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62 Opinion COMMENT:
‘Stage 2’ of Russian business response to coronavirus: a view from the trenches
Olga Kuzmina and Tom Blackwell of EM in Moscow
Economic consequences of the spread of the coronavirus have presented businesses across the globe with
a monumental challenge, including in regard to developing anti-crisis measures and communicating them to the public and markets in the right way, and at the right time.
The situation is exacerbated by the need for companies (including their management, and their boards) to adapt
to almost an entirely new paradigm of communications challenges, as well as communications channels. Alongside the decision-making process of how to explain the unexplainable, and how to forecast the unforecastable, are discussions of how to use Zoom or how to switch off mute.
An overview of the anti-crisis measures adopted by leading Russian companies, as well as their approach to employees and other stakeholders during the outbreak, shows that many Russian businesses are increasingly placing people- centred values at the core of their operations and directing technological innovations towards solving the most pressing problems of the day.
A number of publicly listed companies, or companies with aspirations to be listed, are efficiently keeping the public informed on their actions to protect employees and other stakeholders from the virus.
In addition to complying with the safety recommendations
of the World Health Organization and the Russian consumer rights watch dog Rospotrebnadzor, Russian companies took a number of common steps during the first days of the outbreak to protect their clients and employees. These include shifting employees to remote work, cancelling internal and external meetings and business trips, introducing mandatory health checks, and enhancing disinfection procedures at their premises. Companies have also encouraged employees who have travelled abroad since the start of the outbreak to remain at home for 14 days, with the option to work remotely.
But only a small number of companies have provided the public with a transparent update on the economic consequences of the pandemic; how this has impacted their operations and
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financials and what they are doing about it. In part this can be explained because the situation is still developing rapidly and some of the businesses are only now starting to feel the pain. Others are hit hard already but are still analysing the extent of the damage. Nevertheless, we also see examples of very thorough approaches to communicating anti-crisis measures aimed at not only protecting the company’s own operations but also aiding the economy in general.
Yandex, Russia’s largest tech platform, has allocated more than RUB1.5bn to assist individuals and businesses during the coronavirus. A key part of this effort is the Helping
Hand initiative, which provides transportation for doctors and deliveries of medicine, coronavirus testing kits and other essential goods through the Yandex.Taxi service. The company has also implemented a program to assist taxi parks with disinfection and support drivers and couriers affected by the coronavirus; created an online distance-learning platform for schoolchildren and teachers; and announced
a RUB500mn program to make online advertising more accessible to SMEs.
Meanwhile, one of the top Russian e-commerce platforms Ozon Holdings has focused on protecting consumers from those seeking to benefit from the pandemic. In March the company announced that it was capping prices on high- demand goods in order to prevent price gouging by sellers who operate on its marketplace. Ozon has also seen a spike in demand for its contactless door delivery service, an innovation for the Russian market, and has equipped the company’s delivery agents with disease prevention guidelines and regular pre-trip examinations.
Retail has been one of the sectors impacted the most so
far; positively in food retail and less so in non-food retail. M.Video, the largest non-food retailer in Russia and one of the top 5 electronics retailers in Europe is now reliant on the e-commerce business that it was meant to compliment and enhance its offline network of stores. The company quickly provided the market with an extensive update on how it ensures its sustainability in the new situation, saying its debt profile is resilient to FX volatility; the status of suppliers