Not Nestle alone. Let’s focus on energy, high-tech, and industrial companies who failed to exit Russia
Well-known brands like Nestle or Decathlon have come under fire for still doing business with Russia. However, B2B firms in oilfield services, high-end electronics and manufacturing have escaped the media attention. This must change: the naming and shaming must focus on those foreign firms that manufacture critical equipment and provide services in energy and electronics. Those are the sectors critical to maintaining Russia’s ability to fight this war.
Naming and shaming firms that still do business with Russia has become an international sport on LinkedIn and in the financial press. But the focus has been on best-known brands like Nestle, Decathlon, Leroy Merlin, Auchan, Renault etc., which tend to be consumer-facing (B2C) firms. While it’s true that any international company still operating in Russia pays taxes that finance the Russian war against Ukraine, some companies do more harm than others.
If not Nestle and Decathlon, then which companies should be first in line to be named and shamed? The answer is simple: those doing business in Russian energy, manufacturing, electronics, IT services, and logistics sectors. Those sectors are instrumental to the Russian economy and its military-industrial complex. Hence, by operating in those sectors, foreign firms directly contribute to the killing of Ukrainian civilians. Case in point are firms in oil & gas supply chain(e.g., Hungarian MOLGroup, American Schlumberger, German Linde, American-Irish Weatherford), electronics (Chinese Lenovo, Taiwanese Acer), cloud computing(American Teradata), logistics (French ID Logistics).
Academics at Yale School of Management maintain a constantly updating list of firms still doing business with Russia. In the table below, I select those firms from the list that (i) defy demands for exiting Russia, and (ii) operate in strategically important sectors (energy, manufacturing, electronics, telecom etc.). Those are the firms that should be called out first, as they play a greater role in sustaining the Russian war.
Curtailing the Russian aggression requires measures that can limit Russia’s ability to fight. Alongside with sanctions, firms should be cutting Russia off access to Western technologies as the first priority. Failing to do that means collaborating with the Putin regime in killing Ukrainian civilians.