As the global market grows trade is conducted between various countries with differing traditions and although it might not sound important knowing the traditions of your prospective business partner might come in hand. A successful business deal might even depend on them.
Russia is the biggest country in the world with vast amounts of natural resources and huge industrial base so doing business with Russia can be quite lucrative. But the Russian people are somewhat different than their European counterparts. To successfully conduct business in Russia you have to try to better understand the soul of the Russian people.
During the Cold war Russians were considered to be the enemy by most of the world. But now for almost 20 years Russia is a free and somewhat democratic country. And although in the government level there are still some tensions between Russia and the rest of the world, the people of Russia are friendly, interesting and smart. But of course as in every country there are criminal elements and dishonest people as well.
The general idea when conducting a business with Russian enterprises is to make sure your prospective business partner is a legitimate enterprise. Do not conduct business with persons who only give you their mobile phone number. Serious enterprises have their own office, telephone numbers, fax and emails. When visiting your Russian partners you will receive a warm welcome. Never shake a Russians hand through the door. There is a belief that if you do so then there will be a quarrel between the both involved parties. Russians are very generous so If you are invited to a restaurant by a Russian business partner more often that not he will pay the whole bill and not even tell you that. Although if you invite a Russian woman be prepared to pay for everything. And then there is the Vodka. Ahh yes the vodka! Do not misunderstand Russians, in general, are not alcoholics they just are somewhat resistant to Vodka. If you accept and invitation to a party or sauna it is considered rude if you do not drink as much as your Russian counterpart. Do not forget that Russians are not Germans and punctuality is not so important. 15 minutes is the time frame considered to be OK. Miss an appointment for more that that and your Russian business partner may leave because also in Russia time is money.
If you are just traveling in Russia try not to show that you are from abroad because there are a lot of people who will try to scam you for your money or do even worse. One more thing – the average Russian is not a racist, but there is a strong movement of ‘’skinheads” in Russia.
But all in all Russia is a beautiful country with a very interesting historical background. The possibilities for conducting business with Russia are almost unlimited.
