The Intersection of Business & Culture: Russia Part II
Hello. My name is Brett Bottomley, and I am from Mercer Island, Washington. I am currently a junior at Babson College (MA) pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Business while concentrating in Computational and Mathematical Finance. Throughout the fall, I am studying abroad on the Babson BRIC program where I am spending a month apiece in Russia, India, and China along with 23 classmates. Each week I will be detailing my experiences and observations living and studying in a foreign country. Please feel free to follow along to our group’s Instagram account, and reach out to me through LinkedIn with any questions or comments.
After spending three amazing weeks in St. Petersburg, the group’s time has come to an end in the cultural capital of Russia. In my previous blog, I wrote about how the group is learning about the culture and history of Russia through literature, museum tours, and interacting with students at local universities. In this post, I will highlight my experiences from the second half of the course which put Russia’s business environment into the spotlight.
The business course was exclusively company visits and group discussions afterward. Across eight days, the group visited the following companies or organizations: The American Chamber of Commerce, U.S. Consul General’s Residence, Dell EMC, TRA Robotics, Imperial Porcelain, Solopharm, and PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC). Additionally, we were fortunate to attend the BRICS Global Business & Innovation Conference and heard from experts in their respective fields of research. As one can see, there is a wide variety of companies across different industries. Even looking at two technology companies we visited, Dell EMC and TRA Robotics, they are incredibly different regarding company culture and product offerings. It may be surprising for some to learn that the merger between Dell and EMC was the largest in the technology sector’s history at $67 billion. While a very established company, Dell EMC’s Center of Excellence in St. Petersburg is where cutting-edge design, development, and support come together for their cloud-based applications. Almost in complete contrast, TRA Robotics is a very young company that is attempting to disrupt the automobile manufacturing industry by running robots and robotic components almost exclusively with artificial intelligence.
An important aspect of the unique curriculum at Babson College is the linkage between the liberal arts and business. One cannot truly understand the business environment in Russia without learning about and showing appreciation for the country’s rich culture and history. Russia’s recent history is fascinating as within the last one-hundred years there has been the traditional Tsarist rule, a period of communism and socialism, and now a democracy. Because of these very different forms of governance and the lack of stability at times, the business environment in Russia tends to be bureaucratic and based on deep relationships. Russia’s dependence on oil was glaringly evident in 2014 as the price of oil across the world crashed. The country’s currency, the ruble, is highly correlated with the price of oil, so the ruble lost about half of its value versus the U.S. dollar. Since then, the government has started to decrease its dependence on oil by encouraging business in the technology, manufacturing, and retail industries through tax incentives and other economic benefits. After speaking with local students at the Graduate School of Management which is within the Saint Petersburg State University system, it is apparent that the younger generation is ready to make a positive influence on their country and the world as a whole. These are individuals who never experienced living in the Soviet Union, receive their news through social media rather than state-run propaganda on the television, and are fueling the demand for a growing services sector.
That is all for now. Shortly, the group is off to the capital of Russia, Moscow, on the overnight train. As Moscow is the business, political, and media center of the country, as well as one of the most populous cities in Europe (12 million), it should be a great experience.
Until next time,
Brett
