Building Big Business in Russia; The Impact of Informal Corporate Governance Practices

This book examines the development of big business in Russia since the onset of market oriented reform in the early 1990s. It explains how post-Soviet enterprises, many of which made little sense as business units, were restructured into functional firms able to operate in the environment of a market economy. It provides detailed case studies of three key companies - Yukos Oil Company, Russian Aluminium and Norilsk Nickel - all of which played a key role in Russia's economic recovery after 1998, describing how these companies were created, run and have developed up to the present day. It shows how Russian businesses during the 1990s routinely relied on practices not entirely compatible with formal rules, in particular in the area of corporate governance.This book fully explores the critical role played by informal corporate governance practices (ICGPs) - such as share dilution, transfer pricing, asset stripping, limiting shareholders access to votes, and bankruptcy 'to order' - as Russian big business developed during the 1990s. It shows that the use of informal corporate governance practices had both constructive as well as destructive consequences for the Russian economy. It suggests that although their use proved costly to Russia's business reputation, they helped core groups of owners/managers to establish coherent business firms. Overall, this book shows that we cannot understand the nature of current economic changes in Russia without recognising the crucial role played by ICGPs in the creation and development of big business in post-Soviet Russia.