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The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of perceived food quality and consumer ethnocentrism and potential trade-offs between these two concepts in Russian consumers’ food purchase decisions after the implementation of the Russian import ban.

Survey data were collected via in-person interviews in the City of Perm, which is one of the largest and most industrial cities in Russia. A double-bounded dichotomous-choice contingent valuation model is utilized to estimate willingness to pay (WTP) and to analyze factors that affect consumers’ choice.

The results suggest that most respondents do not consider domestically produced cheese as a risky product in terms of food safety but simply of lower quality than imported cheese. However, the average respondent’s WTP discount for domestic cheese compared to imported cheese is 8 percent, which is relatively small. This corresponds to participants’ opinion that buying domestic cheese is the right thing to do since it supports Russian farmers and producers. The results indicate further that with increasing education and income levels, individuals are less likely to prefer domestically produced cheese for either economic or quality reasons. This effect is stronger for the quality preference.

The results indicate that if the Russian government aims at expanding the domestic food market further, more attention needs to be paid to ensuring the quality of domestic food products in order to increase consumer acceptance and WTP.

This is the first study providing empirical evidence on Russian consumers’ attitudes and perceptions of domestically vs imported food products after the implementation of the Russian import ban, which can be considered as an external policy shock.

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.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how buyers and sellers in cross-cultural business relationships manage cultural differences to ensure functional, successful business relationships. Failure to consider specific cultural issues may lead to the failure of business ventures crossing national borders. To succeed in today’s global business market, it is critically important to understand and manage cultural differences. Adapting to each other’s cultures is one way of managing cultural differences between business actors.

A qualitative, explorative approach examining both sides of the exchange dyad was adopted to obtain insight into adaptation as perceived by both buyer and seller.

The results of this study indicate that mainly Norwegian sellers adapt to the Russian culture and way of conducting business. This is explained by power asymmetry between partners, as well as cultural barriers and lack of cultural sensitivity from the Norwegian partners. Still, the business relationships function well.

Knowledge of and applying strategies for managing cultural differences should be helpful for business managers engaged or planning to engage in business ventures with Russia and Norway – especially those doing so for the first time.

The study provides new and important information about West-East business relationships and how to manage cultural differences in cross-cultural business relationships. The study shows that business relationships can function well in spite of the absence of some factors previously found to have detrimental effects on these relationships. In addition, the study investigates both sides of the buyer-seller dyad, which is a limitation in previous studies of adaptation.