Why only ten percent of the retreat succeeds

Dusseldorf, Stuttgart, Riga Whether detergent from Henkel, tablets from Bayer or tires from Continental: One year after the beginning of the war of aggression in Ukraine, many goods from German companies are still available in Russia. Companies like Metro, Ritter Sport and Stada are sticking to their business there. And many have not yet managed to withdraw completely – such as Volkswagen, SAP or Bosch.

The figures on how many Western companies are still active in Russia differ. According to the University of St. Gallen and the IMD business school, only 8.5 percent of companies from EU and G7 countries have said goodbye. Jeffrey Sonnenfeld from the US University of Yale, who maintains a much-noticed “list of shame”, has determined that a third of the more than 1,500 companies analyzed worldwide have so far completely withdrawn.