86% of Russian businessmen fought against the crisis by cutting costs, 70% - by developing new products and 66% - by entering new markets.
MOSCOW, May 24, 2010. Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) presents the data of the yearly opinion poll on problems Russian business faces. The opinion poll commissioned by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs was conducted in August-September 2009 among top managers and owners of private companies operating in industry and construction, transport and communications, service and trade spheres.
During the crisis most enterprises went beyond their self protection, showing strong will to develop. Many companies cut costs (86%), tried to adapt to the situation by developing new products and technologies (70 %), searching for new markets (66 %), crediting suppliers and buyers (40 %) and et cet.; the others tried to acquire new equipment and upgrade production (57 %), make repairs, reconstruction of new premises. Twenty percent of enterprises reported construction of new premises; the number of employees grew up by 10 % at 16% of companies.
The tree waves of opinion polls conducted in 2007-2009 showed that the Russian business is mostly concerned over the following five problems: two problems deal with the production process maintenance; the other three ones are related to the interaction between business and authorities. Whereas in pre-crisis 2008 most of problems Russians business had dealt with the lack of the qualified personnel (60 %) and inflation (52 %), in 2009 it was problems concerning the interaction between business and power, such as corruption (62 %) and high administrative barriers (53 %). It should be noted that recession eased the lack of qualified labor force and inflation.
The opinion polls were commissioned by the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in and conducted in August-September 2009. 1200 entrepreneurs (large, middle and small enterprises) representing three 3 economic macro sectors (industry and construction, transport and communications, service and trade) were interviewed in 40 regions of Russia.
Has your enterprise done anything stated below over the recent month to combat crisis? (close-ended question, one answer per each position) | |||
| Yes | No | Hard to tell |
Measures to cut costs | 86 | 11 | 3 |
New products and technologies development | 70 | 29 | 2 |
Entering new markets | 66 | 30 | 3 |
Acquisition of new equipment , modernization of production technology | 57 | 40 | 3 |
Repairs and reconstruction of the premises | 53 | 44 | 3 |
Reducing the number of employees by more than 10% | 44 | 54 | 2 |
Suppliers and buyers credits | 40 | 55 | 6 |
State procurement supplies | 34 | 58 | 8 |
Export of goods and services | 31 | 64 | 5 |
Construction of new houses | 20 | 77 | 3 |
Attraction of foreign investment | 18 | 75 | 7 |
Increasing the number of employees by more than 10% | 16 | 81 | 2 |
In your opinion, what are most crucial problems that impede business in Russia? (Close-ended question not more than five answers, given are statements that gained not less than 5%) | |||
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 |
Corruption on all level of authorities | 43 | 42 | 62 |
High administrative barriers | 42 | 41 | 53 |
Inflation | 37 | 52 | 47 |
High taxes/ineffective ax management policy | 45 | 43 | 45 |
Lack of qualified personnel | 52 | 60 | 40 |
Insufficient protection of property and contract rights | 24 | 23 | 35 |
Unfair competition | 29 | 29 | 29 |
Ineffective judicial system | 16 | 15 | 24 |
Ineffective state management | 18 | 15 | 16 |
High commodity export dependence | 12 | 14 | 14 |
Political uncertainty | 7 | 6 | 13 |
Access to external funding difficulties | 15 | 17 | 13 |
Low quality of corporate management | 11 | 9 | 12 |
No clear development goals for the country | 10 | 10 | 9 |
Note: Using materials from the site www.wciom.ru or www.wciom.com, as well as distributed by VCIOM, the reference to the source (or hyperlink for the electronic media) is obligatory!