Management practices of Russian companies. Vol.1

© National Research University Higher School of Economics, 2022

SERGEY KUSHCH

Professor, Deputy Dean for Research, HSE Graduate School of Business

We are pleased to present you this first volume of compact cases produced by the Graduate School of Business at the National Research University Higher School of Economics, Moscow. With this book we start a large-scale project of creating the HSE Graduate Business School's collection of cases which will focus on the management practices of Russian companies and multinationals that are doing business in (and with) Russia. Although there are currently more than 100,000 cases in various international databases, very few of them focus on business management in Russia. Also, we at HSE GSB are interested in developing the case method further in order to adjust this traditionally key learning method of management education to the new challenges that business schools face – in Russia and elsewhere.

The work on this volume started in Autumn 2020, when 20 HSE business management faculty members (16 from GSB and 4 from the University campuses in St. Petersburg and Nizhniy Novgorod) formed a study group in a seminar, jointly organized by HSE GSB and The Case Centre to develop competencies in designing and writing compact cases. This type of cases is increasingly popular in the leading business schools around the globe. Conceptually, these are short cases – no more than five pages long – that may embrace a wide range of business issues in various fields, as it is with full-size business cases (the so-called Harvard cases). Thus, compact cases provide contextual backgrounds, connect theory with practice, and develop insights as well as full-format cases.

This first compact cases project has been the initial action of the newborn HSE GSB’ Russian Case Center which aims to promote integration of the case method not only at HSE but in the Russian business education at large – by creating a collection of Russian-centered cases, and also by accumulating and promoting advanced expertise in the case writing and the case method. The collaboration with The Case Centre (the world's largest clearing house and distributor of business cases) provided expert support during the entire case development process. This allowed HSE faculty to familiarize with international standards of all stages of producing high-quality compact cases, thus aiming at registering them at The Case Centre after appropriate procedures.

The collection covers a wide range of topics including Entrepreneurship, Strategic Management, Business Innovation, ESG and Business Ethics, Supply Chain Management, Brand and Talent Management. Furthermore, some cases considered such “hot” topic as the features of management during the COVID-19 pandemic.

This volume is published simultaneously in two languages – English and Russian – which means that these educational materials will be used not only at Russian-speaking, but also at international business schools. Publishing this set of cases in English also provides for registering them in The Case Centre database, thus making these cases available to professors and students all over the world.

This set of compact cases was developed for business school students of undergraduate and graduate programs, and also could be used in executive education, as well as by professional managers interested deepening understanding of effective management decisions in the Russian institutional and business context. Each case specifies the appropriate target group and programs where the case can be best applied.

I wish to express here my deep gratitude to the management and experts of the companies, who provided the information necessary for developing these compact cases, as well as all the project participants for their enthusiasm and extensive involvement in creating and presenting the cases. Special appreciation to Trevor Williamson from The Case Centre for his outstanding professionalism and careful attention to each case and to each member of the project group.

With great sincerity and best wishes to all the project participants.

TREVOR WILLIAMSON

Elmfield House Associates, on behalf of The Case Centre

My passion for and belief in the value of the case method approach to teaching and learning can be traced back to late September 1976 when I was inspired by my Marketing lecturer to engage in a marketing strategy case, Nike in China. I was a final year “Management Sciences” undergraduate at the University of Manchester Institute of Sciences&Technology. Little did I know at that moment in time that I would be here, 44 years later, trying my best to help faculty members at HSE Business School write “teaching”cases that will, hopefully, have an equally inspirational impact on the lives and careers of students with whom they and other lecturers come into contact with, around the world.

A career switch into Higher Education, sixteen years later in September 1992, provided the platform for me to practice the art and craft of delivering cases in the classroom with students of my own. I had been appointed Programme Leader for a “Financial Services” degree at Manchester Metropolitan University and was intent on releasing the potential of case studies to help them acquire skills and insights into business and management that no other approach to teaching and learning could deliver, in my view.