Special issue on Russia: as solid as a BRIC?

Citation

(2011), "Special issue on Russia: as solid as a BRIC?", Critical Perspectives on International Business, Vol. 7 No. 4. https://doi.org/10.1108/cpoib.2011.29007daa.001

Special issue on Russia: as solid as a BRIC?

Article Type: Call for papers From: critical perspectives on international business, Volume 7, Issue 4

Guest Editors:

Snejina Michailova, Professor of International Business, University of Auckland Business School, New Zealand Sheila M. Puffer, Cherry Family Senior Fellow of International Business, Northeastern University, Boston, USA Daniel J. McCarthy, McKim-D’Amore Distinguished Professor of Global Management and Innovation, Northeastern University, Boston, USA

Recently some have suggested redefining the BRICs with the conclusion that Russia is no longer a viable member of that fastgrowing group of emerging economies. One reason is that Russia has not been given as much attention as BRIC nations, such as India and China, in either academic research or the popular business press, despite Russia’s powerful position in the global economy. This lack of emphasis might be due to its population being the smallest of the BRICs and thus having a smaller labor force and domestic market. Still, we assert that, as a major transition economy, Russia has the potential to play a substantial economic and political role on the global stage, and as such remains solid as a member of the BRICs, and continues to deserve the attention of management and international business researchers.

This special issue’s goals are to:

1. 1.

   Take stock of the changed economic, political and social landscape in Russia and examine issues that have traditionally occupied the research space, but primarily to address the changed realities at the current stage of the post-communist transition;

2. 2.

   Address issues that are new and hence under-researched; and 3. Examine issues, processes, and phenomena at multiple levels of analysis rather than single ones, or comparative studies to determine whether the Russian phenomena are context-specific or more general. To achieve these goals, we encourage submissions that are related to the following questions: 1. How can a careful consideration and examination of the current economic and political landscape in Russia be situated in relation to findings and conclusions from previous research? 2. Where do Russian multinationals invest and why? When Russian firms go international, what are their preferred strategies and why? What are the similarities and differences between Russian multinationals and Russian domestic firms?

3. 3.

   In what aspects can we observe convergence and where is there rather a divergence between Russian and non-Russian management practices?

4. 4.

   4. What do we know about intra-country variation in Russia? Can one observe/detect differences between generations in terms of values? How do contemporary Russian managers differ from the Red executives and what has been maintained from the communist executive portrait and why? How do social classes differ and whom do Western investors target? What are the differences and similarities between regions in Russia in terms of economic and institutional development? What other aspects of intra-country variation exist?

5. 5.

   How and to what extent do macro-level factors (industry, market, technology, culture, institutional environment) impact organizational or lower level issues, processes and phenomena in the Russian context? For instance, do specific national cultural and institutional contexts (and changes that have been taking place in them) facilitate or hamper processes at lower (firm, group, individual)levels? In contrast, how do powerful individual companies or industry groups impact Russia’s institutional development?

6. 6.

   What is the interplay between formal and informal institutions and how does this interface impact business practices in contemporary Russia? What role do sub-national institutions play in the process of institutional (and other types of) transition?

7. 7.

   What is the interplay between formal and informal institutions and how does this interface impact business practices in contemporary Russia? What role do sub-national institutions play in the process of institutional (and other types of) transition?

The above is only a suggestive list and we invite authors to explore themes and research questions that extend beyond this list. However, in the spirit of CPoIB, it is important that authors engage critically with the issues they examine.

Submissions should be sent using the Scholar One Manuscript Central online submission system: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/cpoib

The deadline for submission to the special issue is 1 February 2012. The special issue is targeted for publication in early 2013.

Please direct questions to any of the special issue Guest Editors:

Snejina Michailova E-mail: s.michailova@auckland.ac.nz Sheila M. Puffer E-mail: s.puffer@neu.edu or Daniel J. McCarthy E-mail: da.mccarthy@neu.edu

An extended version of this call is available online at: www.emeraldinsight.com/products/journals/call_for_papers. htm?id=3195