Revolutions of Hope, Part 11: Business on the Frontlines

Episode Topic: Business on the Frontlines

Explore “Active Hope” as a catalyst for order in Ukraine. Beyond profit, business has become a strategic mandate for survival and a testament to our global solidarity. Join us as we examine how the University of Notre Dame and its partners forge resilience amidst ruin, serving as a powerful “Force for Good.”

Featured Speakers:

• Magdalena Charzyńska-Wójcik, Ph.D., John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin
• Yaryna Boychuk, Ukrainian Catholic University
• Alejandro Danylyszyn, Deloitte Digital
• Georges Enderle, University of Notre Dame
• Sophia Opatska, Ukrainian Catholic University

Read this episode's recap over on the University of Notre Dame's open online learning community platform, ThinkND: https://go.nd.edu/8136cb.

This podcast is a part of the ThinkND Series titled Revolutions of Hope.

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Transcript

Welcome and Panel Overview

1 0:06

Hello, everyone. My name is Magda Harzyńska-Wójcik, and I represent John Paul II Catholic University of Lublin in Poland, but I'm also an affiliated scholar of the Nanovic Institute for European Studies, which is a very important part of my academic, uh, identity. Uh, I would like to welcome you all, uh, to the session Business on the Frontlines: Resilience and Adaptability in Times of Turmoil, Lessons from Ukraine and Other Places of the World, which I have the honor and privilege of moderating. We're going to listen to four speakers today, Yaryna Buchok, Alejandra Danilevichyn, uh, George Anderly, and, um, Sophia Opatska. This order is not accidental in more ways than one. It is, as you will have noticed, alphabetical, which is both democratic and liberating. This is also the actual order in which the speakers are going to perform because that is how the talks are best organized in terms of contents and how they engage with each other. There is some comfort in finding out that different orders converge in Notre Dame Business as the common theme of these talks will be first shown in its local context by Yaryna and then zoomed out to the global level by Alejandro. Next, George will offer an important ethical perspective on the issue to finally give the floor over to Sophia, who will focus on the development of adaptive strategies among business managers in Ukraine in the situation of an ongoing crisis, by which time we will have made the full circle and be back in the Ukrainian context at the very concrete level. The topics jointly addressed by the panelists are subsumed under or perhaps even stem from the meaning of hope as understood in its etymological sense presented to us during the opening session, uh, by the Ar- by Archbishop Borys Gudziak, Nadija, on action. So hope in Ukrainian is hope at its best B- um, born out of understanding what is in contrast to what is desired and urged into action to bring this about. Active hope, empowering and inherently equipped with responsibility as a response to the question what we owe to each other As in all sessions so far, we will first listen to all speakers, and then we will have some time for questions at the end. So please make notes as we go along.

Community and Notre Dame

1 2:59

Our first speaker today is Yaryna Boichuk. Yaryna, you can, you can, yeah, m-as you wish. I will, I will take some time to introduce you anyways, but I think everybody would enjoy looking at you at this time. So Yaryna is CEO of, uh, UCU Business School. Yaryna holds a master's degree in management of foreign economic activity from Lviv National Polytechnic University, and also studied economics at Coventry University in the UK. With over 15 years of business experience, Yaryna has managed family businesses, launched startups, and developed franchising projects in Ukraine. Her expertise includes leadership, ethics, and purpose-driven organizations. Yaryna has participated in international programs across Europe, North America, and Asia, and contributes to strategies for academic and business resilience in Ukraine during challenging times. In the previous bio that I received, because I got two sets for you, there was also, she specializes in resilience in post-war, uh, societies, and I like that very much. Yaryna, the floor is yours.

Speaker 2 4:11

Thank you. Uh, thank you very much. Uh, and, uh, I just have to tell you a very small secret, but very serious, uh, because my, uh, friends in the panel, they really discussed who will be the first and if we can change the, uh, the list. And, uh, they decided that I will be the first because my topic is the most down to the earth. So thank you. So because I will be, uh, yes, uh, one more. Uh, first, I want to say my gratitude to the Nanovic, uh, Nanovic Institute for the opportunity to be here today to share our experience. I'm really proud, uh, that, uh, after four weeks in Notre Dame, uh, on research scholar program that I spent here, um, we are here, and we are listening to two, at least two projects that grew from that visit, uh, at, in 2022. So thank you very much. And, um, so I will be telling how the UCU Business School grows its impact and role of business right now in Ukraine and, uh, for the communities. Uh, in my presentation I will describe the general situation in Ukraine around the communities, share our experience working, um, with Notre Dame program Business on the Frontlines, and tell just a few of many stories from UCU Business School graduates, uh, business activities and projects that have impact and make change really now, uh, in the days of war in Ukraine. So if you look at the map of Ukraine regions and, uh, think about communities, we can guess that the most vulnerable and suffering communities are in the eastern part of the country, where either they are already occupied, and in most cases it means totally destroy, destroyed, uh, to the earth, or they are very close to the front line and, uh, Ukrainian army uses them for rear support of the front. Uh, what means they are being shelled and bombed most of the time, and their infrastructure is mainly, uh, working for the defense. So the closer to the front lines, the more vulnerable and, uh, the communities and people there are. So some of these, uh, western, of our western regions, uh, can even experience economic growth right now and infrastructure development, uh, as their population grew with, uh, refugees coming from the eastern part of Ukraine, uh, and businesses being moved, uh, to renew their activities and operations, uh, there. The government and international partners continue to provide, uh, support for the recovery and, uh, development of affected communities, but full recovery will require time and significant, significant resources. Uh, but even to get those resources, the communities must have a strong strategy for the future, ideas for the project, and capacity to implement them And we understand in UKOO all the challenges for Ukraine now and, uh, can foresee even more for the future recovery of Ukraine, uh, the territories and thus communities. One of the UKOO humane-- uh, one of the UKOO Strategy 2030 goals is, uh, to expand the UKOO commun, uh, community with, uh, humanity and dignity throughout its networks by nourishing and growing our relationships with graduates and our local communities. It means building the network of impact. And here this goal and need align perfectly with the program Business on the Frontlines in Notre Dame that uses the dynamism of business to address complex and challenges, uh, challenging issues in the communities Uh, in 2022 summer, while the commencement speech, speech here, um, in Notre Dame, Bishop, uh, Borys met, uh, Viva Bartkus here, and he came to me and told me, "You must meet her, and you must look at the program Business on the Frontlines." And at that time, this name of the program was like, I thought, uh, where else now could be business on the frontlines if not in Ukraine? So finally, with great h-help of my other big supporter here in Notre Dame, George Enderle, in my last day of, uh, Nanovic Research Scholar Program, I reached out, uh, to meet Viva Bartkus. We had a good walk in the Lincoln Pa-Park, uh, in Chicago, and, uh, we decided to do something together as soon as possible. So from just do it, it started. Uh, in less than five months, a group of MBA students, uh, of Mendoza College of Business coming-- is coming to Wrocław with the MBA program academ-academic director, Joe Sweeney, and a beautiful and very supportive Kelly Straight, experienced mentor and alumni, uh, of the program and the Notre Dame. Uh, in 2022, UCU has founded a new foundation in Europe, the Center of UCU in Wrocław, with the thought to serve Ukrainians that, as a result of war occurred, uh, to build their lives in Wrocław, in Poland, and in closer European countries. The vast majority of refugees reside in neighborhood, uh, in neighboring Poland. Uh, it's around one point six million people. Germany, one point one million, and the Czech Republic, uh, more than half of a million. The Notre Dame students could-couldn't come to Ukraine because of the security issues, so the idea was they could, uh, meanwhile serve, serve the community, Ukrainian community in Wrocław. So 12 students from Notre Dame and four students from UCU Business School master programs worked together and aimed to help to strengthen the, uh, UCU Center in Wrocław. They made, uh, live interviews looking for Ukrainian people on the streets of, uh, Wrocław, like catching them there and asking some questions. Uh, they also made and sent surveys through social platforms, then analyzed the responses and came out with the operational model for the center that can ensure its efficiency according to the goals and mission. And I, I have to mention here that the both sides recognized that it was a perfect idea to add Ukrainian students, uh, to the group of, um, Mendoza students, uh, because we noticed that students learned the most from each other. And in March, uh, 2024, the next group of MEA students were already coming from Notre Dame, uh, to Wrocław, and this time their goal was, uh, to help, help and support and to find some ideas and opportunities to develop, um, the business school division, uh, within center in Wrocław. And this time they were using also all the materials and knowledge that previous groups held-- have developed, what means they continued to work rather than starting from the scratch again, and it was really beautiful and sustainable. Uh, as outcome, the business school has a very good strategic plan for implementation together with or within UKU Center in Wrocław. Maybe it is not possible for students in one or three weeks to develop and implement something big and important and impactful, but there are things that definitely can't be, uh, can be done by communities, uh, themselves, um, and where the students can do the best job. It's analysis, it's business model development. Students develop business and partnership models within specific opportunities, uh, areas. Investigative research. They conduct research on specific industries' problems and issues. Interviews. Students are equipped and trained to meet and interview, um, individuals in various industries, and students provide a new and different perspective that communities might not, m-might not, uh, develop internally Now, uh, I will-- I want to share with you just, uh, some stories of, uh, many of our graduates, uh, who are working on the frontlines of our economy and community building development. So it's Oleh Levchenko, uh, and, uh, Maksym. Uh, they both are the graduates of the Executive MBA Master Program. Oleh, um, bef-before the full invasion, Oleh was an active, uh, ac-activist keen on community development in Vinnytsia region and, uh, believed in business, uh, big power to make communities sustainable and prosperous. And Maksym was the owner, the founder of a jewelry production company in Kyiv. The first days when the full invasion, um, began, Maksym with his family of four kids made the long trip, long in time, not so much in distance, uh, to Vinnytsia. Being local, Oleh not just help, uh, helped, um, to accommodate the family of, uh, Maksym as his, like, classmates, uh, but also they were looking for some ideas how they can be really useful if they can change something within the communities and in the time of, uh, war. So, um, and they provided this project of, um, uh, the, um, Restart Center for recovery of the families. I think that most of the information is over there, and I running out of the time, of course, as always. Um, then we have also Serhii, uh, Prokopenko, and he is graduate of Innovations and Entrepreneurship Program from Kharkiv, and he's the founder and editor-in-chief, uh, of Gwara Media. Um, during this time, the platform has reached an international level, launching the first English language version in the region. They are, uh, combating propaganda through its fact-checking service, uh, verification, and it's very important right now. And in two thousand twenty-four, Gwara Media received the Zabel Award from the human rights organization Human Rights First. Here is, uh, Vlada Nedak, and she's supporting the, uh, Women's Opportunities in Ukraine Foundation. She, she founded it when the war started, and she's really, uh, helping and supporting, um, thousands already of womens with the financial aid, uh, for their entrepreneurial, uh, ideas. And, um, here we have even more of them. So, but, uh, what I wanted to say the most, uh, it's if can we do more than we are doing already? So, and I believe that with the support of the really experienced but also very committed, uh, partners and with our strengths and already developed community and the knowledge that we give already on the place, I believe that we really can, um, achieve much, much more together and working strongly. Okay. Thank you very much

1 16:03

Thank you very much, Yaryna, for this most illuminating and inspiring talk, which both informed us about the local situation and illustrated the important role of UOKOO in chartering Ukraine's path towards recovery.

War's Impact and Resilience

1 16:19

Our next speaker, Alejandro Danielishen, uh, will take it up from here and develop a more global view of the business implications of Russia's invasions, invasion of Ukraine, focusing on the disruptions and opportunities for companies in the US Alejandro Danielichin is senior partner at Deloitte Digital, a leader in the advertising, marketing, and commerce practice. He works with clients to build digital solutions that address critical business needs, from strategy to systems implementation and operations. His current focus is on driving innovation through the adoption of new technologies and artificial intelligence. Alejandro is a visiting lecturer at UKU Business School on the topic of digital disruption. He also serves as an advisor to Fortune 500 executives and is a frequent speaker on cutting-edge technology adoption. Alejandro's talk, entitled "The Business Implications of Russia's Invasion, uh, on U- of Ukraine," will offer a sum- a summary of geopolitical implications of the invasion and present the recommendations following from an in-depth analysis of the situation. Alejandro, the floor is yours.

Speaker 5 17:35

Thank you very much. So before I start, I, I wanted to thank the Nanovic Institute for putting up a wonderful conference. It has been personally very enriching, very moving to hear the stories, points of views, and lessons on hope, resilience, and agency. Also wanted to thank more at large the University of Notre Dame for your friendship and allyship with the Ukrainian cause, and congratulate you on the very impactful opening of the Ukrainian Studies Hub. And last but not least, I wanted to thank my friends at the university, uh, the, the Ukrainian Catholic University, UKU, uh, because one thing that you didn't mention on the intro, Magda, I, I am a, an engineer by trade. I'm not an academic. I spent the last 30 years of my life learning how to be a business consultant by growing in, uh, Deloitte, and if it wasn't for a chance encounter a few years ago where I got invited to give a lecture at UKU, I would have never realized my passion for teaching. So I, I get more out of this than probably I contribute to the university. Um, so taking a step back, as Magda said in the introduction, zooming out from the situation on Ukraine, I wanted us to spend just a brief few minutes focusing on what are the geopolitical impacts of the war in Ukraine to companies in the US, Western Europe, and how those impacts then can be addressed by learning from what has happened and having a practical plan for adaptability, not only on this conflict, but on future conflicts. Um, as a good engineer, I lack the oratory of, uh, most academics, so I'm just gonna go straight to the point. There are seven impacts caused that, that we see as c- being caused by geopolitical, geopolitical implications of the war in Ukraine on companies, and I'm gonna offer three remedies or three ways of building resiliency and adaptability in businesses. So as we start thinking about, uh, Western companies, Western companies and companies in the US have not been immune to Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Uh, first of all, one of the impacts has been in the disruption and securing of supply chains and trading networks. So if you think about it, the invasion of Ukraine has blocked access to raw materials, so one of the most n-noted, um, in, in the media has been block, uh, blocked access to, um, Ukrainian agricultural production that has been fundamental for governments and enterprises in Africa and Western Europe. Second, the disruption of trading routes, so when you think about multimodal transportation, uh, the commercial aviation industry completely stopping flights in and out of Ukraine. Uh, maritime routes blocked by the Russian, uh, uh, navy in the Black Sea. Uh, truck routes and train infrastructure constantly being the target of Russian attacks. And this has put a lot of strain on a very delicate supply chain and trading routes that were already impacted coming out of COVID-19. As we had to figure out how to rebuild some of those, uh, uh, trading networks coming out of the pandemic where things got shut down, all of a sudden we encountered ourselves with blocked access to raw materials and disrupted modes of transportations in and out of a critical region in Western Europe Another impact related to this disruption and securing of the supply chain, it has been the fragmentation of markets. So all of a sudden, there are markets under sanction. There are markets where it becomes very difficult, if not impossible, to work under war conditions. So you have to figure out how to build new markets, how to establish new trading relationships, and that has caused a tremendous upheaval to a company value chain. Whether you are in the US or in Western Europe, our global business network have become so intertwined that an impact, a, a conflict on one side of the world has impacts on the other side of the planet. Second geopolitical impact to companies that is somewhat related but different has been energy market volatility Companies, especially in Western Europe, needed to learn to decrease their reliance and dependency on Russian oil and gas. Yes, but also it require other countries in OPEC and other parts of the world to increase their production to satisfy the demand of companies that now are learning to deal without Russian gas. And then how do you transport it? How do you create other sources of energy? Um, creates a lot of uncertainty in the market. Uncertainty in the market drives higher pricing. Higher pricing makes it difficult to plan for acquisition and production, and has been another source of disruption that is somewhat related to the access to, to the lack of access to raw materials, but as I said, slightly different The third geopolitical impact has been on operational risk. And this takes two forms. Form number one, there has been a tremendous increase in cyberattacks on Western government, NGOs, and private enterprises since the onset of Russia's invasion of Ukraine, not only by state actors, but also by unscrupulous private actors, smaller groups that in, by and large, are funded by the aggressor state. So how do you create the better cybersecurity posture to defend against those ever-increasing and mounting and ever more sophisticated cyberat- cyberattacks that has been disrupting Western businesses? And another perhaps a little bit more l- less talked about, a little bit more obscure impact has been in the area of lack of transparency on those supply chains. I was just talking about the disruption of supply chains. You go find new partners, and all of a sudden, after the war, after the invasion started in Ukraine, we started to see highly unusual economic patterns in countries in Central Asia. To circumvent sanctions, you have partners that move goods and economic transactions in and out of Russia under the guise of making a purchase for a subsidiary in Uzbekistan. And that lack of transparency had an impact in Western companies that have a responsibility, and I will talk this as one of, one of the other impacts, to actually report and implement or try to, uh, curb the circumvention of sanctions. So how do you deal with a supply chain that all of a sudden is opaque, and you have perhaps a less than transparent trading partner that is doing business in conjunction with a sanctioned entity? So those operational risks did pretty much impact a lot of businesses, not only Western Europe, but also in the United States. The fourth geopolitical impact of the war has been in technology and the semiconductor industry. You may or may not know this fact, but before Russia's invasion to Ukraine, Ukraine provided 50% of the world's supply of neon needed in the manufacturing of laser machines for semiconductors. Russia was the key supplier of palladium, which is crucial for the manufacturing of chips. This, on the heels of COVID-19 shutting down production in Taiwan and Southeast Asia, presented a fundamental challenge in the technology sector for how do we now undertake the manufacturing of semiconductors when fundamental sources of raw material and, uh, fundamental processes are disrupted by the war? Another thing related to technology, Ukraine had upwards of 200,000 IT professionals engaged by Western companies in providing outsourcing services, consulting services, and many startups, in fact, had operations in Ukraine, in Kharkiv, in Kyiv, in Lviv, and all of those operations got disrupted as soon as the war started. Infrastructure was attacked, IT professionals were displaced or not able to work, and that had a profound impact on how companies reconfigure their IT operations. There are economic and regulatory implications, geopolitical implications from Russia's invasion in Ukraine. And we talked briefly about the disruption to the supply chain, access to raw materials, energy volatility, displacements of IT, uh, infrastructure, bl- uh, problems on the semiconductor manufacturing. All of this contributes to Western companies having to find new partners, they find new trading routes, um, et cetera, which creates an increase in prices. Those increases in prices drive, um, inflationary pressures on governments and companies, and all of this creates a tremendous amount of uncertainty in markets that have an impact on a company's, uh, profitability, manufacturing, ability to get to market, and reputational risks. We've seen it with companies having to exit Russia. Deloitte had to exit Russia. Um, and companies that chose not to do so, how they have been impacted by those consumer choices. Um, sixth impact has been in defense and defense spending and localization. We have talked about in the earlier conversation how Europe now is stepping up, uh, spending in defense, how many countries have actually have to rethink about their investments in their self-defense and their regional block defense, but also shift away from traditional battlefield equipment to more UCAV drone integrated digital, uh, defense systems, and how the shift is creating new opportunities and new challenges for companies working in defense. Last but not least of the impacts is on sustainability. If we are to achieve a just and lasting peace In order to live in peace, we need the world to live in. And coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic, companies have de-emphasized their focus on sustainability, and I think that as a result of the war and the reconfiguration and the responses to those geopolitical impacts, sustainability is falling even farther below in the list of priorities in boards and executive rooms. But it's crucial because sustainability is part of business planning. So since I am being given the hook for time expires, I'll be really brief on the adaptability component, the, the resilience and hope component. Up until now, I've been describing what's wrong, what's happened to these businesses. Coming down that, that slope of desperation, let us come up the hill of hope. So three fundamental things that businesses have been doing, are doing, or need to do to address the geopolitical challenges. Number one, diversification. Find out, map out your entire value chain, figure out where there are bottlenecks, find alternatives, and create a full matrix of where are multiple sources of, uh, raw materials, transportation, trading partners, go-to-market alternatives, um, sales markets, how to overcome the fragmentation, and create a full map that makes your value chain more robust. Second, engage in very deliberate quantitative and qualitative scenario planning. If there is a probability that a certain geopolitical event can happen, what are the impacts? How do I activate contingency plans? And they are precisely contingency plans because they have a cost. They are not my standard operating procedure. It will require me to go do something else, which takes us to the third point, risk assessment and management. Risk assessment is relatively simple to understand, very difficult to implement. If I know what's the probability of an event happening, and I know what's the cost of implementing a contingency or a mitigating plan, I can add up my cost, multiply it by the probability that tells you what your exposure is, and armed with that value, now you can make rational decisions on how much I'm gonna invest in preparedness. How do I, how do I become prepared such that a certain event occurs, I can activate a contingency plan? Risk management has three very easy and fundamental components. Enhance cybersecurity. In the 21st century, not engaging in cyber defense is missing a tremendous opportunity on risk management. Every company sh- they should... The, the cybersecurity posture has to be top of mind for every CEO today. Second, about monitoring geopolitical development. What is it that we learn from the invasion of Ukraine and the successive reactions of foreign governments? The situation can change at any time. One strategy for addressing disruption of value chain is friendshoring, nearshoring. Well, but how can you predict the event of a president now imposing punishing tariffs on allies when you decided to move your manufacturing to a friendshore? Again, diversification, planning, risk management all build resilience, and you cannot plan for every scenario, but you can make investments to be prepared. Last but not least, stakeholder engagement, and this comes to communication and transparency. They are important in our personal lives. They are important in business. Thank you.

1 33:17

Alejandro, thank you very much for this multidimensional, um, and systematic analysis, and I, I know that the extra three minutes were totally worth it.

Speaker 5 33:26

You're

1 33:26

so kind. Sorry,

Speaker 5 33:26

Pamis.

1 33:29

No, don't worry, we'll be beheaded afterwards, but I still think it's worth it. So thank you for this systematic analysis of the situation and for the presentation of the recommendations which follow from this assessment. And I must say that the essence of your talk is a perfect example of what active hope is. You face the facts, and you charter a carefully calibrated action plan, which is based on values, because I noticed that you mentioned sustainability, resilience, and transparency. Not always obvious elements of business plans.

Business Ethics

1 34:02

And this takes us directly to George, who will continue with the issue of values, drawing from the findings of the Business Ethics Report on Ukraine. George Enderle is John T. Ryan Junior Professor Emeritus of International Business Ethics at the University of Notre Dame. George's research focus on, focuses on globalization, wealth creation, business and human rights, and corporate responsibilities, with special emphasis on developments in Europe and China. George has authored numerous works, including Corporate Responsibility for Wealth Creation and Human Rights, published in 2021. A co-founder of the European Business Ethics Network, he also served as president of the International Society of Business, Economics, and Ethics from 2001 to 2004, significantly advancing the global discourse on business ethics and responsibility. George's talk, Business Ethics Challenge, uh, Challenges and Ukraine, will start with an overview of two important surveys and then move on to identifying business ethics challenges of highest priority. George, the floor is yours. Let me... Well, let's welcome George.

Speaker 6 35:25

Well, thank you very much for being here. First, I would like to thank the Nanovic Institute and Clemens Sedmak and his team, particularly how he has supported us and myself also over years to work with Uku in Lviv and, uh, on those issues. Um, you know, I had a great opportunity to go to visit Uku and many, uh, friends of, uh, mine now with, uh, uh, Taras and Volodymyr and Yaryna and Sophia and others, uh, to be there, and one gift, uh, was this nice, uh, shirt. And, uh, but it's just one. And, uh, so what I'm trying to do is really to say something about, uh, uh, of, uh, well, of somebody who has worked in business ethics for 40 years on the one hand, but who does not know much about Ukraine, you know? I was surprised, uh, when I was in Lviv how much I could learn in those 10 days, and I'm surprised again here at the conference how much is, uh, can we learn here from all those presentations. And, uh, to have that knowledge, uh, and to understand not only a knowledge, but also the emotion and compassion to do that. And, and so, uh, what I would like to do is a few remarks on three issues. Uh, the first is about, uh, some highlights from the business ethics, uh, r- uh, report on Ukraine, corruption, sustainability, human rights. A topic of the conference, uh, of the CSIC, that is the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC, about financing private investment in Ukraine. And then third, something about EU directives. Um- You know, the first point, uh, we were happy, uh, to publish, uh, uh, the Global Survey of Business Ethics around the world, uh, in three volumes. I have the volumes on Europe here. Uh, many European countries are represented here. I will show you which ones. And, uh, you can find, uh, the reports on business ethics of those, uh, three volumes, uh, for free on that website. And, uh, I think I remember a talk with Yarina that, uh, she thought it's very important to know what are the challenges of business ethics before we can start thinking what we should do in the business school and in the country and worldwide. And that is exactly the purpose of those volumes, not to produce more paper for libraries, but to give some, uh, first information to think about what should we do here in those situations like, uh, uh, Ukraine. Um, the These are, uh, the countries which, uh, wrote reports. You can find them. Uh, you see Europe is very well, uh, present- represented with the Czech Republic, Denmark, et cetera, uh, Slovenia, uh, et cetera, and Ukraine of course. But we have also a report on As- uh, Africa, one on Asia and, uh, and, uh, Australia. Um, this is supported by those regional networks of business ethics around the world. It's, uh, the ISBE or the International Society of Business, Economics and Ethics, which, uh, I know very well and helped us a lot for the report and, and in many, uh, reports, uh, uh, regional, uh, um, networks in Africa, in Europe, in, uh, South America, Latin America, Australia, et cetera. Um, now, uh, here. Uh, the country report on Ukraine is wonderful. It's enormously in, uh, informative, and it has been done by Yaryna Boychuk and Nataliia Yakymets. Uh, it is freely accessible, uh, as in those volumes, and also is now published in a special issue of the Business and Professional Ethics journal. Uh, uh, that is, uh, an attempt to bring, uh, that, uh, knowledge and that b- uh, foundation of business ethics, uh, to many countries and business schools and companies. And, um, and so what I would like to come to is a number of, uh, findings of this report, and one probably the most important, uh, issue which, uh, was mentioned in, uh, Yaryna's report is about the problem of corruption in Ukraine. And, uh, she starts with a report reminding that, uh, uh, there is a important law in Ukraine on, uh, protection against, uh, corruption And, uh, that the main target of Ukrainian networks of integrity and, uh, and, uh, compliance are focusing on that issue. And, uh, also Transparency, of course, International, which is famous to fight against corruption in... has a office in Kyiv. And, uh, the GSP report, our report, uh, talks about, uh, this, what, uh, how to define corruption, the abuse of entrusted power for private, uh, gain. That's from Transparency International. This can mean not only financial gain, but also non-financial, uh, advantages. And why is it rel- relevant? Well, corruption undermines the trust in the government and in corporate governance. It is expensive and hurts honest people and, uh, and organizations. And corruption kills credibility of Ukrainian, uh, the credibility of Ukrainian people and organizations who want to, uh, benefit from foreign investment abroad Uh, the second term which was very important is about sustainability, and, uh, here we have a lot of different understandings, and, uh, we dis-discussed that very much, uh, a lot, but, uh, here is for instance, just sustainable means that the business can go on, uh, without changes, but, uh, endlessly. Uh, another is, is synonymous with eco-efficiency. That means economically and, uh, environmentally must be efficient, but you don't take into account the population growth or, uh, uh, and, uh, other impacts. So I stick, uh, or we stick, uh, to that definition of the World Commission, uh, environment and development to meet the needs of the present without compromising future generations to meet their own needs. So we look sustainability is not only about what is happening today, but what most likely will happen for our children and grandchildren in the future. Uh, that is supported and the report on Ukraine uses this definition. Now, a, a second, a third important issue is, uh, human rights, and, uh, it, uh, looks at the whole set of human rights. And I dis- uh, discovered that many people, even here on campus, uh, talk about human dignity, and, uh, they don't know what human rights are, or at least they don't speak about human rights. But human rights was the Universal Declaration for 1998, uh, '48, was extremely important for the world still today, and even more important. You know, the Soviet Union did not vote against it. Brazil was in favor. Uh, the, uh, China was in favor to, uh, uh, and so many others. So I think we have to learn that language, and I was impressed, uh, in, in Lviv at UCU how much you focus on that issue. Um, the, um, uh, you know, I watch, uh, there was a, a few... Well, one, I think about, uh, ten days ago, I watched that, uh, UCU Foundation webinar, Ukrainian Catholic University continues to meet the moment, and, uh, here you are having human rights education. Uh, we don't have that here enough, you know. And, and so I'm very impressed and I, I-- my explanation for that focus is, well, you know what human rights are and how they are violated. And in Switzerland, you know, in a peaceful country, we don't have that understanding of a background of war. Now, that is one point. Now, I-- uh, my second remark, uh, is about financing private investment in Ukraine with the ESG, uh, standards. And I think that was a hot topic at the conference. I was invited, uh, or supported by the Nanwick Institute in, uh, in Washington, DC. But also today when Trump, uh, stopped, uh, you know, support of Ukraine. What is the private sector in the United States to do to support Ukraine in financial investment? And, uh, and so, uh, we had a panel of private investment in Ukraine participating organizations where Ho-Horizon Capital, uh, Inera, uh, Deloitte was also, uh, US, uh, International Development, uh, Citibank and others. Uh, I, I cannot talk about what has been there. I have a lot of information, but that was another sour-source for me to understand what's really happening in the Ukraine, Ukraine. And, uh, the website of, uh, that, uh, Center for Strategic and International Studies is outstanding, what you can find every day and in terms of information about economics, about politics, et cetera, uh, around the world. And then, well, there are questions of course, uh, why should the private sector invest in Ukraine? Uh, six hundred-- six million Ukrainians are not out of the, uh, are out of the country now. Uh, many say that not enough has been done, uh, to fight against corruption, and if there is corruption, we don't want to lose our money we give to others, uh, so it, it must be a clean environment. Uh, there were particularly are now q-questions, uh, after Trump's withdrawal of any support, uh, of Ukraine, what current investment projects will continue. They are on the way now. There will be some stop because they don't get money from the government anymore. Uh, which ones are now being blocked and what can and should be the private sector do, uh, to invest in Ukraine? Now, investment is one thing, but what, uh, does it mean from a ethical perspective? And here we have now widespread the ESG, uh, standards, uh, which means environmental, social, and, uh, governance, uh, issues have to be taken into account. And these are criteria for, uh, responsible investment which, uh, are worldwide, uh, very now... And that should be also applied to the, uh, investment, financial investment in Ukraine. Now, uh, the third point, uh, remark I would like to say, uh, say is a few things about, uh, uh, directive of the European Union corporate sustainability reporting and corporate sustainability due diligence. And, uh, they, uh, came out well with this because they realized that, uh, the global supply chains are important, and they are influenced by the, uh, well, uh, by, uh, uh, the, uh, the guiding principles, uh, on business and human rights of the United Nations. And so the, the first, uh, directive says large corporations, et cetera, are listed. The second, uh, uh, is about, uh, human rights and, uh, environmental standards in the thing, and, uh, what types of companies are involved here. And the conclusion is mine, and then I will stop. Uh, what I learned is here, uh, these three examples show that the legal and the ethical dimensions ha-have to come together to work together, and to understand what human rights or environmental standards in from an ethical and from a legal perspective, and we talked about this yesterday at the, uh, dinner table, uh, to make projects about that. Thank you very much.

1 48:29

Thank you, George, very much for this very informative talk and for the careful analysis of the reports, as well as for the conclusions.

Leadership and Ethical Dilemmas

1 48:38

Your observation that the current business ethics challenges in Ukraine demonstrate the interrelatedness and complementary nature of the legal and ethical perspectives is both important and inspiring, and it takes us directly to our last speaker in the session, Sophia Opatska, whose opening remarks show that these values, the legal and ethical ones, stand in direct contradiction to Putinism, for which law is the primary adversary. Sophia Opatska is Vice Rector for Strategic Development at UCU. She is Founding Dean and Chairman of the Board of UCU Business School, Vice President of the European Federation of Catholic Universities, and a member of the board at the first impact investment project in Ukraine, all in one life. Um, over her career, Sophia has made significant contributions to improving the Ukrainian education system, developing business education in Ukraine, and understanding the challenges of fast-growing organizations informed by experience in the business sector and educational, educational organizations. In recent years, her research has focused primarily on resilience, crisis management, and leadership in Ukrainian companies, with special attention to insights from the war period. In her talk, what, uh, what Ukraine can teach us about managing businesses and economic ongoing war... endemic on-ongoing warfare, warfare situations. So in her talk, Sophia is going to emphasize how the destructive power of war can be counterbalanced by the redeeming power of confidence and faith and positivity, and how difficult it is to summon these in extreme con-extreme conditions in Ukraine, um, and the conditions that the country and its businesses have now found themselves in. Let's welcome, let's welcome Sophia, and the floor is yours.

Speaker 7 50:34

Thank you. Uh, thank you. Thank you very much. Um, I just want to say that it feels very good to be here. Uh, when there is so much chaos outside, I think we found a lot of, uh, meaning and, uh, intellectual discussion and friendly faces and love within, um, the surrounding where we are for last three days. So thank you very much, Clemence. Thank you to everyone for that. Um, I think from my three colleagues, you could understand that world is getting very complex. It's getting very difficult for everyone on us personally. It's getting difficult on business, um, from supply chain to ethics to taking care of communities. And, um, leaders have a lot of pressure now, and, and they have a lot of responsibility. And I would like to share a little bit how business leaders and their organizations are feeling right now in Ukraine. And in the beginning, I have to say that, just to put the context, is that Ukrainian business is pretty young. It's 30 years old, so it just one generation. In many companies, you would still see owners who started and who are thinking how they can give their company to their children if, and if their chi- their children want those companies. But there was a huge shift from, um, from very small entrepreneurship and huge oligarch systems to middle class. And if you open Ukrainian Forbes right now, you will see that 90% of companies in Ukrainian Forbes are companies which started from grassroot and achieved a lot, and Ukrainians are proud of these companies because those companies are paying taxes which go directly right now to support our military. And that's the clear connection which every Ukrainian has, that business which is working in Ukraine right now, it means taxes, and it means support of our military. Um, I like very much this quote from Nicolas Tenzer that Putin is primary, um- Putin, his primary adversary, is the law, especially international law. Putinism is unique in that it does not aim to construct an alternative order, rather it seeks the systematic destruction of any order. And business also needs order. Though we write books about disruption, about, uh, disruptive innovations and how to get out of box, we still need rules, and we still need order. And I think, uh, in a way, it's not just about law, but it's also how we function. So in a way, business is creating right now new form of order for its people. Uh, in 2022, I, I was with my children in Denmark for half a year, and I met two wonderful professors, and we started, we designed with them research, and I found myself more in the role of oral historian who is taking interviews from business people. And we made two rounds already of such interviews, and, um, um, first round was in 2022 and second 2024. And of course, situation changes, thoughts are changes, but our goal was to find out how companies were preparing for, for such huge crisis as war, how do they behave right now in the crisis which actually does not have end in sight, and that's very different type of crisis, and what are their expectations and hope for the post-crisis. So very important finding, um, which, um, we got is that, um, that war is the closest by description to the cosmology episode when people suddenly and deeply feel that the universe is no longer a rational, orderly system. What makes such an episode so shattering is that both the sense of what is occurring and the means to rebuild the sense collapse together, and that's one of the hugest, one of the biggest challenges which Ukrainians are facing right now. When a company is experiencing a crisis, its leaders are expected to be able to manage this crisis and to act in responsible way, and this puts, as I mentioned, a huge pressure on them. Crisis leadership includes specific tasks such as making sense of crisis, making the right decisions to deal with it, framing the crisis for stakeholders, resolving and restoring normalcy to the organization, and learning from the crisis. The key question now is for any leader in Ukraine, for any including business leader, is what have you been doing for last three years? And you could get this question from your potential partner, from somebody who is considering to do business with you, because for in Ukraine, leadership now is about setting an example, and you have to be there. You cannot be a leader in Ukrainian company if you are somewhere far away doing it distantly and imagining how easy to be, to run a company in Kharkiv. It's also a lot about setting an example of confidence, faith, and positivity. And, uh, and I added a lot of quotes so that it gives you a little bit of feeling. Um, you can see on this slide, uh, actually, uh, on the previous slide, you saw one of the cafeterias which was bombed, which is very close to KU campus, and in three days, that cafeteria was already working. So it's very typical and normal in the normal way to, to have no windows in restaurant or cafeteria and still be running it. And you cannot imagine how much are supporting people such, uh, places of business. So the role of leader in times of uncertainty, fear is to be an island of stability, common sense, something to hold on and to rely on during war. Um- Maybe I will, uh, how to go back? Sorry. So I was, I was asking a question about role of business in Ukraine. Um, and it's interesting because, uh, business people, when I was asking this question, they were not saying about investments, they were not even mentioning about taxes, they were not mentioning how, how many good things they are still producing and delivering to people. But they have been talking about that work has its thera- therapeutical role now. It helps people to change focus and spend energy on things they can control. It is very important to people to create things, achieve results, and celebrate, and this is what business is all about. Sales targets, innovative products, a great service, happy clients. It gives positive emotion to you. It helps. Except for economic value, business helps to keep mental and physical wellbeing of people in Ukraine now, and I think this is very different perspective to which became, um, due to full-scale invasion. And the shift which business made from focus on financial targets, which are still very important to hu- to focus on the human being in the center of business, was huge over last years. Um, let me draw a couple of conclusions very quickly because I know the time is, uh, running... Did I run out of time? No. Oh my goodness, I will make it. I will make it. So, well, first of all, war is a new reality which is hard to accept, but which is accepted by people. Business realized the need to keep moving constantly. You cannot stop. Those, those companies which freezed in the beginning of full-scale invasion and thought that, "Okay, maybe we can just wait until it's over," obviously they are gone because it's not over for three years. At the same time, planning is a big and confusing issue. Uh, manpower, um, manpower, uh, issue became even more precious for companies with the, with the ongoing period of, uh, full-scale invasion. And it also brings new ethical dilemmas because sometimes business owner has a, an influence on who, who, who can be so-called booked for the company to keep running it and who has to serve, and it's a huge dilemma for, for business people. They say they, they cannot sleep, they cannot make this decision, and they cannot decide, you know, who is more important than other person because that's impossible decision for, for another responsible human being. At the same time, between 15 and 30% of, uh, people in companies on average are serving. It's a lot. Just imagine that your company does not have Um, 30% tomorrow morning, and you have to, uh, you have to find new people, and you don't have place to find those new people. So it's a huge, huge issue. Um, as I mentioned, having human at the center of or- of organization in the beginning of full-scale invasion was not something sporadic and in the moment. It became one of key tasks for many business leaders and part of everyday concerns. 80% of Ukrainians already lost someone in the close circle, so companies are facing new cultural challenge for the, for, as organizations. How do they live through loss? How do they support people who lost? How at the same time they can demand results from people? So this, so this another dilemma is between how do we support people, but how do we keep running business efficiently and effectively so that we can still have those people on board in one month and one year? Um, I indeed think, and we do a lot of conversations during different panels from UKU experience, because we as a Catholic university, I think we have very unique experience how we as a community live through different losses, and we can share that with business, and at least now we start this conversation. And I have to, uh, I have to say that very pragmatic, uh, very target-focused people are very open to such discussion because they are lost. They don't know how to deal with that themselves. Um, communication Mm. Okay. Communication. It became flat, clear, more human, and we ha- we need a lot of communication. So right now we all hi- hug each other. So yesterday I came to a lesson, I said, "Can I hug you?" Probably she was surprised, but, but this is what happens in Ukrainian companies. People hug much more than we used to do that because that's the way to, to show support, and that's the way to communicate. And there is no time for unproductive, um, things, uh, in or- in organizations. But of course, we have to remember that people go through a lot of stress and anxiety, and it's... and tiredness. Um, last two points, it's about, um, new trend which we see in Ukrainian companies. First, they centralize very much in first two, three weeks. Um, and, uh, they try to... You know, in, in any crisis situation, we try to control everything. But how can you control something from Lviv in Kharkiv or in Odesa? You have no clue how people in Kharkiv or in Odesa are feeling. So most companies went to very big decentralization and a lot of trust to people. And the last one is efficiency because of course everything what needed to be cut in the companies had to be cut, unfortunately. So, um, finally, I would like to say that, uh, we as a business school see our big role to tell those stories, um, to tell them more generalized, but... or to tell them very specifically by, by different cases. There is little number of studies about businesses and companies inside of war zone and inside of the country which is in, in war. Uh, much more about multinationals and how they suffer. But, um, I think we have very big, huge learning curve, going through huge learning curve right now as Ukrainians and as Ukrainian businesses and organizations. And, um, I think that Ukrainians will be very good addition to any board which is discussing crisis management now. And the last but not least, I wanted to give you a picture of Uku because a lot of people are talking about Uku, but maybe not everyone was there. So a lot of business people are now looking for hope and support i- at this place, and you're more than welcome to come to us.

1 1:04:39

Thank you very much, Sophia. Thank you for telling us about the hardships and the moral dilemmas that business owners face. Thank you for reminding us that you have to set an example yourself. And thank you for reminding us of the value of celebrating every success and the value of communication. And I personally find it unique that you can summon both the wisdom, wisdom and strength to do all of this, while it is, as you emphasize, so hard to draw these critical values from within.

Audience Q&A

1 1:05:12

The floor is now open for discussion. Questions, comments, and remarks related to any of the speakers or all of them jointly are welcome. We have about nine minutes

Speaker 3 1:05:27

Hello, everyone. Thank you very much for such interesting presentations and sharing your knowledge with us. I do have a general question to everyone. Maybe you can share cases, uh, which you see practical. So a lot of, uh, small businesses in Ukraine are not just businesses, maybe projects and ideas, people thinking, but they hard to implement in the different ways. But the main common issue which I was hearing from people who want to do something but they're not doing because there is a problem in business model, how to moneti- moneti- monetize, uh, that and also how to make it profitable. Uh, I would like to hear your real cases if you know them or maybe some recommendations how people can look on a business from the, from... on a small business, from the perspective on how to make money on that, but at the same time to combine social impact in a CG way in such a hard combinations and market in Ukraine. Thank you very much.

1 1:06:35

Yeah, you don't have to answer in alphabetical order.

Speaker 5 1:06:39

No. So I'll... Can you hear me?

Speaker 3 1:06:43

Yes.

Speaker 5 1:06:43

It's working, okay. So I, I'll, I'll leave you with two examples. Number one, um, I think that there are very brilliant people in Ukraine and very brilliant companies that are succeeding in spite and against all odds. So going back to ContraSpemo-- ContraSpamSpero, um, you have, um, a, a companies like Haiku that have developed the most advanced algorithm for error correction on quantum computing. They have secure grants and agreements as a startup company to be working with companies like IBM and other partners in the United States and in Europe, and they actually started two years ago. So the war was already ongoing when Haiku was formed. Um, second, uh, as part of our, uh, n-nonprofit activities, within Deloitte we have an initiative called Impact Force, and what we have been doing with Impact Force for the last three years is we meet with Ukrainian startups, and we listen to their stories and understand what their business needs, and then make recommendations for how do you start either implementing a new business plan or scaling. And it's not coincidental we picked our first crop of Ukrainian startups in the energy sector. Because the goal was, how do you, how do you decentralize the Ukrainian, uh, energy infrastructure to make it more resilient to Russian attacks? And it was surprising. We were dealing with companies that had entire solar installations in Kherson that got not destroyed, but dismantled and stolen by the advancing Russian army. Um, and part of the agreement, like, to, to get very practical to your question, one of the things that we started working with them is, first of all, they had a couple of concepts. How do you apply for grants within the European Union to develop those concepts, making a practical proof of concept? And they did. One of the companies had a working prototype in Odesa, so they moved it from Kherson to Odesa. And second, then helping them to attract government and private investors in the United States and in Western Europe to actually develop markets outside of Ukraine. Once those companies are established outside of Ukraine, the hope is once reconstruction begins, you can then pour the technology back into the country. But looking at ways in which they can create partnerships and markets outside of Ukraine, even in, in a time of war.

Speaker 7 1:09:38

So maybe... Does it work? Okay. So maybe I will make it a more general answer. If you have a problem with the bu- business model, you have to work with the business model. You just have to talk to your customers, and you need to get coaching and advising. And, uh, for example, at the business school, we have Center for Entrepreneurship, which, um, has a lot of acceleration programs. We look for people. We invest into projects. We... So you can get... Despite war, you can still get support. But, but even social business has to be business, and it means that it has to have business model.

Speaker 6 1:10:20

Well, I would like to add to what, uh, Sophia just said. Uh, I mentioned the, uh, EU directives. This is for large corporations. But what we have today are the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. They were developed, uh, by John Ruggie and others. And so there you can find very concrete, uh, operational, uh, help, uh, a- a- advice how to implement human rights in a small company, to protect, to, uh, respect human rights and what to do

Speaker 4 1:10:59

Hi, my name is Dora Komiak. I'm the CEO of Razom for Ukraine, and I have the immense privilege of, uh, working alongside about 140 people in Ukraine and in, in the United States. And so taking the opportunity of this amazing group of people who have worked all over the world, my question is picking up on something Sophia said, which is about the manpower and the leadership of, um, managing a, a social venture, a social enterprise, which is how, uh, we, we talk about Razom, um, in a time of mobilization. And if you could just give some guidance, uh, who can we look to, other countries, uh, so that leaders in Ukraine who are managing people and motivating people while dealing with a full-on invasion and the mobilization that comes with it. What countries can we look at? What things should we be reading as leaders in the community, um, to be able to be the best managers we can be? And, and what George just said about the how to have, have an, an entity that, that values human rights is, is certainly something I'll look up. But where else do we go? Thanks.

Speaker 7 1:12:07

So I'm not sure I understood clearly the question. So into which countries should we look for, for experience or for- On

Speaker 4 1:12:14

what, what things, what, what, what things can we be looking at or who can we l- be learning from- Mm-hmm with managers who... Yeah, I know the 4:00 AM. Are you a cr- Like, what it's like to lead people, um, and, and figure out, like, when, when the draft is hanging over your head and, and how do you, you can't make... You can't be making those decisions like your, um, like your interviewers were saying.

Speaker 7 1:12:37

Well, I can say what, what people started to do in Ukraine, they started to look at elderly people. I think it's completely different concept now. So when you are 60, you don't have to retire, or 65, maybe you can be very useful. Um, you're... I mean, I mean, yes, and there are people who actually becoming more active and very useful to companies, and they have... They can leave the country. They can still be w- working. I know it's not a big group of people, but, um, um, well, th- this is very difficult discussion because Ukrainians indeed are not very open, um, to attract people from other countries, though we go down in demographics. But there is a sociological, uh, research which was done recently that, um, well, it was formulated that Ukrainians are, are feeling cold towards inviting people from other countries to do work in Ukraine, and that's something which is actively being discussed in the society because we, we definitely need more people for such country. Uh, our demographics is not good. Um, I think it's not that we are in a denial stage, but I think it's still that we are not ready how to process all of that. So, so I would say that the topic is very much there, but, but I don't think there is a solution to that yet. There is no... I don't think neither on personal nor organization on national level. Um, I think, of course, we would like much more people, Ukr- I mean Ukrainians who are abroad, that they come back, but we also realize that this is not so easily possible unless security, uh, questions are solved. And the longer a full-scale invasion is lasting, of course, lo- you know, people get, uh, rooted in other societies, so Something like this. I don't have good answer for that, Dora. Well-

Speaker 5 1:14:45

No, but I, I think one thing that I'd like to touch on is the, the realization that, that hope means trusting that what you do today matters as an outcome, and I am in awe, I'm frankly, uh, very inspired by, by companies like Under The Fence in Ukraine, and the, the CEO of Under The Fence is a graduate of the, of the UKOO program. Uh, time expired.

1 1:15:11

I am s- I am so sorry, but there are presents from the Nanovic Institute, which I was told I will not be able to give you if we exceed the, the limit for the- We don't care about presents. We just want to talk, you know? Yeah,

Speaker 5 1:15:23

that's right. So very, very, very briefly, thir- I'll, I'll take 30 seconds to complete the answer. So if you look at the, at the... What, what did Nazar Timoshchuk do within his company, uh, Under the Fence, is, uh, he's motivating everybody to do cybersecurity work on behalf of Ukraine and Ukrainian companies. So they have a day job, and then people volunteer in night shifts to actually contribute to the cause such that everything that you do matters.

1 1:15:51

Okay. Yeah. Thank you very much.

Closing and Wrap-Up

1 1:15:53

I'm sorry about the awful job that I had to do. As you can see, Clemens left, which means beheading for sure for me. Um, so the, the time is up. Uh, I'd like to ask you to join me in thanking once again our panelists for sharing, uh, with us their expertise and experience concerning the role of business in resilience and adaptability in times of turmoil. Whoo. Thank you. Thank you. And, and before you go, I would like to thank all of you for participating in the session for, and for making such a great audience and understanding the strictures of the chair, uh, while at the same time making the best of the time of our panelists and of their expertise. Thank you very much.