Corporate Sector in Russia: What Happened and What Is Ahead Analysis

Abstract

The chapter gives perspective of Russian corporations from the point of historical and economic development. The insights are gleaned from understanding the 25 years of history of Russian large corporations from their emergence in the “Wild West” like 90’s to oil-rich 00’s and then into sanctions-imposed’ environment by leading west-world countries. This builds up to the analysis of the current and future corporate system.

The 1991–2008 was the period of building of Russian large joint-stock companies and industrial groups. The professional managers emerged. 2000s marked the large increase of public offerings on foreign stock markets. Russian stock markets developed after the Federal Service introduced the framework of regulation in 2006, which required 30% domestic placement for IPOs. One of the outcomes became high concentration of ownership and control. State ownership is another feature of Russian corporations that defines its uniqueness.

After the world economic crisis of 2008 new trends emerged: the role of state grew and impacted further re-distribution of ownership. The recovery which began in 2010 showed the ‘Russian way’ of corporate stabilization. As the economic sanctions were imposed by leading western powers, the internal shifts in Russian public corporations exhibited even more differences from the rest of the world.

This builds foundational analysis for the discussion of the future developments. It is clear that Russian corporations are unique and in order for them to grow in the future their corporate governance and structure will be changing.