Received opinion maintains that Russian and Western managers are poles apart — but until recently, no one had done much research into the subject. Executive search company Slava/IIC Partners surveyed a number of companies to find out what they think of Russian and foreign management styles.

Slava/IIC Partners presented the results of their research on competition between locals and foreigners on the Russian managerial labor market at the American Chamber of Commerce Human Resource Committee meeting held on March 1, 2001.

Vyacheslav Volkov, director of Slava/IIC Partners, said 40 large companies — mainly based in Europe and the United States — were studied. With the help of a confidential questionnaire, the company compiled "general portraits" of local and foreign managers, showing their strong and weak points.

According to this research, an average foreign manager knows Western standards of business, has good people-management skills, ability in strategic-planning and a high level of business ethics. However, foreign managers are considered to be expensive, usually oriented toward the short-term and having a poor understanding of local culture and a lack of Russian language skills.

Among the faults of local managers, the research identified poor business ethics, a lack of international experience and weak strategic planning skills. However, the majority of Russian and foreign respondents agreed that local managers have a "good understanding of the local business environment, culture and mentality," that they can establish and support useful local contacts, cost less and typically make long-term commitments.

"In many cases, locals are better at handling the job, especially in certain areas requiring extensive work with the population, like sales or market research or financial positions dealing with tax inspections, etc.," Volkov said. "Their education, experience and mentality just better fit some positions."