Key strategic capabilities of consulting multinational companies in Russia

The theme of the bachelor’s thesis is: “Key strategic capabilities of consulting multinational companies in Russia”. The thesis consists of 228 pages, including 3 figures, 3 tables, 122 references. This study is devoted to the investigation of the key strategic capabilities, which serve as a prime source for gaining competitive advantage by multinational companies (MNCs) operating in the Russian consulting sector. The consulting sector is undergoing a significant shift in the course of its development, associated with the profound changes not only within political and economic circumstances, which were always considered as distinctive features of emerging economies’ business environment, but also in the direct changes of business conditions, including demand’s nature, competitive environment connected with the massive growth of the Russian consulting companies alongside with the widespread adoption of disruptive technologies that may replace consulting companies in terms of provided services. Such changes have marked the necessity for advancing the approach to the formation of the consulting MNCs’ strategic capabilities in Russia. The object of the research is consulting multinational companies, which through the development of the key strategic capabilities, which constitute the subject of the present study, have managed to achieve leading positions on the Russian market. To achieve the overall goal of the study, a number of tasks were performed related to the consideration of various theoretical and empirical approaches to the concept, analysis of the key strategic capabilities of consulting MNCs in Russia, including the general features of their formation process, identification of the main peculiarities of the Russian market in terms of consulting MNC’s strategic capabilities development and revealing the main “success” factors and “mistakes” related to the establishment of the respective capabilities in Russia. The empirical part of the study relies on the deployment of the qualitative research method, in particular, conduction of in-depth semi-structured interviews with representatives of the six consulting MNCs in Russia, which provides essential professional insights from the representatives of the major market players. The results obtained in the study reveal the distinctive features of the practices employed by the leading consulting MNCs related to the development of the key strategic capabilities on the Russian market, representing practical implications for providing valuable guidelines to existing market players, as well as for those who are considering entering the Russian market in future.