Survival Competence in Russian SMEs in a Changing Business Environment

Abstract

This paper focuses on the survival competences that enable small and medium enterprise (SME) managers to conduct business in change situations. Russian SMEs, which have undergone several drastic changes in operational environment in recent decades, comprise the subjects of the qualitative study. Their recent World Trade Organization (WTO) membership is challenging in terms of business continuity and competence. The results of the study show that both internal competences and network competences are needed in order to survive in crisis situations. Entrepreneurial competences acquired by everybody in the firm, an open-minded attitude towards external partners, and networking competences provide a future direction for managerial practice and public actors.

Subsidiary’s Network Competence: Finnish Multinational Companies in Russia

“…Andersson et al 2001; as the relationships have deepened and the network has grown. The subsidiaries support the finding that reliability and trust built between the companies in the Russian business environment are secured through either long-lasting relationships with the partner or through the brand image (Taipale-Erävala et al 2014), which may partially come only from the Finnish origin. Local embeddedness expressed e.g.…”

“…For small firms, it may serve as a mechanism to gain the crucial resources through the networking leading to the competitive advantage (Tehseen and Sajilan 2016). However, in empirical literature overall it has received little attention, with the existing studies addressing the network competence primarily with the quantitative methods, with a few exceptions (Taipale-Erävala et al 2014;Canning and Szmigin 2016). The studies of network competence in the contexts of emerging markets located in Asia are few (e.g.…”

What Business Owners Expect From a Crisis Manager? A Competency Model: Survey Results From Czech Businesses

“…Self‐knowledge, self‐evaluation, professional development, physical and mental condition are included into personal competencies. Taipale‐Erävala, Heilmann and Lampela () have chosen a different allocation of competencies in their model. Internal competencies are categorized as entrepreneurial and individual competencies.…”

How to do? Russian entrepreneurs on business (the results of the survey of 2014): goals and motives

“…doi: 10.18334/rp.16.15.551 2315 внутриорганизационных параметров на успешное развитие малого и среднего бизнеса в России (Volchek, Henttonen, Edelmann, 2013;Volchek, Jantunen, Saarenketo, 2013;Shirokova, Vega, Sokolova, 2013). Портрет предпринимателя современной России, с одной стороны, отражает палитру многообразия региональных и отраслевых особенностей и, с другой, подвержен постоянной трансформации в связи с изменяющимися экономическими условиями (McCarthy, Puffer, 2013;Ojala, Isomäki, 2011;Taipale-Erävala, Heilmann, Lampela, 2014). Поэтому в нашей стране всегда актуален мониторинг текущего состояния бизнеса.…”