| Summary: | This research project describes Russia’s much improved recent record as a destination for foreign investments. Overview of economical and political historical development and current situation leads to a conclusion that Russia is a country with great potential. The project analyzes the business cooperation between Nordic countries (Norway, Sweden and Iceland) and Russia. Such Nordic-Russian cooperation has a long history due to geographic closeness. Northern Norway has a border with Russia, which enhances business relationship between two countries, especially related to oil industry due to common interest in exploring Arctic areas. Russia has a great potential for foreign investors, foremost due to its rapid economic development over the last two decades, increasing affluent middle class and recently obtained WTO membership. The country has a vast territory with enormous natural resources, has a rich cultural heritage and possesses valuable human capital. In this research the investment and business environment in Russia is investigated providing information about current legislation and future outlooks. Russian business culture is also explored. Russia was finally granted WTO membership in 2011, after 18 years of negotiations. WTO membership is expected to speed up reforms and to have overall positive influence on the business environment in Russia. In this research the indirect influences of Russia’s WTO entry on foreign investments are discussed in details. A comparative analysis is also done on Russia’s and China’s WTO entry in 2001 and tried to give a picture of possible influences of the membership on Russia. The aim of the research project is to investigate the operational challenges Nordic companies face in Russia, and give recommendations on how to overcome those challenges. A qualitative research was chosen in order to investigate the challenges and answer the research questions. The research was conducted with in-depth interviews with respondents from Nordic companies and experts within the subject ...
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