Despite international sanctions and commitments to leave the Russian market, only 8.5% of companies from the European Union and G7 countries have left Russia, a study by Swiss management school IMD Institute and the University of Gallen has revealed.
According to data published by the study, more companies based in the United States have withdrawn from the Russian market than those based in the EU or Japan. Less than 18% of American subsidiaries in Russia have sold their assets since the start of the war, researchers Niccolò Pisani and Simon Evenett concluded.
The researchers stated that there had been “a very limited retreat of EU and G7 firms from Russia” which challenges the narrative that there had been a “vast exodus of Western firms leaving the market.”
“In effect, many firms headquartered in these nations have resisted pressures from governments, the media, and NGOs to leave Russian since the invasion of Ukraine,” a press release from St.Gallen University said.
When Moscow started its invasion, there were 1,404 companies based in the EU and G7 nations, as well as 2,405 subsidiaries, which were active in Russia, the study showed. By late November 2022, only 120, or around 8.5% of those companies, had divested at least one of their subsidiaries in Russia.
