Civil Society Influence on Corporate Behavior in relation to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine

Abstract

This study is devoted to the influence of civil society on the behavior of international companies present on the Russian market in connection with the Russian Federation’s unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The exit of foreign companies from the Russian market contributes to stopping this military aggression. Companies staying in Russia, by stark contrast, are thereby latently sponsoring the war. In order to influence this situation, a number of civil society initiatives have been launched to change the behavior of companies operating on the Russian market. A number of different models of corporate behaviour are presented in this study, including “warwashing”, in other words, companies’ attempts to improve their reputation or mask their status as “sponsors of war“. The study uses open sources and databases, such as the Yale School of Management, KSE, Stat Space, Statista, Vloomberg, YouControl, Moral Rating Agency, and materials from Forbes, Reuters, the Financial Times, and the New York Times, as well as from the sites epravda.com.ua, leave-russia.org, and squeezingputin.com. This work will be useful to public activists, opinion leaders, business leaders, top managers, and academics researching corporate ethics, as well as other interested parties.