Over the past twenty years, stereotypes about Russia have changed significantly. Whereas previously they were formed by foreigners coming to the country, now it is done by Russian IT-specialists doing business on the Internet all over the world.
"Vodka, frost, bears, nesting dolls, earflaps - all of this is a thing of the past. Carders, phishers, hackers, cheap scripts, shadow schemes, currencies, WebMoney - that's what Russia is now associated with" - this conclusion is made by Ecommerce Journal, trying to understand the intricacies of the mysterious Russian character.
According to the authors of the publication, Russians love ICQ, do not like telephone conversations, and in cases appreciate the beauty and quick profits. Everyone who plans to do business with Russians, the edition recommends not to give in to the stereotypes of the past. First of all, it should be taken into account that business makes sense for the majority of Russians if it makes a profit of more than 50% and sometimes 100%, notes Ecommerce Journal. Discussing with the Russians an interesting but complex project with a profit of 20%, we should expect a refusal: Russian partners do not like to wait, they prefer to work on a large scale, even with investments, continues the publication.
In addition, in the eyes of the western average Russian looks like people who do not like documents, formalities, people who may simply not understand the proposals to fix the business relationship on paper.
According to the authors of the article, the majority of IT-specialists from Russia are convinced that paper only slows down the creative process and brings a certain coldness to friendly relations. At the same time, Russian partners value beauty very much, so, as the magazine warns, designers should not, for example, show projects, even if they are successful, but poor from an aesthetic point of view.
"Typical Russians do not like phone calls, preferring MSN, Yahoo, QQ, Skype to one single program - ICQ. And it is possible to calculate them on several signs: the address on Gmail, a log with the fixed IP-addresses of the exotic countries and five- or six-digit number ICQ, - writes Ecommerce Journal. - Russians also do not like to complicate life with paperwork, avoiding documents and formalities. In some cases, they may simply not understand the offer to draw up a partnership on paper.
The main rule of communication with Russian partners is never to insist on telephone conversations, notes Ecommerce Journal. "Of course, your partner knows English, and well enough to discuss with you a lot of things, but if you do business online, remember that Russian IT-specialists consider communication in close connection with the Internet protocols", - writes the edition.
The phenomenon of holidays is not spared. Western colleagues wonder why the whole country has been plunging into the New Year celebrations for several weeks since December 31, and come to the conclusion that the absence of Russian partners in the area of reach during this time should be taken as a given.
However, the authors of the article conclude that there should be no problems with working with partners from Russia if they are treated with a certain degree of respect and do not try to change them - instead, the authors believe, you should understand the mysterious Russian soul.