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Doing Business with Russians

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Discuss Russian culture. This should include elements important for doing business with people from Russia, whether in Russia or the United States. Bear in mind the following:
- What are common experiences people from Russia have when doing business with Americans?
- What must Americans know about doing business with Russians?
- What are some of the common negative or positive stereotypes or views that Russians have of Americans?
- What are some of the common negative or positive stereotypes associated with Russian people?

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The solution discusses doing business with Russians.

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1. According to http://www.goehner.com/russinfo.htm, Americans will notice these Russian traits:
- desire for top-down command
- lack of mercantile tradition (that is, bourgeois values)
- a certain degree of collectivism (rather than individualism)
- rejection of pluralism and demands uniformity and consensus
- certain degree of suspicion of outsiders (I've actually experienced this personally). Given the fact that Russians have a long history of looking out for the political police, accepting outsiders is iffy. They could be infiltrators. Do not take initial rejection personally.
- Russians seem to be pessimistic
- Russians are more patient and fatalistic
- A certain tolerance for corruption (from the Soviet experience)
- A certain tolerance for bureaucracy (same)
- Expect Russians to have a strong interest in family (and close friends) network operational for the sake of job security.

2. According to http://www.escapeartist.com/efam/64/Teaching_And_Living_In_Russia.html, Russians are highly educated and esteem formal education. School standards are very high (a bit like Japan in this respect).
Customer service in Russian stores is weak - there is no tradition behind it. Do NOT expect Russians to have a strong "business sense." Less focus on traffic rules when driving. When getting something done in either the state or private sector, make sure to bring a gift. Moscow and St. Petersburg are very expensive cities (again, like Tokyo, Japan)

3. According to http://ezinearticles.com/?Differences-In-Work-Ethic-Between-Russians-And-Americans&id=326508, Americans have a different view in finding work. For Russians, a strong statist tradition found jobs for them. Americans ...

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