Enterprise Restructuring in the Context of Urban Transition: Analysis of Company Towns in Russia

This paper examines Russian enterprise reforms in the context of urban changes. The first part includes an overview of urban formation unique to Russia and depicts the key features of urbanization; focusing on company towns often called 'town-building enterprises' or 'mono-profiling towns'. The author emphasizes how the uniqueness of this type of enterprise delayed the restructuring process for both private enterprises and public institutions. Nevertheless, it concludes that the relationship between enterprises and local communities, which was previously constructed symbiotically, has changed. The second part focuses on the impact of urban infrastructure on enterprise reforms. The lack of investment in Russia has led to existing fixed capital facing obsolescence while the municipalization of enterprise-owned urban infrastructure looks set to exacerbate the situation. Although many Russian enterprises retain some social assets at hand to mitigate the impacts of economic reforms in some respects, 'urban infrastructure hoarding', the other side of the 'labor hoarding' characteristic of Russian enterprises, may lead to more serious social problems. The author points out that a potential lack of investment in urban infrastructure by these enterprises, a 'merciful death' in other words, can represent a means of enterprise restructuring.