Article: The Teflon Shield : TRENCH WAR: With activists on the march, multinationals are desperate to deflect the brand-bashing attacks of the anti-global protesters. Here's how the prototypical Teflon multinational does it.(IKEA)

IKEA is a curious success story. The lines at the Swedish stores are endless, its furniture requires an engineering degree to assemble, yet its $8.5 billion global sales empire is expanding rapidly. Even more interesting is its reputation. It hires factories in impoverished countries like Laos, and its wooden furniture is a threat to forests from Borneo to Russia. Its image as the McDonald's of home furnishing is enough to offend the sensibility of anti-globalization protesters. Yet time and again, IKEA has managed to duck the charges that stick to brands like McDonald's and Nike, and to keep its name off the banners now waved in anger from Seattle to Prague to Bangkok.

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