Understanding Cultural Differences between Russia and North America: Looking at Management Styles Through a Perspective of Eleven Dimensions

In spite of the current turmoil, Russia and the ex-Soviet republics will remain vital regions for international businesses and the global economy. The human resources and the physical forces Russia possesses and the untapped market for consumer and industrial products are without any doubt attractive features for developing businesses. On the other hand, research, market assessments by businessmen, and personal observations by both foreigners and Russians, indicate that the country can be portrayed as a high risk place for doing business. There are many overlapping factors that contribute to this negative conclusion. The unstable monetary and fiscal policies, high tariffs, unpredictable political situation, deteriorating infrastructure, rise of economically motivated crimes, lack of business experience and cultural background of the nation are some of the major factors for the slow pace of economic restructuring. The intriguing question here is why Russia, in spite of sharing a common economic background with other ex-socialist countries such as the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland, having more resources and receiving more attention from many foreign in vestors, and receiving support from the United States, EC and Japan, has experienced the slowest economic normalization process.