Having been offline for a few weeks due to private matters; the things that strike close to home appear more eye catching to me.
Lately Swedish media has been ripe with articles chronicling the shifting prices of raw materials and the little effect these shift have on price of consumer goods. In on of the articles (Svenska Dagbladet, in Swedish); the global price of wheat is compared over time with the price of flour in Stockholm area stores and the result is that consumers are unaffected; both from a savings perspective and from a buying pattern perspective. They still shop for flour; and pay through the nose for it, regardless of global wheat price fluctuations.
Now the price of flour is dependant on a number of things (albeit the core is the price of wheat); but the interesting thing about this story is that although the consumers are aware of the price fluctuations of the raw material, they silently accept that the profit margins end up in other peoples pockets.
Imagine this from a sourcing perspective; would a purchaser silently accept that negotiated prices are unaffected by the cost of raw materials.
The big dilemma is that in the end we’re all humans; distinguishing between our corporate and private selves is a hard thing to do. And as we privately start to accept increasing prices, how will this affect our ability to not do the same in our corporate roles?
