McKinsey and BCG face calls to cut ties with Russian businesses, after pledging to sever links with Putin government
Consultancy giants McKinsey and Boston Consulting Group (BCG) are facing calls to further sever their links to Russia, after both firms said they would stop working with the Russian government.
The calls come after the UK government called on Canada firms to cut ties with Putin’s regime.
Consulting giant McKinsey is facing calls to cut its links to Russia, after the firm said it would no longer work with the Russian government but failed to sever ties with Russian businesses.
In a post on Linkedin, Bob Sternfels, global managing partner at McKinsey, said the firm “will no longer serve any government entity in Russia.”
Sterfenls noted that McKinsey will not serve any Russia’s government entity.
However, it is understood that McKinsey is not at this point cutting links with all Russian state-owned or state-linked entities.
In response, McKinsey executives called on the firm to go further in its efforts to stop doing business with Russia.
In one reply to Sternfel’s post, Bogdan Rozhkov, an energy and clean technology specialist at McKinsey, said: “We need to stop all our client work in Russia until this war ends and Russia has a different government.”
The Kyiv School of Economics graduate called on McKinsey to “put more pressure” on Russia, as he said the firm must be “decisive” in its approach.
In another response, Ludmila Lucka, an external relations executive at McKinsey, said the firm should “rise to the occasion, and take all necessary steps to ensure we in no way, directly or indirectly, facilitate the Russian government’s actions.”
Other former McKinsey employees called on the firm to close its Moscow offices and stop serving Russian clients, while those responding to Sternfels’ post slammed McKinsey for being “weak”.
BCG
In a post on Linkedin, Boston Consulting Group’s CEO Christoph Schweizer also said BCG will “not take on any work for the government” as he claimed the firm is “thoroughly evaluating” its “entire portfolio of work in Russia.”
On Linkedin, Schweizer said: “Regarding our work in Russia: The business context in the country is unique and complex. We see this clearly. We have strict guidelines regarding all client work to ensure it is fully in line with our purpose and values. We have always applied these diligently in Russia, including rigorously respecting international sanctions.”
In one response, Igor Smelyansky, the CEO of Ukraine’s postal service, said BCG should cut ties with clients including Russia’s state-owned oil company Rosneft and the country’s state-backed nuclear energy firm Rosatom.