Doing Business in Russia

From July 1 – 25, 2014, eleven participants from Korea, Russia, and the USA, studied on the Doing Business in Russia course at the HSE Summer University.

During the four weeks the students attended lectures by HSE instructors (Head of the course – Prof. Natalya Guseva, Lecturers – Spring Han, Evgeny Tsaplin, Vera Rebiazina), and developed their own business projects. On July 25th they made presentations on three of them – Ophthalmological Hospital; Chicken  in the KITCHEN; and Kim’s cafe - Korean traditional dessert cafe. Kim Jiwoong, Lee Youngjae, and Kim Suyoung, who developed the Kim’s Café project, received the highest mark.

 Kim's Cafe presentation (PPTX, 4.67 Мб)

Feedback from the participants

‘This is our presentation of eye surgery. We really appreciate your comments on our business.  We think we can develop it and we'll make better business in the near future. Grateful for your lecture!’

‘Professor Guseva, thank you for your help. We learned much about business from you. I will really miss you :) I will not say goodbye.’

‘Thank you, we have been learning from your class about business for almost one month. We can learn about various fields of business from many professors including you. Also, your feedback can be our strength when we start doing business in Russia or Korea. Taking this class was a good opportunity for us. Again, thank you for your contribution to us.’

About the course

The course is both a knowledge and skills oriented course. It is designed for studying contemporary issues of doing business in emerging markets with particular focus on Russia.

Russia is one of the largest countries in the world in terms of land mass (17,080,000 km²), population (145 million), and GDP (1.9 trillion USD). It is very rich in natural resources, and possesses a very well-educated and low cost labor force. However, despite a century’s long history of worldwide cooperation Russia presents a mysterious market with particular “rules of the game”.

The course is focused on the peculiarities of doing business in Russia from two perspectives: business (external ) environment in Russia taking into account  the political, legislative, economic, social - demographic and cultural environment issues and internal companies’ environment, considering differences in national culture and its management implications on successful communications, team-building, leadership, decision making, motivation, and negotiation processes with Russians.

Knowledge of the peculiarities of Russian ways and their practical use will provide students with up-to-date abilities & skills of entrepreneurship in Russia and successful companies’ management. These  could be considered  core competencies of a global manager doing business in emerging markets.

Course goals

The main goal of the course is to study the crucial issues of doing business in Russia, and to create  a system of knowledge  for successful entrepreneurship, business operation and company management in Russia.

As a result of completing this discipline, students will acquire new understanding of the key issues of doing business in Russia and develop skills in efficient communication, team-building, motivation, decision making and negotiation with Russians. It will also allow students to reflect upon their own attitudes and behaviour, and to acquire the cultural sensitivity they need to be a successful manager in the global context.