The Expansion of Russian Business to Europe: Cultural and Political Limitations

On Tuesday, December 1, the School of International Regional Studies of the Faculty of World Economy and International Affairs of HSE University, within the framework of the on-going online seminar “Contemporary Area Studies” organized a discussion with the lecturer of the Faculty of International Relations of the Prague University of Economics, a consultant on intercultural management, Vadim Semenenko on the theme “Expansion Russian Business to Europe: Cultural and Political Constraints”.

The discussion was moderated by Head of the School of International Regional Studies Vera Vishnyakova, Highlighting the importance of economic cooperation, Dr. Vishnyakova stressed the need consider cultural characteristics of doing business.

The expert noted that Russian business in Europe is mostly small business, part of which is based in Russia. Russia owns only 1-5% of the total EU FDI, and there are very few success stories of Russian companies in Europe. However, favorable preconditions for business development in Europe is in place with ten million Russian-speaking population of the EU, 1.8 million Russians and hundreds of thousands of Russia-focused legal entities.

The speaker outlined main barriers faced not only by businessmen from Russia, but also by all foreigners. There is no homogeneous “European” business culture, as each country needs its own unique strategy.