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I will be analyzing the case study titled The Russia Puzzle, which discusses the current issues dealing

in terms of the economics of Russia under Vladimir Putins current rule. 1. Facts: - After the collapse of the former USSR, Russia had reformed into a democratic state, changing from the ideology of socialism towards a more capitalist approach and economy with mostly private firms being led for the past 10 years has been led by two presidents, Yelstin and Putin. - Under the ruling of Yelstin's in 1990, Russia was "partly free" and the country experienced a catastrophic economic decline. However when Putin was put to power, there was practically a boost of 7% in yearly growth. Now with Russia having major sales and large prices for the sale of oil, now Russia belongs to the BRICS, consisting of Brazil, Russia, India and China, which are the fastest growing countries in terms of economies at the present moment. - From the change of communist to capitalist, it was a transition where people did not know how to react and as a result, the richest people in Russia were the oligarchs who took the opportunity and the right to possess private property. At some moment in time 60% of Russia's total market capitalization was owned by the top 10 rich Russian families, and now the most billionaires living together in one country or city belongs to Moscow, Russia. - The Putin government is in favor of protecting the Oligarchs and their property, as when Yelstin was ruling, they threatened to politically challenge the government since they have the means and capital to stir problems. However it is said that the emergence of Oligarchs have contributed to Russia's growth and having a political weight worldwide, but at the same time, they have created much resentment towards the fact that there is a huge imbalance in income equality. -Russia is changing into a more authoritarian state under Putin. Whilst they are creating a larger economic power, at the same time there is much unrest from the rest of the world in the way Russia is showing off and using their power. From a socialist state with a communist party and high level of corruption, now lies the issue with an unfair allotment of allocation of power and money to oligarchs in comparison to the rest of the general population. By following in the footsteps of its western counterparts, perhaps giving access to credit cards, loans, mortgages to its citizens can create lucrative and more equal opportunities for other Russian firms and citizens. 2. Issues to be resolved - The main problem to be resolved is that the world is puzzling over whether Putin in power can make a difference in a positive or negative way in terms of the direction of the current Russian economic problem. Even though he has changed the country dramatically and Russia is more leaning towards a capitalist state, the question that remains is whether it will continue to be a democracy and have the underlying values of a democracy, or whether it is seemingly looking more and more so like the communist state it used to be. - The second big issue is the unbalance of allocated income between the oligarchs and the rest of the Russian population. Due to the rights to private property which the oligarchs had taken given the opportunity, the question is whether the government should protect their rights to these properties even if they were illegally obtained. 3. Theory to be applied: Soviets Management Process (p.134-p140) (Edfelt). According to Hofstedes dimension of culture theory Russia culture has: Medium individualism ,high uncertainty avoidance, high power distance, medium masculinity and a short-term time horizon. Also forces and factors that influence management decisions can also be compared with Putins way of controlling the current economic situation. 4. Alternate Solutions: It is questioned whether the government should protect or confiscate the rights of ownership of private property to the oligarchs, or whether it should be redistributed it equally back to the people? Having previously mentioned, this was due from the transition to a more capitalist approach and a democracy. During this transition, the oligarchs took opportunity and took control of these rights to private

property, which essentially made them very big. Although it is said that the oligarchs had brought exponential growth to the Russian economy and played an important role, I believe that they should not have the complete right to own these properties and unfairly imbalance the allocation of income towards the remainder of the Russian population. The government should remove these rights from these Oligarchs, and if Russia is truly a democracy, then there should be a more fair approach and as a result, the citizens and other smaller firms may have a chance to boost the economy and get their rightful share in the economy. As Russia has now joined the group of fast growing economic countries (BRIS), this has already put Russia in the spotlight as a major player in economics, and if handled correctly, perhaps Putin can and should remove some of the authoritarian approach to the country, and instead try to push Russias notfree economy and make a change. Also if Russia had already coveted into a more capitalist country, then by following their European counterparts, they should perhaps also push new laws into the current systems that could remove the unfair income difference between oligarchs and the citizens, such as introducing tax. 5. Recommendations/Opinion In my opinion, I believe that Putin has pushed the country into a slightly better condition than it was with the former Soviet Union, and as we know, the form of Communism and socialism has been somewhat abolished. However, now it is turning more into an authoritarian state, and that can have many negative impacts on the economy. Of course, it takes time to adjust, however if Putin changes his way of thinking and completely pushes for a democratic state, whilst at the same time following the way other high economic countries are doing their dealings and boosting their economies, I believe that Putin can definitely make a difference for Russia. In terms of following their Western counterparts in their footprints, if Russia introduced tools such as higher tax for the oligarchs, whilst giving citizens a more fair approach with tools such as credit cards, loans, bonds, etc, then Russia as a whole would definitely improve economically. 6. References: 1. Edfelt B. Ralph, Global comparative management: a functional approach (2010) SAGE publication. 2. Putin, V., (2012), Democracy and the quality of government, retrieved from http://premier.gov.ru/eng/events/news/18006/

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