From Reading Pushkin to Investigating Russian Business-state Relations

Yuko Adachi, Associate Professor at Sophia University (Tokyo, Japan), is currently a visiting researcher at HSE. Her book ‘Building Big Business in Russia’ published in 2010 explains the privatization and transformation of Russia into a market economy. We asked her to tell us about her interest in Russia for the HSE News service.

— Why have you been interested in Russia?

— As you can see from the title of the book, my research interest has been in the area of the Russian economy and business, which has gone through tremendous transformation since the onset of market reforms. Originally, however, my interest in Russia goes back to my high school years, when I heard a poetry reading – it was Pushkin’s poems – in the Russian language. Though I could hardly understand anything then, it was so beautiful that I decided to study the language in college. Since that time, Russia continues to be a fascinating country for me as a researcher.

— What are your plans for your current visit to HSE?

— I am currently working on a project that looks into the business-state relationship in Russia since the year 2000, focusing on developments in the natural resources sector of the Russian economy. During my stay in Moscow, I would like to collect additional data and information, and conduct some interviews.

— How could you evaluate the partnership with HSE?

— I truly appreciate the cooperation and partnership with HSE. The school has such highly qualified, well-established scholars and specialists. I feel fortunate to be able to have this research opportunity at HSE with IIMS, and I am particularly grateful to Andrei Aleksandrovich Yakovlev, the director of IIMS, and to Tatiana Grigorievna Dolgopiatova, who has helped me with my research from the time when I was still a graduate student.

— How did your cooperation with HSE begin?

— When I was doing my PhD at the University of London, I spent a couple of months in Moscow, researching informal practices in Russia and Russia’s corporate governance. During that period, I received valuable advice and greatly benefited from discussions on my research with scholars at HSE, in particular Vadim Valerievich Radaev and Tatiana Grigorievna as I mentioned above. So, in a way, cooperation with HSE goes way back – about 10 years.

— What peculiarities do investigating Russian business and economics have, compared with that in Japan, the USA or European countries?

— Russia has undergone a systemic transformation over the years since the onset of market-oriented reform in the early 1990s, and when investigating Russian economy and business, I think it is crucial to take into account Russia’s Soviet past and legacy, and the fact that Russia’s systemic change has taken place under the circumstances of an increasingly globalizing world.

— How do you estimate prospects of partnership in big business between Russia and Japan?

— I think that there is a growing interest in Russia from the Japanese business community. Despite the well known issues with the investment climate among others, there is an increasing number of Japanese manufacturing companies operating in Russia, in St Petersburg, Moscow, Nizhny Novgorod, Samara, Yaroslavl, Kaluga, Lipetsk, etc. Also there are partnerships in the energy sector between Japanese and Russian businesses. As you probably know, the Prime Minister will visit Russia at the end of April, making it the first official visit to Russia in 10 years by a Japanese premier. It will be important to follow and evaluate how the prospects of partnership could further develop.

— What's the most exciting part of being in Moscow for you?

— I have some very good friends in Moscow, and it is always very nice to spend some time with them. From the research perspective, it may sound strange but just being here does make a difference. Reading a newspaper article about, say, Russian oil companies here in Moscow gives you additional value, as it were, which would not be available in Tokyo.

— Do you follow Russian literature? If yes, what do you read and what do you like?

— At the moment, unfortunately I do not really follow Russian literature. When I was studying Russian as an undergraduate, my favorites included such works as ‘The Master and Margarita’, ‘A Hero of Our Time’, and ‘We’. By the way, although it is not about Russian literature, have you heard of or watched ‘Dersu Uzala’, a Russian-Japanese film directed by Akira Kurosawa based on Arsenyev’s memoir? If not, please do!

Interview by Victoria Nossik and Anna Chernyakhovskaya for HSE News Service