Vodka, Swearing and Camel Milk: What you need to know about doing business in Russia and CIS

Posted on 31/10/2013 By Norbar

After five years working as a sales manager in Lithuania and Latvia, I am now facing the challenge of being Business Development Manager at Norbar Torque Tools in Banbury, Oxfordshire, responsible for Russian speaking countries and the Baltic States. While working in Lithuania and Latvia, I learned a lot about the ways of doing business in both Baltic and Russian cultures. In the last 8 months I have acquired plenty of experience travelling in Russian speaking countries - particularly Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan. The knowledge I have gained here has been fascinating and sometimes very challenging.   Take for example the business dinner (which in my opinion is one of the most important parts of my work). What do you think the dress code is there? Pretty formal? No. In Russian and Baltic cultures there are no dress codes! People can come to a business dinner just wearing shorts and t-shirt and feel very relaxed about that. However, if it is your first meeting, or a meeting with the board, they wou ...

Popular tags: Norbar, torque wrench, torque tools, Russia business, Russian economy, Russian trade, torque