Two Decades of Russian Business and Management Research: An Institutional Theory Perspective

Business and management in Russia have undergone substantial change during the past two decades as the country has transitioned from the centrally planned Soviet system to a more market-oriented economy. Russia has not been given as much attention as BRIC nations such as India and China in either academic research or the popular business press, despite its being a global energy giant and major natural resource player as well as a member of the G8 economic powers. We analyze research on Russian business and management published over the past two decades, draw implications for Russia's future in the global economic community, and offer directions for future research. Our basic conclusion is that Russian managers have relied excessively on informal institutions, including personal networks, to conduct business due to the void created by the weak legitimacy of the country's formal institutions. A major implication is that by continuing to rely on informal institutions in the context of a formal institutional void, Russia may well fall short of becoming a fully participating member of the global economic community, and may remain for some time as an unbalanced, corruption-ridden, natural resource-based economy.