Corporate Governance in Russia: A Consideration of Different Perspectives

Russian political and economic reform has often proceeded from far different perspectives than in the West. This includes corporate governance. For many Russians external corporate governance of Russian corporations by the state to promote the interest of the state is the most desirable form of corporate governance. This is in contrast to the international perspective of corporate governance that attempts to protect the economic position of investor shareholders.

The transition of the Russian economy from a command economy that relied on central planning to a market economy that relies on private corporations making independent economic decisions remains incomplete. Continuing commentary on the difficulties and developments in Russia is commonplace because of the large international interest in the Russian reform process. One of the most important issues under discussion in this regard has been corporate governance. This is because the success of Russian corporations is what will define the successful end of the process of economic reform in Russia.

This chapter will offer a definition of corporate governance and attempts to provide a discussion of two different contemporary perspectives on Russian corporate governance. The first perspective will be an international perspective consistent with the practitioner and academic thinking in the developed Western industrial democracies. The second perspective will be one that considers that the growth and development of Russia as a nation is essential to the success of Russian corporations and that the only efficient and effective method to achieve this growth and development of Russia under contemporary conditions is the strengthening of the Russian state and its constituent institutions that project economic, military, and political power. This will be described as a nationalist perspective on Russian corporate governance. The main contribution of this chapter is the material on the nationalist perspective.