Small business in Russia: A Case Study of St. Petersburg

The reasons why small business development has been disappointing in Russia compared with other transition countries such as Poland and the Czech Republic are here analyzed. It is, however, suggested that the picture may not be so gloomy as official statistics suggest. As far as St. Petersburg is concerned, it has witnessed an exceptional - by Russian standards - growth in this sector in the 1990s, although it still trails compared with Moscow. This, despite the lack of support from the local administration and despite having an income per capita close to the Russian average. Again official data may be at fault through undervaluing the importance of the small business sector in the early 1990s.http://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/39823/3/wp439.pd

Global visibility and exposure to drive the quality of doctoral education

Universities worldwide are expanding how they showcase electronic theses and dissertations and their authors. One way this is accomplished is video recordings of “3 Minute Thesis” competitions. Saint Petersburg State University goes one step further and documents the full defense of their dissertations on video and makes the recording openly available on the official university site together with full texts and opponents reviews. This is one part of their strategy to provide more transparency with the goal of enhancing the overall quality of dissertations. The second part of this strategy is the Library of Saint Petersburg State University working with ProQuest to disseminate dissertations to a global audience through ProQuest Dissertations and Theses (PQDT) database

Regional impacts of Russia's accession to the World Trade Organization

In this paper we develop a computable general equilibrium model of the regions of Russia to assess the impact of accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO) on the regions of Russia. We estimate that the average gain in welfare as a percentage of consumption for the whole country is 7.8 percent (or 4.3 percent of consumption); we estimate that three regions will gain considerably more: Northwest (11.2 percent), St. Petersburg (10.6 percent) and Far East (9.7 percent). We estimate that the Urals will gain only 6.2 percent of consumption, considerably less than the national average. The principal explanation in ourcentral analysis for the differences across regions is the ability of the different regions to benefit from a reduction in barriers against foreign direct investment. The three regions with the largest welfare gains are clearly the regions with the estimated largest shares of multinational investment. But the Urals has attracted relatively little FDI in the service sectors. An additional reason for differences across regions is quantified in our sensitivity analysis: regions may gain more from WTO accession if they can succeed in creating a good investment climate.Economic Theory&Research,ICT Policy and Strategies,Free Trade,Markets and Market Access,Investment and Investment Climate

Target group segmentation in the virtual space as a tool for defining the concept of a territory brand

Purpose: The article is aimed at investigating the possibility of competitiveness increase and investment attractiveness of the territory by means of virtual space segmentation where territorial entities interact. Design/Methodology/Approach: At present, interaction of most economic agents is conducted by means of internet technologies and web platforms. In the framework of territory development special emphasis is given to a territory brand to attract investments. Sustainable territory development in the competitive environment directly depends on the unleashing of territory potential, which in its turn is closely related to the problem of attracting resources and investments. In the context of the developed information society competitiveness of territorial entities is largely determined by the level and activeness of their representation in the internet space. Since the quality of the territory is determined by a number of advantages over other territories claiming to the same investments, one of the key mechanisms of forming such advantages is an effective presence of a territorial entity in the internet space. Findings: A three-tier synthetic model of the target group segmentation in the territory virtual space defining the brand concept is elaborated and justified. Practical implications: In practice, a proposed toolkit allows organizing internet representation of the territory, which lets take the territory represented to a new level of competitiveness. Originality/value: An original tool mechanism of forming the concept of territory brand by means of the target segmentation of the virtual space is proposed.peer-reviewe

The ISCIP Analyst, Volume XIV, Issue 5

This repository item contains a single issue of The ISCIP Analyst, an analytical review journal published from 1996 to 2010 by the Boston University Institute for the Study of Conflict, Ideology, and Policy

Project Studies in Specific Business, Legal and Economic Topics: video conference presentations

Based on a first video conference: small and middle sized companies in Russia and Germany: A comparative view organized by University "Interregional Institute of Economics and Law", Saint Petersburg/Russia and the University of Applied Sciences – Faculty of Business, Fulda/Germany held on 20th May 2010. Both institutes decided to organize a follow-up conference on January 27th 2011. Again the focus was to compare both markets for international operating companies in reasons for going abroad. The following papers are the outcome of this conference and were presented on the one hand by Fulda master students and on the other hand by Master Students from Saint Petersburg. The overall focus was again a comparative work from a company point of view. Hereby the main research question was to present different case studies based on a heterogeneous group of German-based companies in terms of size and branches. Success and failure in international management activities are discussed on an empirical and statistical basis. Furthermore the students from both institutes learnt also some practical matters like for example how can a foreign company establish its legal presence in Russia

Rare books as historical objects: a case study of the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library rare books collection

Thesis (M.S.) University of Alaska Fairbanks, 2015Once upon a time all the books in the Arctic were rare books, incomparable treasures to the men and women who carried them around the world. Few of these tangible remnants of the past have managed to survive the ravages of time, preserved in libraries and special collections. This thesis analyzes the over 22,000-item rare book collection of the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, the largest collection of rare books in the State of Alaska and one of the largest polar regions collections in the world. Content, chronology, authorship, design, and relevance to northern and polar history were a few of the criteria used to evaluate the collection. Twenty items of particular value to the study of Alaskan history were selected and studied in depth. The collection not only reflects the social, political and economic development of Alaska, but also the interests, personalities and expertise of collectors and authors, including works owned or written by key individuals in Alaska history, such as Hieromonk Gideon, Ivan Veniaminov, Ivan Pan’kov, Iakov Netsvietov, Kiril Khlebnikov, Hubert Howe Bancroft, George Davidson, Hudson Stuck, Sheldon Jackson, James Wickersham, Charles Bunnell, Alfred H. Brooks and others. Accident and happenstance also played a role in filling the shelves. There are more mysteries than answers—why some of these particular works resisted hundreds of years of neglect, cold, flood, and fire can never be known. While some books have no marks, no identifiable owners or traceable past, the provenance of others makes them unique. Sometimes the story behind the story is the story.Chapter 1: Rare Books Studies: Methodological Discussion -- 1.1 Historical Research Based on Libraries -- 1.2 Research Statement -- 1.3 Description of the Data – The Elmer E. Rasmuson Library Rare Books Collection -- 1.4 Defining Rare Books and Their Roles in Library Collections -- 1.5 Structure of a Book -- 1.6 Book Materials -- 1.7 Methodological Conclusion -- Chapter 2: The Book in Alaska -- 2.1 Arctic and Antarctic Books as Travelers -- 2.2 Arctic and Antarctic Libraries as Travelers: Ship Publishing, Ship Libraries -- 2.3 First Books in Alaska -- 2.4 Nikolai Rezanov’s View of the Enlightenment -- 2.5 The Kodiak Library -- 2.6 The Sitka Library -- 2.7 The Sitka Museum -- 2.8 Ivan Veniaminov: Language Studies and the Sitka Seminary -- 2.9 Educated “Americans”: The Case of Ivan Pan’kov -- 2.10 RAC Officials and Missionaries: The Necessity of Bilingual Communication -- 2.11 The Educational Backgrounds of Russian American Governors -- 2.12 Conclusion -- Chapter 3: Missionaries, Prospectors, and Collectors -- 3.1 Early American Era: The Battle of School Books -- 3.2 American-Era Missionaries: Books, Reading, Literacy -- 3.3 Gold Rushes in Alaska and the Yukon: Illusion and Ephemera -- 3.4 Missionary Periodicals at the Time of the Alaska Gold Rushes -- 3.5 Periodicals Exchanges, Reading Rooms and Libraries during the Late Nineteenth – Early Twentieth Century -- 3.6 Collectors of Alaskana and Alaskan Collectors of Rarities -- 3.6.1 The Challenges of Rare Book Collecting in Alaska -- 3.6.2 The Bancroft Library -- 3.6.3 The George Davidson Library -- 3.6.4 The James Wickersham Library -- 3.6.5 The Clarence L. Andrews Library -- 3.6.6 Valerian Lada-Mocarski Library -- 3.6.7 Women in Book Collecting: Laura K. Lada-Mocarski -- 3.7 Conclusion -- Chapter 4: Rare Books as Historical Objects, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library Rare Books Collection -- 4.1 History of the Elmer E. Rasmuson Library and Its Rare Books Collection -- 4.2 Study of the Rare Books Sample, Elmer E. Rasmuson Library Rare Book Collection -- 4.2.1 Books in Russian Published before 1867 -- 4.2.2 Books in English Published before 1867 -- 4.2.3 Books in English Published after 1867 -- 4.2.4 Books in Alaska Native Languages Published after 1867 -- 4.2.5 Nineteenth-Century Missionary Literature -- 4.2.6 Nineteenth-Century Writings by U.S. Government Officials -- 4.2.7 Nineteenth-Century U.S. Exploration Literature -- 4.2.8 Twentieth-Century U.S. Exploration Literature -- 4.2.9 Gold Rush Literature -- 4.2.10 Twentieth-Century Business Literature -- 4.2.11 Late Nineteenth-Early Twentieth Century Periodicals -- 4.2.12 World War II Literature -- 4.2.13 Rare Books Sample: Summary -- Conclusion -- Literature cited

International Market Research of Local and Organic Food Market in Russia

Author Irina Omelina Group or year 2008 Title of the thesis International Market Research of Local and Organic Market in Russia Number of pages and appendices 43 Supervisor Tarja Römer-Paakkanen The Finnish company Makumaku sells local and organic food products online. Cur-rently they are interested in getting information concerning the Russian local and organic food market, as well as Russian organic and local food online shops. A general analysis of the Russian organic food industry has been done by using PEST analysis. A competitor analysis was also carried out, including owners, target groups, logistics, pricing and marketing tools used. In this exploratory research the main method was secondary data analysis. Secondary data included published interviews and articles, as well as available statistical data from the Russian Internet about the Russian organic food industry (including online food shops). Another method was a structured observation approach of Rus-sian local and organic food online shops, based on certain criteria. The research has shown that despite the quite high demand for organic food products in Russia, the market is not that large and is somewhat unstable. The main obstacle is the absence of a clearly-defined legal certification system indicating which products are considered to be organic in Russia. The amount of e-commercialization of the Russian organic market is quite limited. As a rule the owners of Russian online shops are farmers themselves, individual entrepreneurs and small limited liability companies. They do not promote their businesses much by online or offline tools, except by using social media and social networking. Successful logistics is crucial in order to succeed in this business area. Makumaku has good chance to enter the Russian market successfully if they concen-trate on a specific area (e.g. Moscow) and find the right Russian partners, who could take care of logistics. Proper branding of Makumaku’s products for the Russian cus-tomer is also seen as very important. Key words PEST analysis, e-commerce, online shoppingАвтор Ирина Омелина Группа или год 2008 Название тезиса Исследование продовольственного рынка органических продуктов в России Количество страний и приложений - 43 Руководитель Тарья Ремер-Паакканен Финская компания «Макумаку» занимается продажей органических продуктов питания в Интернете. В настоящее время ее интересует информация о российском продовольственном рынке органических продуктов и российских Интернет-магазинах по продаже органических и фермерских продуктов. Для общего анализа российского рынка использовался ПЭСТ-анализ, а также был сделан анализ работы конкурентов по следующим критериям: владельцы, целевые группы, логистика, ценообразование и используемые маркетинговые инструменты. В данном маркетинговом исследовании основным методом анализа был вторичный анализ данных (опубликованные статьи и интервью, статистические данные). Вторым методом послужил метод структурированного наблюдения и анализа веб-страниц российских Интернет-магазинов по определенным критериям. Исследование показало, что несмотря на довольно высокий спрос на органические продукты питания в России данный рынок небольшой и весьма неустойчивый. Главным препятствием для развития рынка является отсутствие на законодательном уровне четкой системы сертификации органических продуктов питания в России. Темп роста электронной коммерции данного рынка довольно ограничен. Как правило владельцами российских Интернет-магазинов являются сами фермеры, индивидуальные предприниматели и небольшие компании (ООО). Они не очень активно рекламируют свой Интернет-бизнес. Кроме того успешная логистика имеет решающее значение для достижения успеха в этой сфере бизнеса. Компания «Макумаку» сможет успешно выйти на российский продовольственный рынок органических продуктов в Интернете, если сконцентрируется на определенном регионе России (напрмер, Москва и Московская область), найдут наиболее подходящих партнеров для сотрудничества в России, способных позаботиться о логистике совместного бизнеса. Очень важно также выбрать правильные методы рекламирования /брендинга продукции компании «Макумаку» для российского потребителя. Ключевые слова PEST анализ, электронная коммерция, Интернет-магазины