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To begin, citizens of the former Soviet Republics perceive themselves to be failures. Many view the last century as a waste for Russians, an opinion shared not only among intellectuals but also among civilians. Disappointment with communism and communists has been followed by disappointment and mistrust in democracy and democrats. While Russia’s current boundary configuration and ethnic posture are new, it has retained the most painful colonial assets of Czarist Russia, primarily in the Northern Caucasus. Further, the two Chechen wars exacerbate the challenges the nation now faces and serve as a reminder that, although Vladimir Putin’s assent to power has reduced somewhat the centrifugal tendencies in Russia, the new Russian Federation is not immune to challenge.

There is a long-going discussion in Russia focusing on finding new stimulus for economic growth. Being very rich with natural recourses, Russia has enjoyed extensive economic growth model for many centuries. The world is changing. Russia as any country which is to keep up with the dynamics and the quality of the world economic growth must find some new technologies and economic triggers. Green investment can be regarded as the key instrument to achieve faster economic growth and to make technological gap narrower. The chapter focuses on state policy and business practice in green investment in Russia.

The Chinese banks have increased their market entry to Russia since their initial entry in 1993 and have expanded their banking business operations in Russia significantly. The banking sector interaction between China and Russia has received great attention and interests from businesses as well as policy-makers. This chapter describes the main activities of Chinese banks in Russia, assesses their achieved results, and discusses their opportunities for further development of banking interactions of the Chinese banks and the Russian banking sector in the future.

In this chapter one of few studies made of banks’ internationalization process in emerging markets, focusing on behaviour relating to the political environment is presented. Aiming to understand banks’ behaviour in the Russia, an analytical framework built on the internationalization process model incorporating the impact of political environment is developed. The empirical data in the chapter concern Sweden's four largest banks’ expansion into the Russian market and is presented in form of an longitudinal cross-case study with secondary data between years 1990 and 2010, collected retrospectively. The secondary data consist of newspaper articles, annual reports and press releases. Findings show that in stable periods, Swedish banks have followed the pattern of the internationalization process model when expanding into the Russian market. In periods of instability, the banks’ behaviour is heterogenic and can be opportunistic or cautious.

Purpose – This empirical paper seeks to explore how the shift from traditional budgetary accounting toward accrual accounting declared by the Russian state has affected accounting practices of one public university.

Design/methodology/approach – The empirical data for this research are based on a case study conducted in one state-sponsored university of Russian tertiary education. Our approach is to look at the emergence and implementation of new accounting practices and technologies at the university within the context of broader public sector policy changes occurring in Russia.

Findings – The present study demonstrates that changes at state level have had their initial and most direct impact on formal rules at the university, but little or no impact on its everyday management activity. We claim that the intended changes have so far resulted in more rhetoric than reality, and the changes envisaged have yet to be implemented in university practice.

Research limitations/implications – Since the time frame devoted to this research does not allow the assessment of the final results of the declared reforms, this paper approaches new accounting techniques before they become an established practice at the university. It is also beyond the scope of this research to judge whether these results are applicable to other settings, such as other Russian higher educational establishments.

Practical implications – The paper raises concerns as to whether the old compliance mentality of the Russian state will bring about the desired reform outcome.

Originality/value – This paper provides insights into the nature of Russian public sector accounting change, both at central level and in a specific organizational setting.

How should foreigners manage a partnership or an acquisition in Russia? We know a lot about Russian culture per se, but research on foreign companies having to deal with Russia remains scarce. To answer our question, we used the concept of nationally bound administrative heritage to identify how foreign practices are efficiently implemented in Russia in the context of partnerships and acquisitions. We interviewed 16 Russian managers working in the car industry about their perception of foreign practices and how things ought to be done. Our investigations show the maintenance of a strong national culture that generates a need to cope with uncertainty for foreign firms. For local people, Russia is a particular country, not comparable to others. When transferring practices, foreign managers need to organize hybridization processes in order to successfully import these practices. Hybridization means transferring but adapting in order to impregnate them with the Russian specificity. Such hybridization requires foreign managers to work and network locally for the implantation of practices.

The United Nations General Assembly Special Session on drugs has provided countries with internationally agreed recommendations to adapt their drug policies for more efficiency and better outcomes. This chapter focusses on the Russian Federation’s role in international drug policy, through an analysis of its national approaches and their design, as well as on its diplomatic efforts at the bilateral and multilateral levels to oppose drug policy reform. A systematic review of peer-reviewed, grey literature, policy documents, UN reports and news reports on the country’s response to drugs internally and externally was conducted between September and December 2017. Despite its efforts to oppose drug policy reform and the prioritisation of public health, the Russian Federation faces major epidemics of imprisonment and HIV. Internationally, while it has not been successful in addressing the ongoing reforms in Europe and the Americas, it has been effective in preserving its international priorities by opposing harm reduction and maintaining the prohibition paradigm at the multilateral level.

The estimates by both Russian and foreign authoritative organizations show the signs of the transition from stagnation to moderate growth, and this process should be accounted for by the largest transnational corporations (TNCs) traditionally active in Russia, such as Coca-Cola, Nestle, Adidas, and others. However, despite the optimistic predictions of many analysts, macroeconomic (and geopolitical) situation in the world remains unstable. Russia is aiming at the trajectory of economic growth in the face of continuing pressure from the macroeconomic, foreign policy, and internal institutional factors. In response to this strain, the government has intensified efforts to implement the strategy of import substitution, which objectively affects the interests of TNCs at the Russian markets. The objective process of import substitution creates both challenges and opportunities for TNCs. Problems are connected with a direct displacement of their traditional products and brands due to both administrative restrictions and a change in consumer attitudes and preferences (“Buy Russian” approach gaining momentum). However, the opportunities lie within the participation in the future satiation of demand and fulfilling the consumer expectations during the upcoming revival of the positive economic dynamics. It can generally be noted that the TNCs should integrate into a specific project of import substitution in the postcrisis environment despite the variety of their corporate policies. This relatively new situation for TNCs in the context of general economic and geopolitical instability requires scenario modeling of the possible strategies of TNCs depending on both the overall macroeconomic and political situation in the country, as well as the internal factors affecting various commodity markets in Russia.

To analyze internationalization patterns among large Russian multinational corporations (MNCs).

Case study analysis of systematic internationalization attempts within three industries: IT, banking, and steel. For case studies, secondary data was used along with industry expert interviews.

The first finding is that Russian firms actively pursuing internationalization strategies through mergers and acquisitions (M&As) and greenfield investments were not as successful as several optimistic assessments had earlier suggested. Few global corporate champions emerged among Russian MNCs, despite a decade of record high outward foreign direct investments (OFDI). Secondly, we observed the unique trend of splitting operations between international and Russian businesses, which proved more sustainable than operating as a single firm. For example, the IBS-Luxoft group achieved success through gradual legal and organizational separation of branches in order to serve rising demand in developed markets and from its Russian business within the same industry. This double-headed strategy divides a business into two parts that are controlled by the same owners, but operate independently: one firm operates within the home market, while another firm aims to expand globally. This seems to be a typical trend, confirming recent findings for Russian small and medium enterprise (SME) internationalization and reinforcing earlier literature on institutional constraints in the Russian economy.

We analyzed major cases from three actively internationalizing industries. For each industry, we extensively analyzed one main case in particular. Industries’ choice also affects specific internationalization strategies.

This study identifies two distinct approaches in the literature on Russian business internationalization and attempts to combine both. We will also highlight organizational dilemmas as well as patterns in Russian businesses’ successful and failed internationalization strategies over the last decade. We identified an original double-headed internationalization strategy consisting of the separation of the national and global businesses, rather than leveraging their synergy. We will also question the established optimistic assessment of Russian MNC internationalization.