HSE Seminar for Rutgers Business School MBA Students
On 16th March HSE held a seminar for students from Rutgers Business School. The event was organised jointly by Alexander Settles and the HSE School of Business and Business Administration. Students from the faculty and guests from the US took part.
The seminar began with reports by embassy officials and US trade representatives on the current state of the Russian economy and the prospects for change. Almost everyone at the seminar was drawn into a discussion on the topics raised. The key conclusion reached by the speakers was that the increasingly difficult situation has been caused mainly by the fall in oil prices and only subsequently by institutional problems in the economy and western sanctions.
The next speaker, Gary Fowler, the founder and president of Analog Solutions told the students about the ways he managed to achieve his goals: to do any kind of business that would develop science and economics in Russia, to sponsor relevant startups and have the opportunity to wear the most unpretentious clothes (jeans and a black t-shirt).
In the afternoon, employees at Russian branches of American companies talked at a roundtable about their experience of working in Russia. Among them were Luc Jones of Antal Russia, Ron Lewin (Terra Link) and Ivan Protopopov (North Energy Ventures). Each of them described what they see as the national characteristics that influence Russian business. Luc Jones was the most enthralling in his explanation of how emotional management is so important for Russian businessmen when you want to clinch deals with them.
After the seminar the American guests talked about how much they liked the Russian capital, largely because of the warm weather outside and it being their first direct encounter with Moscow.