Russian Etiquette & Ethics in Business

by Lloyd Donaldson, Drew Wilson

Release Date: January, 1996

Edition: Paperback

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A frank, enlightening & objective look at Russian business.

This book is the only one I know of that has been written in recent times that has looked at Russian business in an objective way. Although the media tends to make judgements about different cultures, this book, as far as I see, is judgement free. One part I loved about the book, is that it starts off with the fact that the old stories of shortages are pass� (this pleased me because after I returned from living in Belarus, many people asked me if there was food on the shelves of stores. After a while I started to get annoyed with people for asking me this when I found that shopping in Belarus, the Ukraine, and in Russia was still faster than your ordinary grocery line up in most other countries). For people interested in Russian business, this is an amazing book for learning about the psyche of the Russian consumer and the reasoning behind why Russian business is the way it is. More generally, however, this book has a broader appeal to those that are interested in people around the world. Whereas most books tend to take a stand on issues either for or against, the authors simply describe a situation, and allow readers to draw their own conclusions, which most of the time lead a person with at least an intermediate level of reasoning skills to realize that Russian business practices and ethics are not necessarily better or worse than those in our respective countries, just different, and that in a broader sense, the history of a country plays a very large role in the determination of how business practices are carried out, as well as what is and isn't considered ethical. Another advantage of this book is that it is up-to-date from people in a good position to know. Although I am unaware of Mr. Wilson's profession in St. Petersburg, I knew beforehand that Mr. Donaldson is an editor for the St. Petersburg Press, who has the initial perception of a Westerner, but the experience of a native, which holds a lot more credibility with me than a professor who has read books on the subject, analysed press releases from accross the ocean, etc. to deliver information to the readers. Definitely worth reading!!!