ABSTRACT
This chapter investigates the development of trust in relationships between expatriate and Russian staff working in east-west enterprises in Russia. Investigations typically concentrate on the challenges that western personnel working with Russian partners find themselves facing and there is a good deal of consistency of findings. Western investors entering Russia often found themselves dealing with the opaque structures arising out of previous networks between managers and the old state bureaucracy. For western investors entering the Russian business environment during the 1990s, this historical legacy was of tremendous importance. Russian workers have recognized little reward for job performance since promotions were tied to more socio-political considerations than on-the-job effort. The chapter surveys some key features of the Soviet and post-Soviet system as it impacted on foreign investors entering Russia in the 1990s - the assumptions upon which the old system rested and that it embodied, and the behaviours it engendered both under communism and thereafter.
