Red Tape : Adventure Capitalism in the New Russia
by By Thomas, Bill and Sutherland, Charles
Category: Business & Economics , General

Not long ago the word for doing business in the former Soviet Union was synonymous with criminality. Not anymore. In the New Russia it's perfectly legal - and can be extremely lucrative. But that doesn't mean it's easy, especially for Americans, whom most Russians view as an amalgam of Santa Claus and the Devil.The product of firsthand experience and observation, Red Tape cuts through the mystery and the muddle of what's going on in a part of the world that went from 1984 to Alice in Wonderland almost overnight. With razor wit and hardearned wisdom, the authors spotlight the pitfalls as well as the hidden economic potential awaiting entrepreneurs in the former Land of Lenin. They provide insight and offer answers as important as they are elusive to anyone trying to deal with or simply understand the legacy of seventy-four years of Communism.Here, then, is an eye-opening account of a world where banks steal from their depositors with an elan that would make our own S&Ls blush; where trade laws can change on a daily basis and nobody, including the government, is entirely sure who's in charge; where lawyers have nothing to do with laws, which in any case seldom operate; where accounting is an art of illusion; where former Communist bosses have rushed to become robber barons; where currency is worth less than monopoly money, and the rules of the game are constantly changing; where the black market is the heart of free enterprise, and the military peddles defense industry secrets to anyone who'll buy; where doing lunch is the first lesson in doing business; and above all, where truth is the rarest and least valued of commodities.Red Tape offers cautionary tales of Western entrepreneurs who could swap war stories with Napoleon in Moscow, as well as such stunning success stories as those of Pepsico and McDonald's. Covering all the bases, there are profiles of leading Russian wheeler-dealers; a cram course in Russian psychology; a marvelous chapter on the emerging Russian woman; and delightfully, definitively more.There is everything, in short, to make Red Tape stand alone as the essential guide to making dollars and sense out of Russia today.