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The Russian-Ukrainian war has continued to this day, and more and more multinational companies have announced their withdrawal from the Russian market or temporarily closed their stores, such as McDonald’s and Louis Vuitton. Some things happen for a reason. According to the economic sanctions of the United States and the European Union, it will be difficult for their business to continue in Russia. Payment companies such as MasterCard, Visa, Paypal, and even Shell have previously issued a statement expressing their apology for their previous purchases of Russian crude oil. , and will exit the market. Coincidentally, according to South Korean media reports, Lotte Group will also disband its headquarters in China. This is after the US military stationed in South Korea used the Lotte Territory to deploy the “THAAD system” in 2016. After its business was boycotted by consumers, it caused the decline of various businesses to be paralyzed. ending.
Interestingly, today, when geopolitical tensions have caused all kinds of turmoil, the decision of most international brands to withdraw from a certain regional market is essentially politically driven, but in order not to expand the political elements and geopolitical disputes in business. , Most of the well-established international brands are in the battle of public relations, clearing their political intentions and orientation, and trying their best to talk about business. Its graceful turn and exit are all explained and justified by business decisions focusing on strategy.
The smarter international brands have chosen the moral basis of humanistic care to make choices. For example, the parent company of Uniqlo, Fast Retailing Group, said that under the current background, it will continue to stay in the Russian market. Ordinary Russian civilians, whose actions Putin has no influence, also have access to affordable clothing. Companies such as PepsiCo and Danone yogurt have also said they will maintain the supply of daily food products, but will not make new investments and will reduce the supply of non-essential product lines.
The first principle in business international communication is to use the thinking of “seeking common ground while reserving differences”, emphasizing the commonality of human nature and humanistic care, especially in extreme moments such as natural and man-made disasters. From this point of view, if the emphasis on “seeking common ground while reserving differences” is the first priority of Dos, then avoiding entanglements with geopolitics has become the most important Don’ts that need to be adhered to. During the years I have worked for the internationalization of Chinese companies, especially when dealing with several major crises in the US election year, I have always adhered to the bottom line of such crisis public relations. However, it has to be said that many times when communicating with the domestic headquarters, there will be great resistance. There are often colleagues at different levels and superiors requesting to deal with the crisis with the “national sentiment card”. The result of this coping method is predictable loss. Picked up watermelon and sesame seeds.
Recently, I was reading the novel “Overseas Journey” based on the experience of former Huawei employees. Regardless of the true or false mapping of the story, according to my long-term observations, Huawei, which has been able to resist the superpower US politicians’ repeated hardships by itself , its most valuable brand resource is that at any time of crisis, from the response of foreign media to the candid treatment of domestic media, it has never aroused the banner of “nationalism” to sacrifice to the sky. This kind of open-minded and magnanimous vision The practice has preserved the respect and awe within the industry. As a result, even the president of Ericsson, a former rival Swedish manufacturer Ericsson, pointed out in a foreign media response that the Swedish government’s decision to ban the use of Huawei equipment in its domestic 5G network hindered free competition and trade. It can be seen that even if people with discerning eyes know that the company has withdrawn from a certain regional market due to political pressure, they should not escalate nationalist sentiments during the war of public relations and public opinion, use political nodes to create topics, and even use this to speculate on the domestic market of the home country. It is possible to slap the face quickly and lose the opportunity in terms of tolerance.
Secondly, when exiting the regional market, treat employees well in accordance with local laws and regulations, stand on the last shift, and achieve strong internal communication among multinational employees. Such a foreshadowing can accumulate goodwill for returning to the local market one day. Even a permanent exit can take the lead in the field of public opinion in other parts of the world. After leaving Fosun’s New York office, I joined a Fortune 500 technology company in the United States and switched to internal communication among employees and communication of diverse cultures. Communication between employees with cultural backgrounds is crucial in the post-epidemic era of the “big resignation wave”. This is also reflected in the recent crisis of the Russian-Ukrainian war and the internal communication among employees of major European and American companies. For example, the Big Four accounting firms all indicated that they would withdraw from the Russian market along with their corporate clients, which would greatly affect local employment. KPMG, one of the Big Four, employed nearly 4,500 employees and partners in Russia and Belarus. However, the four responsible firms have also indicated that they will do their best to help employees in terms of compensation and job transfer.
Finally, a mature international brand will have ups and downs in the expansion of its business territory, and there will be ups and downs in the development of various markets, but the story of brand integration is constantly changing. continue to tell. That is to say, whether it is entering an emerging market or exiting a regional market, it is necessary to unify the caliber of the market in various regions of the world. What the Internet can “wall” is only part of the information, and what cannot be blocked is the simple-to-speak response. If you change the caliber of different markets because of flattering some interested parties, you will only end up undermining your own international brand image because of different opinions, which will outweigh the gains. So far, there are no Chinese companies that have been internationalized except that ByteDance’s overseas version of TikTok has banned the upload of new videos in Russia. Jump will come out and explain the strategic changes in the Russian market Or transfer, it seems that everyone is waiting to see the big official caliber and then make a move. It is hoped that whether it is advancing or retreating, it can win a good reputation in the international public relations and public relations field.
(This article only represents the author’s own views, editor in charge: Yan Man [email protected])