Zero Sum: The Arc of International Business in Russia w/ Charles Hecker

This discussion addresses one of the most pressing questions facing the international business community today: as hundreds of foreign companies prepare to return to Russia the moment it becomes legal to do so, what does that tell us about how business weighs risk, opportunity and principle?

Join Charles Hecker, author of the magisterial Zero Sum: The Arc of International Business in Russia (Hurst, 2024), for a discussion and Q&A on how companies and countries interact, with a specific focus on Russia.

About the book

When the full-scale invasion of Ukraine began, hundreds of international companies, including some of the world’s most famous brands, left Russia. Some left because they had to, others because they wanted to, and others because Russia was no longer worth the trouble. Hundreds more, also including famous names, stayed. Now, preparations are already under way for several hundred foreign companies, across the US, the UK, the EU and Asia, to return the moment it becomes legal to do so.

Drawing on decades of experience as a journalist and geopolitical risk consultant in Russia and the Soviet Union, along with interviews with senior executives, government officials and academics, Charles Hecker traces the historical evolution of doing business in Russia, from communism to capitalism to collapse. He addresses the wider themes of Zero Sum, including what lessons have been learned, or ignored, and why Russia continues to look attractive to foreign business even now, despite the risks of returning. Hurst is publishing a paperback edition of the book in September, with an updated preface; copies will be on sale at Pushkin House on the night.

About the author

Charles Hecker has spent forty years travelling and working in the Soviet Union and Russia. He worked as a journalist for The Moscow Times and as a reporter for The Miami Herald, and was until September 2024 a partner at a geopolitical risk consultancy. A fluent Russian speaker, he holds degrees in Russian and Soviet Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and in Soviet Studies from the Russian Research Center at Harvard University.