Two Decades of Russian Business and Management Research: An Institutional Theory Perspective

Corporate Social Responsibility in the Russian Federation

“…In its place had emerged a "chaotic" (Lane, 2000) form of capitalism, dominated by corruption and the "unrule" of law (Holmes, 1997). This "chaotic capitalism" was accompanied by "over withdrawal" (Sil & Chen, 2004) or fragmentation of the state from areas where it has previously been responsible, led to: the displacement of monetary policy by barter surrogates (Woodruff, 1999); devolution of power from the federal center to regional fiefdoms (Stoner-Weiss, 1999); widespread corruption, non-payment of taxes, and organized crime (Holmes, 2008;Yakovlev, 2001); weak institutions (Puffer & McCarthy, 2011); and the diffusion of "capture" by so-called "oligarchs" over the state (Hellman 1998;Solnick 1999). With the ability to shape regulation to service their own interests and to determine the makeup of regional and federal legislatures (Frye, 2002;Gustafson 2000), these oligarchs were in effect governing the Russian Federation in tandem with ruling elites (Hanson & Teague, 2005).…”

Market–political ambidexterity during institutional transitions

“…First, although the earlier literature on institutional transitions and strategic choices has focused on the march toward markets (Peng, 2003), recent work has documented the persistent influence of governments on firms' various strategic responses (Puffer and McCarthy, 2011;Peng, 2010, 2012). A new generation of research in this area cannot ignore this phenomenon.…”

“…We argue that during institutional transitions, while market forces have certainly become more important, government influences are not necessarily in decline (Khanna and Yafeh, 2007;Puffer and McCarthy, 2011). Numerous foreign and domestic firms active in emerging economies have realized that their superb market capabilities may not be enough to carry the day.…”

Theoretical Foundations

“…The divergence in the political and economic trajectories has reduced the commonalities between Russia and the rest of CEE. Research on Russia remains important, because it provides many opportunities to better understand challenges under conditions where not only is convergence slowed, but 2015 key parameters are also increasingly divergent from the "Western" model of a market economy (Puffer & McCarthy, 2011). However, it is now difficult to position Russia research as part of CEE research.…”