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The improvement of the investment climate in Russia and its positive effect on the inflow of foreign direct investment into the country's economy is being declared at the highest levels of the Russian government as an important objective for the further economic development of the country. One of the most important instruments for that improvement should be the consideration of foreign investor's opinions and ideas and reaction to the most urgent and critical issues which serve as obstacles to their investment activities in Russia. This paper considers the case of Japanese investors in Russia. It is based on the results of a survey of Japanese companies doing business in Russia (members of the Japanese Business Club Moscow) and content analysis of a set of interviews with the representatives of the Japanese business and academic community and also of non-governmental organizations. We identify which factors attract Japanese capital to Russia and which hinder investment activities. Studying Japanese investment in Russia reveals the particular challenges and obstacles that make Japanese companies reluctant to engage in business activities in Russia. The research reveals and systemizes the factors restricting the development of investment cooperation and their roots, and identifies possible ways of overcoming these challenges. The analysis shows that the constraining factors can be divided into 3 groups by the origin: external – associated with the problems of the investment climate in Russia, internal – associated with specific features of the Japanese production and management system, and other factors – non-economic factors which mainly concern business culture and informational issues.

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This paper provides a contribution to the knowledge of contract administration by examining the role of personal and organization characteristics in project success. The research described in this paper examines the effects that personal and organizational characteristics of procurement professionals have on project success, specifically on the frequency and severity 23 of problems experienced for different types of contracts. The analysis is based on the data collected from a survey of National Institute of Government Purchasing (NIGP) members, conducted by Davison and Sebastian in 2011. The survey included questions on the frequency and severity of contract problems over a variety of contracts and questions related to the characteristics of the respondents and their organization. A set of personal and organizational characteristics (ex. organization type, current position, the length of service in procurement, the length of service in current position, highest level of education, certificates that respondent possesses, the approximate annual volume of purchases made by the respondent and his/her entire agency etc.) were analyzed with contingency tables methodology to examine any relationship to the frequency and severity of contract problems over a variety of contract types.We assume that certain personal characteristics may influence the frequency of occurrence and the severity of contract administration problems for particular types of contracts. The research results may provide procurement professionals and organizations information on the characteristics that contribute most to project success.

The paper analyzes the shifts in government priorities in terms of support of big and medium manufacturing enterprises amid 2008—2009 and 2014—2015 crises. Based on the data of 2009, 2014 and 2018 surveys of Russian manufacturing firms, using logit regressions we identify factors that affect the receipt of financial and organizational support at different levels of government. The analysis shows that in 2012—2013 the share of manufacturing firms that received state support shrank significantly as compared to 2007—2008; moreover, the support concentrated on enterprises that had access to lobbying resource (such as state participation in the ownership or business associations membership). In 2016—2017 the scale of state support coverage recovered. However, the support at all levels of government was provided to firms that carried out investment and provided assistance to regional or local authorities in social development of the region, while the factor of state participation in the ownership became insignificant. The paper provides possible explanation for these shifts in the criteria of state support provision in Russia.