THE RUSSIAN CORPORATION: PATTERNS OF BEHAVIOR DURING THE CRISIS

This paper considers the behavior patterns of Russian firms before and during thefinancial crisis of 2008-2009. To facilitate comparison, we define three maingroups of actors at the firm level in the Russian economy – large, politicallyconnected companies; mid-size firms that expanded in the 2000s with the help ofadministrative support, and successful mid-size firms driven by market factors.Many of the large companies practiced highly risky financial policy andexperienced a decrease in efficiency before the crisis, and the managers andowners of some Russian firms have been engaging in opportunistic behaviorduring the crisis; the forms and causes of this behavior are analyzed here. Weconclude by proposing some policy implications with emphasis on supportingsuccessful mid-size firms driven by market factors....