“Wait and sit in silence": Foreign companies are in no hurry to run away from Russia

It is quite natural that the most severe Western sanctions adopted in connection with the Russian special operation in Ukraine hit not only the Russians, but also the foreign companies themselves, which are losing a lot of money in such a rich Russian market. That is why Western entrepreneurs invent various ways to somehow reduce their losses.

About how this happens and what foreign companies hope for, journalist Anton Orekh writes in his channel:

“My friend is a consultant, she works with large foreign companies. And here's what she says.

“The exit from the market of British American Tobacco and Philip Morris is a fiction.

Surely, they will sell through the distributor in the same volume.

These companies have not been selling themselves for 20-25 years. They only promote and sell through distributors.

(For example, "Philip Morris" - through "Megapolis". I don't know who BAT's distributor is). That is, they will close or pause marketing offices.

Well, all companies have factories here. I doubt they will close them. It's complicated.

In Philip Morris, the marketing office is 1/3 of the staff, with about 1,000 people in each of the two factories, and another 1,000 in the marketing office.

I think it's the same for other companies.

People are also unlikely to be fired, now they have been put on salaries at home and will continue to conduct trainings, internships, etc. for the time being. (as they did during the pandemic).

Adidas closes about 60 stores, squeezes e-commerce, but employees are not fired! Sales will be carried out through wholesalers and online platforms (in particular, OZON and Wildberry). After some time, the shops will open. Now the task of one of our girls is to negotiate with the landlords to reduce or freeze the rent until the resumption of work. To save the area and not to take away the equipment.

Two more of my friends work one at IKEA, the other at McDonald's. Same stuff. All employees were sent home with pay and were told to sit in silence. They vowed to open back soon.

One must think that more or less all the "gone" companies took a break in order to establish supplies and sales through intermediaries.

No ideas will force a capitalist to give up profit, according to Marx".