Since the invasion of Ukraine, more than 1 000 companies have voluntarily curtailed operations in Russia to some degree - beyond the minimum legally required by international sanctions.
More than 500 companies have suspended their business in Russia, and 523 have withdrawn completely.
An additional 152 are “scaling back”, 177 are “buying time”, and for 227 companies it is “business as usual”, according to a database kept by Yale University.
Dr Jeffrey Sonnenfeld, Lester Crown Professor in Management Practice, and his team of research fellows and students at the Yale Chief Executive Leadership Institute update the database to reflect new company announcements in as close to real-time as possible.
Over the past 15 months, the corporate response to Russia’s war in Ukraine has seen 330 American companies announcing that they were voluntarily curtailing or halting their business in Russia.
KFC owner Yum! Brands withdrew from Russia in March 2022.
German car giant Volkswagen sold its Russian business - including its plant in the western city of Kaluga with 4 000 employees - to Russian car dealer group Avilon.
BP, Exxon, and Shell said they were divesting billions of dollars in Russian energy assets. “I am convinced that the decisions we have taken as a board are not only the right thing to do but also in the long-term interests of BP,” said Bernard Looney, the CEO of BP.
In the 1980s, a similarly extensive response from the private sector contributed to the end of South Africa’s apartheid system.
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