McKinsey & Co, like many other corporations, is withdrawing from Russia after receiving sharp criticism from its former and current employees for moving too slow in cutting off ties after the invasion.
What is the story?
Consultants to CEOs and governments globally, McKinney said it would cease to work with state-owned entities and not recruit new clients in Russia. The new policy goes beyond Bob Sternfels’s stand in his LinkedIn post on Sunday. He said McKinsey would stop working only government entities. After the assignments are complete, all client services will be suspended. According to the spokesperson Graham Ackermann, the office remains open to support staff in the country.
As per Bloomberg News, McKinsey, in a memo to its alumni, said that the firm had suspended service in Russia’s regional and local government offices even before the war started. McKinsey was the first professional firm to suspend services to the Russian clients and had condemned the invasion.
This shift came after many big organizations cut ties with Russia and harsh criticisms. Sternfeld’s earlier statement had left options open for the company to work for Rosneft and Gazprom PJSC, the Russian energy giants. Mckinsey employs more than 700 employees and has worked with 21 out of the 30 most prominent companies in Russia for the last 30 years.
Oleksandr Kravchenko, managing partner Mckinsey in Ukraine, and other alumni said that all corporate offices should shut the doors in Russia. His social media post, which was a departure from McKinsey’s official policy, received 4300+ positive reactions. Sternfeld was called to close the Moscow office, which had been in operation since 1993.
Taras Gorishnyy, a Ukrainian native and former Mckinsey analytic manager who now works for CVS Health Corp, said the initial reaction was insufficient. Fellow alumni Arthur Tretyak, who now runs a credit company, said that the statement from Sternfels was vague.
McKinsey rivals have also condemned the invasion but declined to pull out. Bain & Co, whose clientele included state-owned Russian corporations, is re-evaluating its work in Russia and trying to meet the firm’s standards and stick to the international sanctions as per its managing partner Manny Maceda.
CEO of Boston Consulting Group, Christoph Schweizer, said that it evaluated the firm’s entire portfolio in Russia.
The professional services company Accenture said on Thursday that it was halting business in Russia, where currently it employs 2300 staff.
The Ukraine invasion has prompted a mass exodus of companies led by BP Plc., which holds a 20% stake in Rosneft. Other companies are following it. Walt Disney pauses its movie releases in Russia.
