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Ariete
Are you naive? Some Western-minded persons directly from the university? Without any experience? Old story.
There are good people around at all ages. But he's right about one thing; the chances of success will be better if you tap the generation that was raised mainly after 1991. Or at least: during Gorbachev. Heck, why not recycle Medvedev?
Ariete
Are you naive? Some Western-minded persons directly from the university? Without any experience? Old story.
No, I have a very realistic view of Russia. I know a dozen Finnish companies who want to invest in Russia, especially construction ones in St. Pete and Moscow, and the Russians say "please come", but the reasons why they can't do it are:
1) corruption
2) corruption
3) corruption
4) poor skills of Russian
5) cultural differences including corruption
6) insecurity including corruption
And as it's international trade, the investors can be prosecuted in Finland as well. Finland and Sweden already got their feet wet investing in the mobile phone networks in the Central Asian republics. And as we have zero tolerance for corruption, the equation becomes impossible if you go the "official way".
Sad but true.
Look, if the Finnish CEO gets a huge deal in Moscow but gained it by handing out money, he might not be prosecuted, but his reputation is tarnished and so is his company's, and if he applies to become the CEO of another company, the board will remember "wasn't this the guy who didn't pay taxes and got caught of bribing Russian officials? Yes, let's not hire him, he might do it again and cause bad reputation for us. Let's play safe".
And I don't say we don't have corruption, we do, but it's more the "rub my back and I rub yours". Handing out cash money is normal in Russia, but here it's completely unthinkable, and probably a 95% chance to get caught.
You want to stop corruption in Russia?
Start it with making Russians believe in justice.
The most common sentiment over there is "whatever is stolen here is going to the West, to Western banks, and we have no control over it."
So how about starting fight with "Russian corruption" from this end; are you ready for this?
No, I have a very realistic view of Russia. I know a dozen Finnish companies who want to invest in Russia, especially construction ones in St. Pete and Moscow, and the Russians say "please come", but the reasons why they can't do it are:
1) corruption
2) corruption
3) corruption
4) poor skills of Russian
5) cultural differences including corruption
6) insecurity including corruption
And as it's international trade, the investors can be prosecuted in Finland as well. Finland and Sweden already got their feet wet investing in the mobile phone networks in the Central Asian republics. And as we have zero tolerance for corruption, the equation becomes impossible if you go the "official way".
Sad but true.
Fascinating. So tell me, is there a shortage of Finns who speak fluent Russian? If I improved my Finnish (ha! Easier said than done, but definitely a fun challenge), would I be able to get a job as a Finland-Russia liaison? Does a bullet-proof vest come with the job?
No, I have a very realistic view of Russia. I know a dozen Finnish companies who want to invest in Russia, especially construction ones in St. Pete and Moscow, and the Russians say "please come", but the reasons why they can't do it are:
1) corruption
2) corruption
3) corruption
4) poor skills of Russian
5) cultural differences including corruption
6) insecurity including corruption
And don't forget, the insecurity includes the possibility that any given company or resource would be nationalized on the President's whim. Just ask BP and Royal Dutch Shell.
Before Sochi, a consortium of around 120 Finnish companies were founded. Less than 10 got a deal to build the Olympic venues. Guess why? - They played it fair. The consortium declared bankruptcy after that.
Before Sochi, a consortium of around 120 Finnish companies were founded. Less than 10 got a deal to build the Olympic venues. Guess why? - They played it fair. The consortium declared bankruptcy after that.
That's the way it goes.
Brilliant (the Olympic bid)! Too bad it didn't work out. Was their pricing competitive? (Yeah, yeah, I know, but just humor me, please, and answer the question. Very low labor costs in Russia, you know.) And I wonder, what do the companies that won bids have to say now about their experience? That should be very insightful. That would actually be worth its own dedicated thread.
Fascinating. So tell me, is there a shortage of Finns who speak fluent Russian? If I improved my Finnish (ha! Easier said than done, but definitely a fun challenge), would I be able to get a job as a Finland-Russia liaison? Does a bullet-proof vest come with the job?
There is a huge shortage on experts on Russia and Russian culture. Finnish expertise is well sought after in Russia, but the cultural differences are just so big. The level of knowing the Russian procedures are below-par, the whole knowledge of Russia is so small, and the language is a huge barrier. The generation who leads companies now came to power in the 90's technology boom and they had only one direction = west. Some companies like retailers Stockmann and S-Market Prisma are expanding to Russia, but they have huge armies of experts on Russia. Smaller companies can't afford these experts, but mostly go to the table against the Russian bureaucrats.
In a very simplified way,
The Finn expects: meet, get down to business, sign the deal, shake hands and go for drinks.
The Russian expects: meet, drink vodka, talk crap, hand over some money and "we'll maybe sign the deal tomorrow. This hand shake doesn't mean anything"
And it's the 'Serbian breakfast' that you'll expect: eat your words you promised yesterday.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ruth4Truth
Brilliant (the Olympic bid)! Too bad it didn't work out. Was their pricing competitive? (Yeah, yeah, I know, but just humor me, please, and answer the question. Very low labor costs in Russia, you know.) And I wonder, what do the companies that won bids have to say now about their experience? That should be very insightful. That would actually be worth its own dedicated thread.
They would've used Finns to do the core and expertise here, but use 100% local labor and subcontractors at Sochi. Even the minister of foreign trade went to Putin to lobby this, but it did no use.
I can't say for sure, but some companies who came forward said that their bid always ended up on the 2nd place, with the winning bid going to domestic or "a Central European" contractor. (He didn't clarify.)
There is a huge shortage on experts on Russia and Russian culture. Finnish expertise is well sought after in Russia, but the cultural differences are just so big. The level of knowing the Russian procedures are below-par, the whole knowledge of Russia is so small, and the language is a huge barrier. The generation who leads companies now came to power in the 90's technology boom and they had only one direction = west. Some companies like retailers Stockmann and S-Market Prisma are expanding to Russia, but they have huge armies of experts on Russia. Smaller companies can't afford these experts, but mostly go to the table against the Russian bureaucrats.
In a very simplified way,
The Finn expects: meet, get down to business, sign the deal, shake hands and go for drinks.
The Russian expects: meet, drink vodka, talk crap, hand over some money and "we'll maybe sign the deal tomorrow. This hand shake doesn't mean anything"
And it's the 'Serbian breakfast' that you'll expect: eat your words you promised yesterday.
Here's the deal with Russia (aside from the obvious corruption): they need to get to know you first. They need to spend time chatting and deciding if they like you as a person, have you to a big dinner, see how you handle toasts, how you handle yourself in general. Seriously. THEN they'll finally get down to business (on your 2nd visit, 2nd round of meetings), and discuss practicalities and contracts. Of course, this means you have to budget for 2 trips to Russia, 2 rounds of meetings. It's entirely impractical for Westerners.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Ariete;
They would've used Finns to do the core and expertise here, but use 100% local labor and subcontractors at Sochi. Even the minister of foreign trade went to Putin to lobby this, but it did no use.
I can't say for sure, but some companies who came forward said that their bid always ended up on the 2nd place, with the winning bid going to domestic or "a Central European" contractor. (He didn't clarify.)
That's too bad--even a minister lobbied for you! Well, it tells you who's running the show and what his priorities are, doesn't it?
Serbian construction companies are popular in Russia. (Speaking of the "Serbian breakfast", ha.) They're cheap, they do good work along Western standards, plus, they have something Finns don't have: they're Slavs, they're part of the brotherhood! They belong to the right club, so to speak. They practically speak the same language. In fact, their club membership means the bribery fee is automatically waived!
Am I hired? I love your posts on this subject, btw.
Last edited by Ruth4Truth; 02-23-2014 at 03:48 PM..
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