Strategies of Russian Firms in Big Data Application

There is a plenty of scientific publications in which it is proclaimed that technologies invade in people's lives, that humanity lives in the "Age of Big Data" [Millington, Millington 2015]. What is the Big Data? How does it apply on the Russian retail market? Is it really useful for firms? If so, why do many companies refuse to implement it? This study attempts to answer these questions. The separate sections of the theoretical framework: the definition of large data (V. Mayer-Schonberger, etc.) and examples of their use in various industries, the business-strategy concept (V. Radaev), innovation (E. Rogers , etc.), legitimacy (M. Weber, M. Suchman, etc.) and isomorphism (D. Deephouse). In practical terms, based on the analysis of the data, examples of large data used in Russian retail are given and their classification into operational Big Data, Internet data, machine-generated Big Data, state statistics data and data from other business sectors. The main stages of retailers' strategies for using Big Data (detection of the possibility and purpose of using Big Data, its processing and analysis, and the implementation of analysis results into the firm's activity) are presented. The basic assumption that the problems of players on the Russian retail market are sanctioned by the lack of one or another type of legitimacy is confirmed. The identified barriers of the using of Big Data are presented for each phase of strategy deployment, classified according to the inadequacy of one or another type of legitimacy. Depending on the problems, differentiation of strategies takes place. In conclusion, the main types of strategies of the using of Big Data by players of the Russian retail market are given, based on the problems encountered and ways to overcome them at each phase of the cycle of using Big Data (detection of the possibility and purpose of using Big Data, its processing and analyzing and implementation of results).