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Maria Werner
Sydsvenskan , Sweden , Oct 6 , 2001
Our main problem is the image Russia has in the Western countries. There is an unwarranted fear to make business and invest money here. Western companies must give up watching TV-programmes and movies where all Russians are depicted as criminals, - says Alexander Egorov, Director General for the Russian company Reksoft, which develops software.
He belongs to the new generation of young Russian businessmen and managers, who travelled a lot, speak several foreign languages, know rules for market economy and have accepted Western business culture. He started his company ten years ago together with two former classmates from St. Petersburg Institute of technology specialised in aviation- and space equipment.
-- We had to do something to earn money, he says. It was an extremely tough period for Russia. There was no free market, shops were empty, and nobody had money. IT and telecommunications was one of the branches that were developing most quickly, but the companies still were not big in size. Reksoft had been developing slowly. Today the company has 140 employees, 35 million SEK turnover and 6 million SEK income.
- We could be rich today, but we are not, - says Alexander Egorov. It is hard to get money for investments in Russia. We have to reinvest our income all the time.
- We went in for the development of computer programmes because of Russian weak economy. Our products were designed for foreign companies intending to reduce their expenses.
- It is three or four times cheaper here, but it does not mean that the products are of bad quality, - says Alexander Egorov, who believes that this advantage in the competition will get more and more important in the future.
- It is like a racing for services which can attract client's attention for the new mobile system 3G, but as the IT-market is weakened, telecom enterprises in the West must decrease their expenses for development. Reksoft did not have any Swedish principals yet, but Alexander Egorov hopes to establish good contacts during the visit of Swedish Royal family to Russia next week. During the visit Swedish Trade Council will organise meetings between Swedish companies and Russian computer- and software enterprises in St. Petersburg.
- The Swedish market is the clearest for us, because Sweden is so near, - says Alexander Egorov. However, in his point of view, Russia's bad image impedes company's expansion. Reksoft has been developing software for the company Ascom from Switzerland for several years, but they were not allowed to mention it because of marketing reasons until 1997.
- They did not dare to say that they co-operated with a Russian company, - says Alexander Egorov. Economical crisis, political instability, unclear laws and tax rules, problem with customs, corruption and criminality, bad infrastructure, bureaucracy and different business culture all this is just some of the problems associated with Russia in the Western countries. But Alexander Egorov and other people asked believe that this frightening picture is no longer correct. The Russian economy has revived quickly after 1998 crisis, first of all, because of higher prices for gas and oil and also because of devaluation of rouble.
- This boom is forgotten, - says Mikhail Stohr, chief of Swedish Trade Council in Russia. Industry production went up by 10 % last year, and BNP increased by 8,5 %. The Russian rouble is more stable than the Swedish crown against US-dollar. The potential here is great. The market is not fully satisfied and the competition is lower than in the West. Many companies became bankrupts 1998, but the crisis was a wholesome sanitation for the Russian economy. Unreliable managers who got valuable premises for bargain prices during privatisation disappeared. When purchasing power in Russia vanished in one night and selling of expensive imported products decreased dramatically, Russian companies also got a chance to expand on the local market. Criminality in Russia has reduced since 1990 and private enterprises do not see it as a great problem. Corruption is on the contrary still widespread.
- The reason of it is that all this big grey crowd of officials has so low salaries, - says Mikhail Stohr. If you earn 400 Swedish crowns a month, it is hard to be honest. It is possible to register a company without bribes, but it will take 2,5 months instead of one week. Alexander Egorov thinks, that this far-reaching bureaucracy is the worst. For example, his company should relate every phone call abroad with a specific contract in order to reduce taxes.
- This is the remainder of Soviet times when it was not possible to make calls abroad without a special permission, - says Alexander Egorov. There are a lot of such small difficulties, but we have to remember that we are witnessing the period of transformation from communism to the free market. Russia's president Vladimir Putin has started to simplify business. Only this year the new code of land laws, which makes possible private ownership of land, as well as new income taxes and corporation taxes, were carried out, and the Government promised more reforms.
- Putin has also shown that governing and business are two different things, - says Ravil Zagertdinov, vice editor-in-chief for newspaper Delovoj Peterburg (Business St. Petersburg). During Yeltzin's time businessmen tried to rule the country. In 1991 nine of ten Russians thought that all businessmen were criminals. Now our mentality is changing. Alexander Egorov does not believe that there are any great cultural differences between Russians and Swedes.
- I feel at home in Stockholm just as I do in Russia, - he says, - I have an Ericsson mobile phone, I used to drive a Saab, and my favourite music is Abba and Roxette.
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I FEEL AT HOME STOCKHOLM JUST AS I DO IN RUSSIA ...
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