Introduction

This chapter provides a short overview of the internationalisation of the Russian automotive industry. The character of work on the shop-floor in Russian industry shows a remarkable continuity despite the radical institutional reforms in the national economy since the early 1990s. Since the early 2000s, the popularity of the concepts of ‘lean production’ and ‘total quality management’ has been growing in the Russian manufacturing sector. The research on Russian industrial enterprises points at quality control as an important field of tensions in industrial work in the post-socialist period. Quality control and the use of remuneration and sanctions in Russia has significantly shaped the work situation on the shop-floor and given it an arbitrary and dramatic character. When speaking about quality management and production organisation standards that were being implemented at Russian enterprises, the study uses a rather broad definition of ‘standards’. The chapter also presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in this book.