This paper is concerned with the distinctiveness of entrepreneurship and small business development in countries that are at different stages of transformation to market based economies. Following a discussion of the potential relevance of selected conceptualisations of entrepreneurship to transition conditions, the authors present original empirical data referring to the characteristics of entrepreneurs and their businesses from countries at different stages of market reform. Distinctive features of entrepreneurial behaviour identified reflect the unstable and hostile nature of the external environment and the scarcity of key resources, particularly capital. In an unstable and weakly structured environment, informal networks often play a key role in helping entrepreneurs to mobilise resources, win orders and cope with the constraints imposed by highly bureaucratic structures and often unfriendly officials. Moreover, the social context inherited from the former socialist period appears to affect both the attitudes and behaviour of entrepreneurs and the attitudes of society at large towards entrepreneurship.

/pdf/the-distinctiveness-of-entrepreneurship-in-transition-37t12tsymx.pdf

The distinctiveness of entrepreneurship in transition economies

Our survey of private manufacturing firms finds the size of hidden "unofficial" activity to be much larger in Russia and Ukraine than in Poland, Slovakia and Romania A comparison of cross-country averages shows that managers in Russia and Ukraine face higher effective tax rates, worse official corruption, greater incidence of mafia protection, and have less faith in the court system Our firm-level regressions for the three Eastern European countries find that official corruption is significantly associated with hiding output

Why Do Firms Hide? Bribes and Unofficial Activity after Communism

https://web.worldbank.org/archive/website00818/WEB/PDF/WHYHIDE.PDF

Why do firms hide? Bribes and unofficial activity after communism

This paper presents a set of theoretical propositions regarding knowledge sharing in China and Russia. We argue that there are important national cultural similarities and differences between the two countries that result in certain similarities and differences in individual knowledge-sharing behaviour in Chinese and Russian organizations. We claim that vertical collectivism and particularistic social relations in China and Russia lead to intensive social relations among organizational members, which facilitate knowledge sharing between in-group members in organizations in both countries. We also maintain that differences in the essence of collectivism as well as in the extent of collectivism in the two cultural contexts lead to different intensities of knowledge sharing in Chinese and Russian organizations. Finally, we discuss theoretical and management implications of this research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Delivery.cfm/joms_595.pdf?abstractid=898969&mirid=1&type=2

National Cultural Influences on Knowledge Sharing: A Comparison of China and Russia

Personal Networking in Russia and China:: Blat and Guanxi

For a decade Russia has been dismantling communism and building capitalism. Describing a deeply flawed fledgling market economy, Capitalism Russian-Style provides a progress report on one of the most important economic experiments going on in the world today. It describes Russian achievements in building private banks and companies, stock exchanges, new laws and law courts. It analyzes the role of the mafia, the rise of new financial empires, entrepreneurs and business tycoons, and the shrinking Russian state. Thane Gustafson tells how the Soviet system was dismantled and the new market society was born. He argues that this new society is changing constantly, so that any assessment of success and failure would be premature. Identifying investment as vital to preserving Russia's status as a major industrial power, in his final chapter he examines the prospects for an economic miracle in Russia in the twenty-first century.

Capitalism Russian-Style

The Russian oil industry--which vies with Saudi Arabia as the world's largest producer and exporter of oil, providing nearly 12 percent of the global supply--is facing mounting problems that could send shock waves through the Russian economy and worldwide. Wheel of Fortune provides an authoritative account of this vital industry from the last years of communism to its uncertain future. Tracking the interdependence among Russia's oil industry, politics, and economy, Thane Gustafson shows how the stakes extend beyond international energy security to include the potential threat of a destabilized Russia. Gustafson, a leading consultant and analyst of the politics of energy in the former Soviet Union, draws on interviews with key players over the course of two decades to provide a detailed history of the oil industry's evolution since the breakup of the Soviet Union. At its center is the complex and fraught relationship between the oil industry and the state, which loosened its grip under Yeltsin only to tighten it again under Putin. As oil becomes harder to find and more expensive to produce and deliver, Gustafson warns, Russia's growing dependence on revenue from oil exports, along with its inefficient and often-corrupt management of the industry, is unsustainable. A rich but troubled Soviet legacy, the conflicting ambitions of politicians and industry oligarchs, and the excesses of capitalism Russian-style threaten to lead Russia to an impasse. Involving the oil industry in the country's modernization agenda and remaking its relationship to the state, Gustafson argues, is Russia's best path toward a stable economy and a safer world.

Wheel of Fortune: The Battle for Oil and Power in Russia

Although the Soviet Union has the most abundant energy reserves of any country, energy policy has been the single most disruptive factor in its industry since the mid-1970s. This major case study treats the paradox of the energy crisis as an essential part of larger economic problems of the Soviet Union and as a key issue in determining the fate of the Gorbachev reforms. Originally published in 1989. The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

Crisis amid Plenty: The Politics of Soviet Energy under Brezhnev and Gorbachev

Russia 2010: And What It Means for the World

From the author of the Pulitzer and Eccles Prize-winning, "The Prize", this book analyzes one of the most important events of the 20th and 21st centuries - what comes next after the collapse of the Soviet Union. It uses the management technique of scenario planning to build four plausible stories of the future already evidenced by events occuring in Russia today - not least the recent success in the elections of the ultra-nationalists. The "stories" are: "The two-headed eagle" - a Russia that looks forwards and backwards at the same time?; "The long good-bye" - the dissolution of Russia?; "The Russian bear" - a grim dictatorship?; and "Chudo" - the Russian economic miracle? Yergin and Gustafson provide essential insight into emerging power relationships, local ethnic wars that could turn into wider conflicts, and they also study the opportunities and pitfalls facing the new Russia. Throughout the book, the authors examine the possible Western response, look at the new role of foreign investment and international aid, the priorities for arms control, and argue the final paradox - that the West is both marginal and crucial for Russia's future development. The book should be of interest to corporate executives, politicians, scholars and students in helping to think through the state of the world after communism. Daniel Yergin is also the author of "Shattered Peace".

Thane Gustafson

Papers

Capitalism Russian-Style

Wheel of Fortune: The Battle for Oil and Power in Russia

Crisis amid Plenty: The Politics of Soviet Energy under Brezhnev and Gorbachev

Russia 2010: And What It Means for the World

Russia 2010 : and what it means for the world : the CERA report