, IKEA carefully ensures that names can be used in the various countries it sells in. When opening in Thailand, to go through every single product name and to not only read them silently, but to say them out loud and determine if any had negative or embarrassing connotations. The work took four years but paid off; when IKEA finally opened in Thailand, all the displayed product names retained as much of the original Swedish as possible, with small adjustments made where needed.听

This means that Thai customers can happily join the long tradition of non-Scandi customers trying to read, say and decipher what those funny Swedish names actually mean, such as FYRKANTIG (square) or 脰DMJUK (humble).听听

But even IKEA can get the balance wrong. In for having airbrushed women out of its catalogue for the Saudi Arabian market. In trying to adapt to the culture and norms of the Islamic country, IKEA had gone too far and created reputational damage when Western commentators, politicians and consumers started criticising these adaptations. The company issued an apology and said that it had failed to live up to its own values.听听

For the most part, however, IKEA applies the Nordic value of pragmatism and balances the universality of its products with the necessary local adjustments.听

The global language听

One certain way to avoid translation fails is to not have any words to translate in the first place. to Charlie Chaplin that 鈥�What I most admire about your art, is your universality. You 诲辞苍鈥檛 say a word, yet the world understands you!鈥� IKEA appears to have taken this on-board, because in many of its assembly instructions, such as the one shown to the right for the MICKE desk, there is not a single word in the 40 pages of instructions!听听

There is one obvious and one potential benefit from this. As with Charlie Chaplin films, no words means that in theory everyone can understand the pictures, no matter what language they speak. The potential benefit is the saved cost of having to print only one set of instructions and avoiding the cost of the translation process. I say 鈥減otential,鈥� because when you attempt to show rather than tell, you may actually be producing documents with more pages. Translation may also be more cost-effective if it makes customers more satisfied and therefore more likely to buy another piece of furniture.听

The wordless pictograms have been another central part of 滨碍贰础鈥檚 global approach. To ensure that the instructions are easy to follow, they ask new employees at IKEA headquarters to have a go at following the instructions and assembling the furniture. That way, they get an idea of how well the average consumer will fare. If it takes too long to assemble, they call it a 鈥渉usband killer鈥� and make adjustments until it is easy enough not to drive dad to despair.听

This was not true about one of IKEAs epic fails, the , which was inspired by the car industry and in which items were supposed to be screwed together by the customer and then dressed in a cover of choice. Unfortunately, the covers, which were produced in South Korea, had such extreme colour variations that they could not be sold as sets. And the instructions, shown on the left, went down in IKEA history as the most incomprehensible ever.听听

Several of 滨碍贰础鈥檚 mistakes, including the inflatable sofa that fell flat, the compost kitchen sofa that was a bit too organic and the pianos that could not be flat–packed, are displayed at the IKEA museum as examples of how to learn from mistakes. Kamprad himself wrote in his 1976 book The Testament of a Furniture Dealer that mistakes are permissible as long as one learns from them.听

Know what you鈥檙e not good at

As mentioned above, IKEA is good at learning from mistakes, and that includes knowing what not to continue doing. In 2012 it launched its UPPLEVA (experience) line of TV benches with an in-built TV and speakers.听听

The design manager, Marcus Engman, admitted that the company鈥檚 venture into electronic technology was not a great success, saying, 鈥�鈥淸it] is one area where IKEA won鈥檛 go. 鈥淲e weren鈥檛 any good there,鈥� [鈥鈥淲e鈥檙e world champions in making mistakes,鈥� adds Engman. 鈥淏ut we鈥檙e really good at correcting them.鈥�鈥�听

This again reflects that Nordic value of being practical and realising when something strays so much from the company鈥檚 core expertise that the effort and cost involved in becoming good at it is more than it is worth. In other words, stop doing what you can鈥檛, do more of what you are good at, and keep getting better at it.听

滨碍贰础鈥�s unique customer experience听

And what IKEA is especially good at is creating that unique customer experience that you can only find at an IKEA store. Walking into the huge warehouse (the biggest of which is in Manila, in the Philippines with a whopping 700,000 square feet, or 65,000m2, of floorspace), you enter an entirely new world. The stores use 鈥減athways鈥� that guide you through their various film-set like exhibits, showing you (on purpose) how you might use the various products, such as furniture, utensils and cuddly toys.听听

If you are desperate to stray from the one true path, you can dash through one of the direct openings from one 鈥渇ilm set鈥� section to another, with the openings situated so that you only miss what is relevant to the previous sections. If you want to make an early exit from the store itself however, that could prove very difficult indeed. Not impossible, just difficult; you鈥檙e not supposed to leave without having purchased something.听

顿辞苍鈥檛 get hangry听

In fact, IKEA-founder Ingvar Kamprad observed back in the early days of his business that customers tended to leave around lunchtime, often without having purchased anything. The simple reason was that they were hungry and needed to go home, or to a caf茅 or shop, to get lunch. Kamprad realised that hungry customers buy less, and with that Nordic attitude of straightforwardness, he decided that if your customers are hungry, you feed them. In June 1960, IKEA stores only offered coffee and cold dishes, but by the end of the year, 滨碍贰础鈥檚 restaurant kitchens were fully equipped. This included a microwave oven, which was certainly a novelty at the time.听听

Eventually, the classic dish of Swedish meatballs served up with peas, potatoes, lingonberry jam and a generous helping of cream sauce became the centrepiece of the IKEA restaurant experience.听听

Another clever move was to install large, staffed play areas in stores where a customer could leave their child to play for an hour while wandering around and looking at the products. As any parent knows, shopping with children can be a stressful experience, so being able to park them safely so that you get the peace of mind to think and choose is again a very pragmatic solution that can make a big difference.听

Translating values to value听

The Nordic values underpinning 滨碍贰础鈥檚 business model and operating style may not be unique to the Nordic or Scandinavian countries, but the combination of these and the role they play in Nordic people鈥檚 own awareness of themselves may very well mean that they play a much stronger role here than in other parts of the world.听

The Nordic self-image as a particularly democratic and egalitarian people has no doubt played a part in 滨碍贰础鈥檚 championing of the concept they call Democratic Design, meaning a balance between five 鈥渄imensions鈥�: function, form, quality, sustainability and low price. As Senior Designer, Sarah Fager, says: 鈥�Without Democratic Design, we would not live up to our vision to create a better everyday life for the many people.鈥�听

Cheap but expensive?听

Although 鈥渢he many鈥� can, and indeed have, taken advantage of the cheap but well-designed products that IKEA offers, questions have also been raised about the sustainability of 滨碍贰础鈥檚 products. IKEA has contributed, perhaps more than any other furniture business, to a change in mentality with regard to furniture. It has gone from something you invested in for the rest of your life and often handed down to the next generation to something that you buy for a much shorter time and dispose of when you want something new or the item breaks. How can this be squared with the 鈥渟ustainability鈥� aspect of 滨碍贰础鈥檚 Democratic Design concept?听

IKEA is aware of the reputational need to do something about this, and Marcus Engman, Chief Creative Officer for Ingka Group, IKEA, that changing consumer behaviour to become more 鈥渃ircular鈥� was a cornerstone in how IKEA wanted to contribute to a more sustainable future. 鈥�We鈥檙e moving into a future where waste is the raw material,鈥� he said.听听

There is no doubt that, in conjunction with policy changes to encourage it, large businesses like IKEA can have an impact one way or another. When IKEA switched all its lights to LED, it instantly led to hundreds of thousands of people having less impact on the electricity grid than they otherwise would have. And it is a balance; is it not a good thing that people on tight budgets, not least families with children, can afford to make home-improvements even if there is an environmental cost?听

As Mr Engman went on to say, 鈥淚n Sweden, where I come from, nature is in your face. You learn from an early age how to embed nature in your daily life and how to forage to fill your pantry.鈥澨�听

Once again, Swedish and Nordic values will show the way.听

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At some point, most of us will have been surprised at the amount of packaging certain items arrive in, and perhaps even been annoyed at individual pieces of fruit tightly wrapped in shrink-wrap plastic; our nails as well as the environment paying the price for it. Now, in a tightening of the rules, the EU Packaging Directive has been amended to make producers think not only outside the box, but without the box altogether.听

Uniform diversity听

Making slight changes to the rules on the recycling of waste packaging could potentially give some countries a competitive advantage and enable insight from the experience gained from different approaches, although it also risks creating divergence in the approach to dealing with packaging waste across the Single Market. The Packaging Directive 94/62/EC, or to give it its full name, the European Parliament and Council Directive 94/62/EC of 20 December 1994, seeks to remedy this, and the latest amended version, which is now in force, will have ramifications for businesses who reside or trade within the European Union and EEA countries.听

Harmonised recycling听

There are two main justifications for the EU Packaging Directive:  

Firstly, the 鈥渉armonise鈥� packaging regulation 鈥� i.e. to enforce a uniform approach within the internal market 鈥� because, as it claims, 鈥溾��discrepancies create legal uncertainty for businesses, leading to lower investment in innovative and environment-friendly packaging and new circular business models.鈥� There is no evidence quoted to support this, and indeed the opposite might just as likely be the case, but for businesses this approach does at least provide a degree of certainty for planning. 

The second main justification is the environment; in particular, the need to use less natural resources and to deal with the recycling and/or disposal of the waste product after the first-time use of an item of packaging. The Commission claims that 鈥淸packaging] is one of the main users of virgin materials (40 % of plastics and 50 % of paper used in the EU is destined for packaging) and accounts for 36 % of municipal solid waste.鈥�听 The regulation seeks to play its part in fulfilling the European Green Deal 7 and contribute to the so-called EU circular economy action plan.

Reducing packaging waste 

鈥淭he specific objectives are: (i) to reduce the generation of packaging waste; (ii) to promote a circular economy for packaging in a cost-effective manner; and (iii) to promote the use of recycled content in packaging.鈥� 

Since the implementation of the original regulation in 1994 there have been several amendments and updates 鈥� such as the Plastic Bag Directive in 2015 and an amendment to reduce packaging waste in 2018. The current amended version from November 2022 significantly increases the responsibility of business to prevent packaging waste and encourage the promotion of reuse, recycling and various other methods for putting old packaging to use rather than adding it to the mountain of rubbish generated by our consumer society, or :  

Why amend it now? 

In its justification for amending the regulation, the EU Commission writes that the usage of packaging has increased disproportionally compared to the growth in the economy over the past few years. In other words, the use of packaging is growing at a faster pace than GDP. 

They do not speculate as to the possible reasons for this, although it seems obvious that the dramatic increase in home delivery services and e-commerce is at least partly to blame. After all, who hasn鈥檛 got an anecdote about a small item being delivered in a large box with a smaller box inside, with lots of filler-material to keep it safe, and with the item itself ensconced like the fragile egg of some rare bird inside a box inside the box; a veritable matryoshka doll. Many would probably welcome a slimline variant of this. 

What does it mean for businesses? 

The is 鈥渁ll packaging placed on the European market and all packaging waste, whether it is used or released at industrial, commercial, office, shop, service, household or any other level, regardless of the material used.鈥� 

The EU Packaging Directive includes a variety of very detailed targets for member countries to reach, such as the recycling of 65% of all packaging by 2025 and 70% by 2030. But a key point for businesses to notice is section (93) of the amended regulation, which states:  

鈥淭o implement the polluter pays principle, it is appropriate to lay the obligations for the management of packaging waste on producers, which includes any manufacturer, importer or distributor, who [鈥 makes available packaging for the first time within a territory of a Member States on a professional basis under its own name or trademark.鈥� 

So, whether you make and sell or import goods to any country within the EU and EEA, you count as a 鈥減roducer鈥� of packaging if your operations introduce a new bit of packaging to the merchandise, and you take on the responsibility for what happens to this packaging throughout its lifetime. This is called extended producer responsibility (ERP) in the regulation and includes 鈥溾�he rule that financial contributions to be paid by producers to comply with their extended producer responsibility obligations鈥︹�� based on 鈥渢he recyclability performance鈥�.  

Labelling and languages 

Most businesses who trade within EU and EEA countries will be aware of the various requirements for labelling and in some cases for instructions and user manuals to be produced in languages that can be understood in all the countries where the products are traded, such as Directive 42, which says, 鈥�All machinery must be accompanied by instructions in the official Community language or languages of the Member State in which it is placed on the market and/or put into service. The instructions accompanying the machinery must be either 鈥極riginal instructions鈥� or a 鈥楾ranslation of the original instructions鈥�, in which case the translation must be accompanied by the original instructions.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;

Similarly, the Packaging Directive also sets out certain requirements for the labelling of packaging.  

A declaration of conformity, stating that the packaging fulfils the requirements set out in Articles 5 to 11 must be made, and 鈥�鈥hall be translated into the language or languages required by the Member State in which the packaging is placed on the market or made available on the market.鈥�&苍产蝉辫;&苍产蝉辫;

Looking more closely at the mentioned Article 11 we also find the requirement that 鈥溾��packaging is marked with a label containing information on its material composition in order to facilitate consumer sorting.鈥� The regulation stipulates various detailed instructions for member countries on how the markings on the packaging must be coordinated with the waste disposal units and a tracking system with the use of QR codes and consumer instructions used to monitor the exact level of recycling of the packaging. The data from this will have a bearing on the financial liability of the 鈥減roducer鈥�, i.e. the business who introduced the particular packaging to the market. 

All wrapped up 

It is clear that if your business introduces new packaging in the process of bringing your product to market, you may be in line for increased liability depending on how much further this system goes than what is already in existence in your country (Sweden, for example, has the , which will fulfil some of the requirements of this amended regulation already). 

It remains to be seen if businesses will indeed start thinking without the box as well as outside it, and if our fingernails as well as our paper bins will be happier as a result. 

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The ongoing war in Ukraine has not only set formerly neutral Finland and Sweden on the path to NATO membership, the fighting and sanctions against Russia are also impacting the Nordic economies 鈥� but it鈥檚 not all negative. 

Shared challenges 

While we should always remember that the war is first and foremost a human tragedy with civilians and soldiers dying every day, it is also important for businesses to see how this ongoing crisis translates into new challenges and opportunities.  

It鈥檚 clear that the initial impact of the conflict, which has interrupted supply lines and production and has entailed additional severe economic sanctions on Russia, has been mostly negative, not only for the countries close to the conflict zone, but to anyone who has conducted trade with the warring countries. 

The Nordics have faced many of the same problems seen in other European countries in the wake of the invasion in March of last year, but to a somewhat lesser extent. The Nordic countries鈥� economies are better placed in terms of energy supplies: Norway has large deposits of natural gas in addition to hydro power, and Sweden and Finland have a substantial nuclear power sector, with respectively. Despite lower inflation rates in the Nordic region, the rise in the price of gas has impacted businesses of all sizes, according to a . Together with the rise in the price of raw materials, it has led to inflationary pressures which in turn means that interest rates cannot be reduced, , Chief Analyst with Danske Bank.   

Here we鈥檒l look at some challenges and opportunities for the Nordic countries that have arisen since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine. Has the Nordic market, traditionally resilient and with high purchasing power, picked up some of the slack from reduced trade with Russia? How has the Nordic region been able to cope with reduced imports and exports from some of the warring countries, which have been interrupted either by sanctions or supply-line problems?  

The Norwegian approach  

In the midst of the talk of crisis and cataclysms, one country is quietly profiting from the higher energy prices: according to an , Norway鈥檚 revenue from the sale of oil, gas and electricity has increased from $50 bn to $200 bn a year.  

However, due to depleting water stores, private consumers and businesses have had to pay more for their electricity even within Norway, something that is highly unpopular among the general population and has caused issues for some of the heavier industries that depend on cheap electricity to maintian profitability. Still, Norway鈥檚 willingness to sell gas has helped European countries to overcome their dependence on Russian gas. The is that some of this surplus should be put towards the 鈥済reen transition鈥�, something that could lead to opportunities for businesses involved in this sector. The political will to push 鈥済reen鈥� innovations has already been demonstrated by the huge subsidies given to those who have purchased electrical vehicles 鈥� financed, perhaps ironically, by high tax revenues from the sale of oil and gas.听

Titanium ore, which is used in the aerospace, aviation, automotive and medical industries, is another raw material where supply is being interrupted by the conflict. Until 2019, Ukraine was the , but this has since changed. In 2021, Norway became the second-largest mine producer of titanium in Europe, with an output of 220,000 metric tonnes. For those businesses that depend on or trade in this metal, Norway could represent an important alternative resource as the war drags on. 

A report from The Confederation of Norwegian Enterprise (NHO), which looks at the consequences of the war for Norwegian businesses, acknowledges that there will be challenges, particularly in the short term, yet has an optimistic tone for the longer term, stating that 鈥淓urope is trying to decouple from Russian energy. This will mean and Norwegian businesses, as a big supplier of oil and gas as well as for example a producer of minerals and metals.鈥�  

The war has had a negative influence on听the attitude of travellers. According to a for Innovation Norway, where 4,646 potential travellers were asked about their travel intentions, more than half of the respondents said they have been influenced in a negative way by the price rises and insecurity. Families with children are those most affected by the price hikes, whereas consumers over the age of 50 and those with the highest incomes have been least affected.听

However, in in Europe, Sebina Stegavik, Head of Communications with Visit Norway, said that tour operators are reporting a strong interest in and a high level of booking of trips to Norway because it鈥檚 seen as a 鈥渟afe destination鈥�. Generally, destinations that can be reached from mainland Europe by car are, according to Ms. Stegavik, attractive, and even American tourists perceive Norway to be far away from the conflict zone, although it does share a few miles of border with Russia in the extreme north. 

Danish durability 

Prior to the conflict, trade with Russia and Ukraine was not a huge part of the Danish economy. In 2021, amounted to DKK 15.1 bn while imports came to DKK 17.7 bn, which were 1% and 1.3% of total exports and imports respectively⁸. The with Ukraine are even lower at DKK 4.3 bn for exports and DKK 2.2 bn for imports. As such, the interruption of trade with these countries will not impact severely on the Danish economy according to expectations from a survey carried out by the Danish business organisation, Dansk Industri. Apart from the general price increases 鈥� especially for energy and raw materials 鈥� Danish businesses have mostly been affected by the interrupted supply chains of raw materials. Semi-finished iron and non-alloy steel exports from Russia, which are now subject to EU sanctions, are especially important for Denmark, which sources 99% of its imports of this material from Russia. 听

As the states, 鈥淒enmark is a small, open economy, and if for example the German car industry cannot get raw materials delivered from or sell to Russia and Ukraine, the demand for Danish industrial products to be used in the German car industry will as a consequence also be reduced.鈥�

However, the Chief Analyst for Danske Bank, Arne Lohmann, says that the Danish economy is fundamentally sound, that Danish businesses have good liquidity and reserves to weather the storm and many consumers have amassed savings after the lockdown periods. 

In addition, 42% of Danish businesses in the industry sector suffered from a l, but this was reduced to . Over the same time-period, Denmark had integrated more than 5000 Ukrainians into their economy, meaning that nearly half of all Ukrainians living in Denmark were in employment.  

Sweden consolidates 

For Sweden, the most significant event following the Russian invasion of Ukraine was the fact that the country decided to opt against neutrality, applying for NATO membership alongside Finland in 2022, despite having remained outside of the organisation since its founding in 1949. 

As with Denmark, Swedish foreign trade with Russia has not constituted a large percentage of the country鈥檚 overall foreign trade. The year before last, only 1.4% of exports and 1.2% of imports were to or from Russia, whereas the with Ukraine were 0.3% and 0.1% respectively according to the official Swedish statistics office (Statistikmyndigheten).  

However, there are certain . Between February and March 2022, imports of timber, furniture, bed clothes and machines decreased by 54%, while exports of agricultural machines, paper and vehicles shrunk by as much as 81%, according to the National Board of Trade Sweden (Kommerskollegium).  

Generally, the challenges facing Sweden are similar to those Denmark grapples with, except for the fact that Sweden has a substantial nuclear power sector, which creates a certain buffer against increased gas prices. Indeed, in 2022 , exporting 16 terawatt hours (TWh), with most of this going to Denmark and Finland. 听But like Denmark, Sweden also feels any on the continent strongly, as three quarters of her exports, which came to SEK 1,628 bn in 2021, go to European countries.听

Finland finds strength 

Like her neighbour to the west, Finland has a substantial nuclear sector, which certainly helps, and the country also decided to join NATO. Nevertheless, the Finnish finance ministry put out a press release last year where they predicted a slowdown in Finland鈥檚 economic growth of1.5% last year, 1.7% this year and 1.5% in 2024. This is mainly due to the r, which has almost ceased altogether, according to the press release.听

Additionally, Finland has historically been more dependent on trade with Russia than her Nordic neighbours. For instance, Finland relies on nickel imports from Russia for a plant belonging to the Russian company Nornickel (Norilsk Nickel), which primarily delivers inputs for EV 6 batteries (the German BASF SE battery company has a long-term agreement with the company).  

In addition, Finland imported 82% of its crude oil from Russia, one of the highest levels in Europe, and close to 40% of its natural gas. Likewise, Finland, together with Estonia, has been among the European countries most dependent on Russia for supplies of fertilisers. 

In a speech in January of this year, the head of Finland鈥檚 central bank, Olli Rehn, laid out the challenges, not least the depressing effect on the economy of the sanctions and interrupted supply lines. 

He did say, however, that as far as Finland is concerned, employment levels are still very high 鈥� as a matter of fact, there is a dearth of labour, especially in the health and care sector. This has kept households鈥� purchasing power relatively strong and meant that there are employment opportunities for those who wish to live in the land of the Moomin.  

The pointed to the importance of innovation for the Finnish economy, something we see examples of in the KvarkenSat project, a cooperation between ten Swedish and Finnish universities and research institutions, to launch a mini-satellite that can be used for the monitoring of eco-systems, such as forests, fields, oceans, vegetation, as well as the effects of pollution on these. The KvarkenSat project could have ramifications on business, as its tiny size 鈥� that of a 4-pint milk carton and with a weight of only around 2 kilos 鈥� means a potentially lower cost and greater flexibility of use. In addition, the Finnish company MetGen won the EU Commission鈥檚 Innovation Award 2021 for their ecologically sustainable fibre-based packaging, which is able to replace petro-chemical materials in packaging. 

Iceland remains strong 

The island state sees many of the same challenges that we have mentioned across the Nordic region: higher commodity and energy prices, and interrupted supply lines. But given that Iceland is as much a commodity exporter as an importer 鈥� as pointed out in a report by 鈥� the effect of the higher prices could be more or less neutralised. 

Iceland鈥檚 exports to Russia, Belarus, and Ukraine 鈥搈ainly fish such as capelin, herring, and mackerel 鈥� accounted for 2% of Iceland鈥檚 total exports in 2021, or around 20鈥�25 bn. ISK.  In terms of value, about 5% of total marine exports go to these countries, but Mr Bentsson expects that exporters of fish will be able to find new markets for these products without too much difficulty. 

Generally speaking, the Icelandic economy has not had wide exposure to Russia nor to Ukraine, so the effects of the war have been mainly indirect. 

Nordic resilience  

The Nordic consumers are less affected by the conflict between Russia and Ukraine than those in many other European countries. That means that selling to the Nordics will still be an attractive prospect for businesses. There are also powerful opportunities for those enterprises that can replace Russian businesses either as a supplier or a buyer in the months and years to come. Whatever the outcome of the ongoing war, sanctions on Russia are not expected to be lifted 鈥� especially not those that were in place before the invasion.  

The Nordics are still very much open to business and a safe and stable area to trade with. 

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Nordic purchasing power

In 2018, the combined GDP of the Nordic region amounted to $1.64 trillion 鈥� equating to 鈥� an increase from $1.44 trillion in 2015. The 27 million inhabitants of the Nordic countries have a higher GDP per person than the EU, and imports play a significant role in these figures.听听

Swedish consumers imported goods worth around in 2019, Denmark and Norway .听 听

In addition, they are at the . 听

Online is big bucks

Online purchasing plays an important role in this region, with the average Swedish consumer spending around听1000 euros annually on everything from fashion to groceries, literature and audiobooks, home furnishings, dietary supplements, medication and other pharmaceuticals, sports and leisure products, as well as movies and entertainment and much else besides. This is an attractive and lucrative market for those who are able to successfully place their market stall in the proverbial (or literal) Nordic town square.听

Gradual change but faithful consumers

As the market is smaller compared to the likes of China or Japan, many international companies鈥� focus has been away from the Nordics. The region鈥檚 market leaders have therefore been dominant for decades. So how do you best ensure that your products or services captivate Nordic consumers? There are three important behavioural patterns to consider when reaching out to these northern populations.

The loyal Nordic consumer

by Google and behavioural science experts, The Behavioural Architects, into consumer behaviour, found that the Nordic consumers tend to be faithful once they decide on a favourite brand.听

Willingness to try a second-choice brand is generally lower than in countries such as the UK. In fact, researchers found that the most important element to influence the Nordic consumer鈥檚 choice was 鈥渟ocial proof鈥�, i.e. testimony from others who are already using the product or service and have perhaps recommended it. This factor carried more weight than a recommendation from an expert or getting a free gift, two other example methods tested in the experiment, which simulated 310,000 purchase scenarios with 31 product categories using real in-market consumers.听

Moreover, according to statistics collated by Trustpilot, 79% of shoppers say they trust online reviews as much as personal recommendations. The judicious use of both online and printed reviews can really make a difference when enticing the Nordic consumer to purchase your product.听

Nordic consumers spend more time on their choices听

When searching online, Nordic consumers (two words is most common) before sifting through lots of hits over several days, while considering the various options 鈥� 41% take two weeks or more before purchasing a product found online, and 57% carry out five听or more searches before purchasing consumer electronics.听

The good news is that such a careful decision-making process makes it easier for newcomer brands to have a chance at delighting the savvy Scandinavian consumer.听

Your web presence can be optimised for Nordic search behaviour by ensuring that key words fit with the sort of short search terms used by Nordics when looking for products or services, whether to buy online or to locate in the real world. And this leads us neatly to the third point:听

Nordic consumers prefer information in their own language听

The vast majority of Nordic people are proficient in English up to a point, yet 8 out of 10 Nordic consumers prefer a website to use their own language rather than English. 听

The vast majority of Nordic people are proficient in English up to a point, yet 8 out of 10 Nordic consumers prefer a website to use their own language rather than English.

Research by Nimdzi clearly shows that although Nordic consumers will tolerate an English website if a version in their respective languages does not exist, they prefer to interact with products in their native language, and give preference to brands that go the extra mile to localise their products and services. 听

The data also show that Nordic consumers are more receptive to advertisements that address them in the language that hits closest to home. As many as 9 out of 10 of these high-value potential customers will ignore a product that is not in their native language and well over half of them would be more interested were the content available in their own language.听

Moreover, two-thirds of e-commerce consumers consider when shopping online. So, whether you offer your goods online or offline in a physical store, having a sharp marketing copy and clear product information in the native language of your target audience will certainly improve your chances on the Nordic market. This includes localised search terms and expressions, along with local language versions of websites, brochures and product information and reviews. 听

Now let鈥檚 take a closer look at the Nordic languages and what it means to localise into them.听

The linguistic specifics of the Nordics

The Nordic region is of course not only one country, and it most certainly does not have only one language. The three Scandinavian languages 鈥� Swedish, Danish and Norwegian 鈥� share a common origin across the three nations, whereas Finnish is distinct as a Uralic language.听

Then there is Iceland, whose language also belongs to the North-Germanic family of Indo-European languages, like Norwegian, Swedish and Danish. Icelandic is closely related to the Old Norse spoken by the Vikings who settled on the island in the 9th century. Iceland has taken a very听purist approach to its language, avoiding the adoption of foreign words and instead developing neologism 鈥� new words 鈥� for new phenomena and products. An example of this is theatre, which in the Scandinavian languages is teater, but in Icelandic is 濒别颈办丑煤蝉 (literally playhouse, which of course we know from English, derived from the Old English plega plus the Old Norse(!) hus).听

You can read more on the Nordic languages in this blog post.听听

Finding the right approach for going local

Understanding the linguistic diversity in the Nordics helps to develop a nuanced and pragmatic approach to localisation in this market. 听

One example of a cost-effective way to apply this approach is to use a method known as Scandimix, where the three Scandinavian languages are presented on the same line, with only those words added in the respective languages that are needed for clear and unambiguous comprehension. It works well where space is restricted, too.听

For marketing copy and text that is directed at consumers, you鈥檒l want something that holds a high level of quality and flow in the target language 鈥� sentences that not only give a literal translation of the source text, but really communicate your brand, your product and your quality on every line. For this, the approach that tends to work best is trans-creation, a combination of translation and creative writing. 听

For technical, medical, financial or legal translation, and not least corporate communication and a plethora of other text types, Sandberg has distinct approaches and experts in the various fields to handle them correctly.听

How to get started?

When working with multilingual content, one of the first steps to effective communication is to create a style guide. Without detailed guidelines, everything is open to interpretation. A style guide is especially important during the process of international expansion, as it is essential to calibrate every possible factor that can impact the quality of the interactions and ultimately your capacity to persuade in the long-term.听

Another point to consider is consistency in the use of language. The same word or expression can be translated in different ways, but this hinders the effectiveness of your message. Developing a glossary of common terms is an easy and practical way to get your target audience familiarised with your brand鈥檚 terminology.听

We at Sandberg have amassed cultural and language expertise over 25 years as we have supported businesses in building the linguistic and emotional bridges to the Nordic consumers鈥� hearts and minds. If you鈥檇 like to know learn more on how adapt your communication for Nordic consumers, we鈥檙e happy to offer a free localisation consultation.听

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Some of the Nordic countries have achieved international acclaim across many different industries; from Norway鈥檚 Stavanger-based leveraging strong synergies between oil, gas renewables, carbon capture and hydrogen, to Denmark鈥檚 which has been a source of fun for people of all ages since 1932.听

In this article, however, we will take a look at three industries driven by technology that are making particularly big waves in the Nordics: fintech, life science and cleantech.听

The fintech industry听

The Nordics are already home to 300+ fintechs.

Several factors highlight the strengths of the Nordic region and explain why it is excelling within the fintech industry. Increased investment, new government initiatives, an openness to new technology and social welfare programmes, grants and tax breaks that stoke the flames of entrepreneurship mean the Nordics are already home to .听

The Nordic region is second only to Silicon Valley in terms of the number of , with 27 unicorns from a population of 26 million. Having brought in in the second half of 2021, the Nordics are bound to attract further investment which will surely increase the number of unicorns emerging from this region as the fintech sector matures.听

, currently fintech unicorn, and are two Stockholm-based fintech mobile payment companies that have opened the door to many more start-ups. The success of Nordic fintechs is seen across the entire industry landscape, including companies such as alternative lenders and , online payment providers and , and personal financial management companies and .听

Paving the way to a 鈥榗ashless society鈥�听

As society evolves, so too must financial services and apps. has stated that it is unlikely that millennials will visit branches or use financial services in the same way as previous generations. According to , the Nordics are hoping that by moving away from using physical cash 鈥� thus turning society 鈥榗ashless鈥� 鈥� they will be able to lower costs for merchants, offer better security and make it harder for criminals to launder money.听听

Localisation: the key to success in fintech听

The closer you get to a person鈥檚 wallet, the more important it is to speak their language.

Fintechs aim to make financial solutions more accessible and convenient for all. Those who secure investment will next be looking to scale up beyond the limits of the Nordics 鈥� something that requires a thorough understanding of the needs and norms of their new target market. To make a success of scaling up, it’s important to provide information in a transparent, trustworthy and comprehensible manner.

After all, as Nataly Kelly says, 鈥渢he closer you get to a person鈥檚 wallet, the more important it is to speak their language鈥�. Simply put, this means communicating in the languages of your system鈥檚 users and offering services tailored to the needs of each locale you wish to provide for.听

The life science industry听

The life science industry is another in which the Nordics see a significant engagement. Built on a solid foundation of high-quality education and collaboration, the Nordics have already produced over life science companies. To name but a few of the biggest players from the industry, they can count and , both world leading pharmaceuticals, and from medtech , and . With Denmark as the second largest medical device market in Europe and Norway as a centre of excellence for medical imaging, the breadth of expertise demonstrated in the Nordics is really something to behold.听

This success in the life science industry wouldn鈥檛 have been possible without the support and commitment of a variety of institutions; from the Nordic life science consortium 鈥� a platform that enables the Nordic countries to collaborate and showcase the region and its achievements to the rest of the world 鈥� to universities, such as , focused on life science, to well-known researchers and research centres, such as in Denmark and in Sweden. All these players make significant contributions that enable the Nordics to remain a hotspot for pioneering R&D.听

Medicon Valley听

Medicon Valley is a prominent international life science cluster in Europe that spans the Greater Copenhagen region of eastern Denmark and southern Sweden. In recent years, Medicon Valley has grown to be the of the Nordic life science clusters thanks to a dynamic ecosystem and vibrant talent pool including 350+ biotech, medtech and pharma companies; 9 outstanding life science universities; 14,600 life science researchers; and world-class research facilities such as and .听

Rising stars in life science听

The Nordics share the same values: openness, trust, sustainability, equality and innovation.

from Sweden, from Norway and from Iceland were announced as the winners on the in the Biotech/Pharma, Medtech/Diagnostics and Digital/E-health categories. Other industry newcomers to keep an eye on include from Finland and from Sweden. LS CancerDiag hopes to save millions of lives by preventing cancer as well as enabling personalised care through early detection of Lynch syndrome, while Medvasc is looking to optimise the procedure of delivering anaesthetic in laser treatment of varicose veins, a significant medical conundrum that is yet to be solved.听

鈥淕iven their shared values of openness, trust, sustainability, equality and innovation鈥�, summarises Helena Strig氓rd, Director General at SwedenBIO writing for , 鈥渢he Nordics are the perfect setting for partnership and investments鈥� in life science.听

The cleantech industry

Cleantech, or clean technology, is a term used to refer to companies and technologies that aim to improve environmental sustainability. The Nordics are rich in natural resources, which played a key role during the early industrialisation of the region. Rigorous environmental requirements have spurred both knowledge and technological development, which in turn stimulate environmental technology exports.听

Whether through public R&D, cleantech-friendly policies or other cleantech innovations, the Nordics attract and facilitate a lot of investment. For example, 鈥� the leading Nordic cleantech investor network 鈥� runs an internationally established network of different stakeholders with an interest in Nordic cleantech including investors, industrials and public actors. The aim of the 鈥� part of the Nordic Council of Ministers 鈥� is to turn the Nordic region into a pioneer for sustainable growth by promoting entrepreneurship, innovation and competitiveness among Nordic businesses.听

Global Cleantech Innovation Index

The explores which countries currently have the greatest potential to produce entrepreneurial cleantech start-ups that will commercialise clean technology innovations over the next 10 years. In 2017, Denmark, Finland and Sweden ranked in the top three places in the GCII, with Norway taking ninth spot. The index demonstrates how a country can get ahead by adapting to the growing demand of renewable energies, by building connections between start-ups and other channels to increase their rate of success, and by increasing international engagement with cleantechs to encourage the adoption of clean technologies.听

Cleantech start-ups to keep an eye on

Investors have been particularly present in the agriculture, transportation and logistics, recycling and waste, manufacturing and industrial, and energy sectors of the cleantech industry. Start-ups making a name for themselves within these sectors include Voi and Quantafuel.听

Providing for the transportation and logistics sector, Stokholm-based offers electric scooter and bike sharing to encourage the use of more sustainable transportation across many European cities.听

As part of the recycling and waste sector in Norway, provides a clean solution to plastic waste. All types of plastic waste are converted into environmentally friendly fuel and chemicals.听

Sweden leads the way in cleantech investment

In 2020, the top 5 investments in Sweden totalled 880 million euros.

Of the Nordics, Sweden is blazing a trail. In terms of the number of investments made and deals secured, Sweden comes out on top. In 2020, the top 5 investments in Sweden were secured by , , , and coming to a total of 880 million euros. Northvolt secured the with 532 million euros raised in equity from international investors.

While the Nordic region provides a good environment for the emergence of unicorns in general, Sweden in particular has the ideal conditions for cleantech companies to thrive, with an ecosystem tailored to start-ups in combination with ambitious climate goals.听

It is of course still unclear exactly what the future of the fintech, life science and cleantech industries has in store, but one thing is for sure 鈥� the Nordics will play a pivotal role in shaping their future.

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Heavy snowmelt is exposing residents to dangerous landslides, rendering large parts of the archipelago鈥檚 main settlement, Longyearbyen, unhabitable. Residents are having to move and there is even 鈥� once frozen in permafrost 鈥� to somewhere less likely to succumb to avalanche and thawing.

Further south, in Iceland, glacial retreat is becoming steadily more evident. In 2014, Iceland鈥檚 smallest glacier, Okj枚kull, was the first glacier to be declassified as such by scientists. Its fate was subsequently . All of the island鈥檚 glaciers are set to disappear by 2200 if things carry on as they are.

These apparently urgent and worrying events are symptoms of a bigger change: global heating. With an awareness that the Nordic countries will be one of the hardest hit regions, governments and citizens are taking action.

A tradition of caring for the environment

Across the Nordic region, there is a tradition of looking after the environment. One striking manifestation of this is a lack of litter and relatively low levels of pollution听鈥� although these problems certainly do exist in larger urban areas. By contrast, rural Nordic landscapes can appear pristine by European standards. In remote pockets, it almost appears as if no one has ever inhabited the landscape.

Of course, there are many reasons for this. Most Nordic countries have fairly small populations relative to their land area, Denmark being a notable exception. Low population density means less strain on the land and less competition for resources. It also helps that the geography of certain parts of the region makes land unsuitable for agriculture. The further north you go, the poorer the soil and the harsher the climatic conditions.

Low population density means less strain on the land and less competition for resources.

But the fact that there are relatively few people is not the only explanation for the Nordic nations鈥櫶齮radition of land stewardship 鈥� it鈥檚 cultural too. The 听enables Finns, Icelanders, Norwegians and Swedes to spend more time on the land and perhaps creates a greater sense of ownership and investment in its preservation.

Icelanders and Norwegians in particular feel a deep sense of connection to the land. Both countries underwent intensive urbanisation in the latter part of the 20th听century, but until then were agricultural nations with highly dispersed populations. They鈥檝e also both been historically reliant on fishing, and so perhaps they鈥檝e learnt the hard way that nature can take away as much as it gives.

Early adopters of renewable energy

In terms of energy resources, the Nordic region as a whole is perhaps uniquely well endowed. Norway is famed for its oil wealth, yet its mountainous geography and abundant water and wind resources mean that its green energy potential is massive. 98% of electricity generation in Norway is already renewable, with of that generation coming from hydropower.

Neighbouring Denmark has seen massive renewables growth in recent decades. It has a reputation as a pioneer of wind power 鈥� a technology which it exports all over the world (two of the world鈥檚 biggest wind turbine manufacturers, 脴rsted and Vestas, are Danish). This plays to Denmark鈥檚 strengths: unlike Norway, it is extremely flat, but its proximity to the air currents of the North Sea means that it is able to meet of its electricity demand from wind alone.

Denmark has a reputation as a pioneer of wind power 鈥� a technology which it exports all over the world.

Iceland occupies a completely unique position in a Nordic and global context. Located above a volcanic hotspot on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the country is able to meet 99% of its domestic heating needs with geothermal energy. Combined with hydropower, , which is 99.9% renewable.

On the other hand, Sweden has more diverse energy generation profile. Along with Finland, it鈥檚 the only Nordic country to use nuclear power. It has significant hydropower resources too: together nuclear and hydro deliver . Biomass is also a significant contributor to the energy mix, being used primarily for space heating. Today, as in many countries, wind power is the fastest growing renewable energy source.

Around is produced from hydropower. As in Sweden, biomass makes up a relatively high share of electricity production too, at around a sixth. A distinctive feature of the Finnish energy mix is the contribution made by black liquor, a waste product of the wood industry, which is gasified and burnt as fuel.

Leading lifestyle change

Despite the Nordic countries鈥� above-average green energy track record, the climate challenge cannot be overcome by this alone. The biggest gains stand to be made from permanent changes in lifestyle that reduce individuals鈥� carbon footprints.

Norway is building on its green energy foundation with a rapid take-up of electric vehicles. They鈥檝e been topping the rankings for some time in terms of the proportion of new vehicles sold that are fully electric. In March this year, that figure , a new global record. It plans to ban sales of internal combustion engine vehicles by 2025.

In Sweden as in other Nordic countries, the country鈥檚 geography and population distribution mean that domestic flights are convenient and relatively cheap. In the first quarter of this year, airport operator in passenger numbers, coinciding with an 8% uptick in train journeys noted by Swedish Railways for the same period.

If there is a figure who best embodies Nordic progressiveness on climate issues, it鈥檚 likely to be Greta Thunberg (pictured left, photo: ). She began protesting for more urgent action on climate change outside the Swedish parliament at the age of 15. She was the founder of the school strikes for climate movement, which has spread to many other countries across the globe.

The shift from air to train travel or 鈥渇light shame鈥�, namely an embarrassment about taking a flight when another option is available. Greta鈥檚 personal refusal to fly, instead opting to take the train for trips around Sweden and abroad, is thought to have popularised the idea of flygskam听鈥� a phenomenon which is part of a wider awakening to environmental issues in the Nordic region and beyond.

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