The Plan for a J-Curve Transition

Chapter 1 shows how economic reforms advocated by the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the World Bank, and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD)—the international financial institutions that oversaw transition—planned for the construction of free market systems across the postsocialist world. It shows they relied heavily on reforms designed for Latin America after the debt crisis of the 1980s, placing great faith in market mechanisms and underestimating the postcommunist social context. The most innovative reform, mass privatization, enabled corrupt institutions and individuals to act as predators in asymmetric exchanges. While policymakers planned to mitigate the impacts of neoliberal reforms on the poor through targeted social policies, reforms created an economic and social order based on widespread inequality.

Internationalization of family firms-challenges and opportunities in Russia

The family firms (FFs), especially the small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), play an instrumental role in the economic spectrum of the Russian economy with respect to their contribution to income, output, and employment, ceteris paribus. The FFs not only contribute the domestic business activities but also make a significant contribution to international business. Ever since the launch of the mass privatization program (MPP) in Russia during 1992–1994 numerous disruptions on the business and economic landscape of Russia have emerged, and as a result, the FFs in Russia have been experiencing several new opportunities and challenges in the international market. However, it is noticeable that corporate regulatory, and corporate governance systems do not even clearly define the FFs. The current study explores the following research objectives. First, the motivation of internationalization of FFs in Russia; second, their process of internationalization, and third, the problems and challenges faced by the FFs. Different theoretical perspectives have been discussed to problematize and analyze the research objectives of the study. The current qualitative study is based on the semi-structured interview method. As many as ten FF entrepreneurs, representing five different industries, have been analyzed. The findings show that there is neither clarity nor unanimity of the very meaning and understanding of FFs in Russia. The lack of regulated bank credit and the existence of a complex taxation system dissuade the FFs from investing in new ventures and undertaking innovative activities. Similarly, the government’s directives to set up business operations at certain specified business facilities, at the exorbitant costs though, has created downward pressure on the profitability of FFs. Many FFs have initiated their international business activities owing to their growing linkages with the external contingencies, developed over time. Similarly, internationalization has increased the competitiveness of the FFs in the Russian domestic market too.

Internationalization of family firms-challenges and opportunities in Russia

The family firms (FFs) play an instrumental role in the economic spectrum of the Russian economy with respect to their contribution to income, output, and employment, ceteris paribus. The FFs not only contribute the domestic business activities but also make a significant contribution to international business. Ever since the launch of the mass privatization program (MPP) in Russia during 1992–1994 numerous disruptions on the business and economic landscape of Russia have emerged, and as a result, the FFs in Russia have been experiencing several new opportunities and challenges in the international market. However, it is noticeable that corporate regulatory, and corporate governance systems do not even clearly define the FFs. The current study explores the following research objectives: first, the motivation of internationalization of family enterprises in Russia, second, their process of internationalization, and third, the problems and challenges faced by the family enterprises

Russiaʼs Mass Privatization in 1992–1994 (on the materials of St. Petersburg) Part 2

В статье представлен анализ чекового (ваучерного) этапа российской приватизации в 1992–1994 годах, особенности его осуществления на территории Санкт-Петербурга. Сформулированы характерные черты реформы собственности в России, ее видение командой реформаторов, а также основные пробелы и недостатки данной модели. Показан процесс формирования концепции приватизации, обозначены основные законы, ставшие ее правовым фундаментом. Отражена динамика реализации политики приватизации на фоне общественно-политической ситуации в стране. Затрагивается вопрос реакции парламента на проводимые преобразования. Выявлены основные последствия приватизации для разных отраслей экономики и социальной сферы российского общества. The article analyzes the so called voucher privatization (1992-1994) and focuses on its realization in the territory of St. Petersburg. The article characterizes Russian property reform as it was seen by its initiators and analyzes its limitations and disadvantages. The article traces the origin of the concept of privatization, analyzes its legal basis, its major laws and patterns. The article analyzes the dynamics of privatization policy against the background of the social and political situation in the country. The article analyzes the parliamentary attitudes to the initiated reforms. The article analyzes the consequences of privatization for economic and social spheres of Russian life.

RUSSIAN MASS PRIVATIZATION IN 1992–1994 (at the example of St. Petersburg)

В статье представлен анализ чекового (ваучерного) этапа российской приватизации в 1992–1994 годах, особенности его осуществления на территории Санкт-Петербурга. Сформулированы характерные черты реформы собственности в России, ее видение командой реформаторов, а также основные пробелы и недостатки данной модели. Показан процесс формирования концепции приватизации, обозначены основные законы, ставшие правовым фундаментом приватизации. Отражена динамика реализации политики приватизации на фоне общественно-политической ситуации в стране. Затрагивается вопрос реакции парламента на проводимые преобразования. Выявлены основные последствия приватизации для разных отраслей экономики и социальной сферы российского общества. The article analyzes the period of voucher privatization in Russia in 1992–1994 and focuses on the unraveling of the program in St. Petersburg. It treats some characteristic features of economic reforms in Russia and deals with some drawbacks of the policy. The article focuses on the legal principles of privatization, describes the process of privatization and the political climate of the period. It treats the parliament’s reaction to the economic reforms and assesses the effect of privatization on Russian economics and society.

Why China’s Economic Reforms Differ: The M-Form Hierarchy and Entry/Expansion of the Non-State Sector

China’s thirteen years of economic reforms (1979-1991) have achieved an average GNP annual growth rate of 8.6%. What makes China’s reforms differ from those of Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union is the sustained entry and expansion of the non-state sector. We argue that the organization structure of the economy matters. Unlike their unitary hierarchical structure based on functional or specialization principles (the U-form), China’s hierarchical economy has been the multi-layer-multi-regional one mainly based on territorial principle (the deep M-form, or briefly, the M-form). Reforms have further decentralized the M-form economy along regional lines, which provided flexibility and opportunities for carrying out regional experiments, for the rise of non-state enterprises, and for the emergence of markets. This is why China’s non-state sector share of industrial output increased from 22% in 1978 to 47% in 1991 and its private sector’s share from zero to about 10%, both being achieved without mass privatization and changes in the political system.

The transition game: Toward a cultural economy of football in post-socialist China

Following decades of significant economic and political reform, a once-closed China has emerged as the world’s fastest growing and arguably most interconnected political economic system. In the context of what has been termed a “post-socialist” transition, China’s sport system has similarly undergone rapid marketization (bringing in market actors and action). In this article, we examine the changing state and function of football (soccer) within this period of post-socialist transition. We provide a critical analysis of recent (c. 2010–2017) private and state-based initiatives to develop the commercial viability, international interconnectivity, and cultural significance of football (soccer). Drawing upon theories of cultural economy as developed by the globalization theorist Arjun Appadurai, we provide an historical and conceptual investigation of the strategic efforts to nationally imagine football culture as, and within, transitioning China. To do this, we examine how state actors and private intermediaries have leveraged increases in high-profile player transfers, domestic franchise valuations, investment in foreign teams, development of player academies, overall youth and adult participation, and expanded media rights agreements to simultaneously economize Chinese football culture and culturalize the logics of commercial sport and free market capitalism more generally. In so doing, we map the various “scapes” through which people, capital, images, technologies, and ideologies have been set aflow and thereby frame new imaginings of mass privatization, mediation, and consumerism for a national football consuming public.