COVID-19 pandemic: The reaction of Russian enterprises and challenges for the post-crisis development

The paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and the economic crisis caused by it on the activities of firms in six sectors of the Russian economy. On the basis of a series of 45 in-depth interviews with the heads of companies and business associations and Russian and international industrial statistics, we show the reaction of enterprises to the crisis and changes in their models of behavior, as well as differences in the forms of communication between government and business in different sectors of Russian economy. Paper shows that key problems faced by firms in 2020 were emerged before the pandemic. During the crisis better performance was demonstrated by firms which before made significant investment in technological development and used digital technologies. Broad application of distant employment model in 2020 led to aggressive HR policy of large firms from Moscow and St.Petersburg in regional markets and increased competition for high-qualified workers. Sectoral associations played important role as representative of collective interests of business in negotiations with authorities. In the conclusion paper discusses the challenges for business and state in the post-crisis development.