A worthwhile read for organizations of all types and sizes regardless of whether and to what extent they taken action to disengage from Russia, The Conference Board’s “Cutting Ties With Russia: A Guide to Decision-Making Now and in the Future” does an excellent job of identifying key considerations for organizations in determining whether and how to respond to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in a manner that takes into account the potentially significant impact of withdrawal from the Russian market on revenues, as well as reputation/brand, and the broader context of other worldwide developments in the future that may call into question inactions or decisions to not act in a similar manner.
The guidance advocates methodical, consistent, and transparent processes for making determinations that include whether and when to resume operations or reengage and preparing for backlash, which may in this case include cybersecurity or other retaliatory conduct, and a forward-looking analysis of meaningful stakes the company may have or plan in other countries that may pose similar risks.
In addition to the examples of companies that have suspended their operations, sales, sourcing, and investments and partnerships included in the article, as reported in last week’s Society Alert, JUST Capital and the Yale School of Management are tracking the numerous and various corporate responses to the Russia invasion here and here, respectively.
See also “In Light of Russia Sanctions, Consider Your Conditions for Doing Business in Other Countries” (Harvard Business Review), “Fundamental Choices for Board Oversight of the Russia-Ukraine Crisis” (NACD), “What Companies Have Pulled Back From Russia?” (WSJ), and “U.S. funds: Biggest pension plans act quickly on Russia” (Pensions & Investments), and additional resources on our Activism page »CEO/Corporate/Leadership and our Crisis Management and Risk Management & Oversight pages.
This post first appeared in the weekly Society Alert!