Why This Newsletter?
In this featured article, USRCCNE General Editor Josh Wilson introduces you to the Internet's new inexpensive and effective "anti-advertising." Find out how articles and newsletters such as this one can help a range of businesses - from outsourced service providers to businesses seeking investments in emerging markets!
Holiday Offer! Free Business Plan for the FSU!
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С Новым Годом!
From the collection of Kim Balaschak.
See below for more details! |
Georgetown University's School of Foreign Service/CERES offers a course entitled "Business Dynamics in Eurasia"- the only course taught at a major US university on how to do business in Russia and the other states of the former Soviet Union. The most important requirement for the students is to write a business plan/marketing plan for "live" clients. This allows the client (YOU) to get, virtually cost-free, some deep thinking and analysis on a particular business undertaking. The class has been doing these successfully for over nine years, for Fortune 100, as well as many small/medium-sized businesses. Find out more here.
See also: The SRAS Newsletter
Last month, The School of Russian and Asian Studies focused it's monthly newsletter on "Capitalism in Russia." With a news section on business, a Who's Who of Moscow Business Reform, and a photoessay covering visual representations of how Russia has adapted to capitalism and capitalism to Russia. To see the full newsletter, click here. To subscribe (it comes out the first week of every month), send an email with "Subscribe SRAS" to jwilson@sras.org.
World Bank Report on Russia
From the report: "The ICA survey also confirmed that Russian enterprises that perceive themselves to be in strong competition with other domestic or foreign firms also feel more strongly constrained by the business climate, i.e. such firms more commonly cite variables like corruption, policy uncertainty, and tax administration as significant constraints to their activities... Many government policies and activities are relevant for promoting innovation, technology absorption, and the training of workers." Read more from The World Bank.
IT Focus: Russia Fails to Capitalize on IT Excellence
From the article: "Russia's IT sector, like much else in the country, is characterized by screaming contradictions. Russia has an advanced IT solutions industry, and it is no accident that Russian computer engineers and software developers find ready employment in international IT companies... On the other hand, Russia is famously bad at implementation, and the IT sector is no exception." Read more from Russia Profile.
Coalition for U.S-Russia Trade Launches New Site
Coalition for U.S.-Russia Trade is a broad-based group of U.S. companies and trade associations from every major sector of the U.S. economy. Its new site contains coalition news, information on how to join, as well as resources about trade policy and current events.
Russian Corner: Russia's New Anti-Monopoly Law
Russia has adopted a new anti-monopoly law, making some important adjustments in the regime for regulation of competition. In addition, the New Law governs the financial sector, thus combining the main rules of Russian competition law under a single statute. Find out more from LeBoeuf Lamb Greene & MacRae.
Just for Fun: Ghosts of Christmas Past
Like most serious collectors, Kim Balaschak is an expert on the entire subject of what she collects. I listened to her talk in detail about the history of Christmas ornaments, with impressive amounts of names and dates and mediums from memory. But the history also bifurcated into several beautifully interrelated levels – mingling her own long and interesting history in Russia with the history of Russia itself as reflected in her collection. Kim is now devoting herself to the collection – and searching for a permanent exhibition space for it, preferably in the Boston area. Find out more from The School of Russian and Asian Studies. | 
С новым годом! This month's Chamber newsletter is slightly abbreviated due to the holiday season. We will return to our regular format (with monthly business feature) in January, after we have all recovered from the holidays and the end-of-the-year business rush. As we look forward to 2007, we expect that the continuing level of economic growth in Russia and the mushrooming number of political controversies that are arising from Russia's new assertiveness and outward economic expansion will provide us many things to discuss and analyse in this newsletter. Our focus as a Chamber will be, as always, on business opportunities to be found within relations between Russia, the U.S. and the rest of the world. 
