A firm, call it RussCo LLP, provides professional services to U.S.
companies doing business in Russia and to Russian companies doing
business in the U.S. (not Canada, not Mexico, not Ukraine, just
U.S.-Russia).

How could RussCo go about identifying business investment trends and
opportunities between Russia and the U.S., for purposes of targeting
their marketing efforts at certain industries, or at companies engaged
in certain types of activities?

Looking for commentaries, databases, government reports, and/or free
and fee-based analysis that would help RussCo get their arms around
where the opportunities or growth areas are, with an eye toward
targeting key industries or market segments, allocating their
marketing budget, refining their message, and retooling their
capabilities.

Please ask for Clarification *before* answering if the question is
unclear.

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 28 Jul 2003 16:57 PDT

Are you familiar with the enormous resources made available by the US
government on the very topic of doing business in and with Russia?

For instance, there are recent government reports (just to name a few)
on:

--detailed reports on specific industry sectors in Russia, including
The Furniture Industry, Automotive Chemicals, Polymers, Security
Systems, Agricultutal Equipment, Dental Supplies, Leasing,
Franchising, etc.

--overviews of Russian business trends including trade, project
financing, economic outlooks, legal trends (e.g. bankruptcy laws),
etc.

--links to tender offers, directories of contacts, upcoming
conferences, etc.

I would be glad to steer you to these resources if you think it would
be an appropriate answer to your question.

---

Clarification of Question by shikibobo-ga on 28 Jul 2003 17:18 PDT

No I am not familiar with the resources you mentioned, and yes that is
the kind of thing I am looking for. I want to know where the activity
is, both in terms of established/steady activity and also emerging
areas of growth.

Please ask for further clarification if needed. Thanks.

Hello again.

Several agencies of the US government are actively involved in
disseminating up-to-date market information for the benefit of
US-based businesses.  The information created by the government is
organized by country and posted on the web, where they also include
many links to information from other sources as well.

The two key sites you should visit for Russia are:


http://www.buyusa.gov/russia/en/

where you can then click on:

 
News & Events
Trade Leads
Upcoming Conferences
Recent Market Reports
Industry Highlights

and other key information sources.  

Also visit:

http://www.buyusainfo.net/body.cfm?dbf=&search_type2=int&country=Russia&logic=and&loadnav=no

for additional sources of market information. 

I believe these sites will provide you just the type of information
you are looking for, but if you have any questions, let me know by
posting a Request for Clarification, and I'll be glad to assist you
further.

Good luck in your ventures.

pafalafa-ga

---

Request for Answer Clarification by shikibobo-ga on 30 Jul 2003 11:36 PDT

Is there a way to identify specific companies that do business in or
with Russia, or specific Russian companies doing business in or with
the U.S.?

---

Clarification of Answer by pafalafa-ga on 30 Jul 2003 12:00 PDT

As far as identifying companies doing business in/with Russia the
answer is generally "Yes", but with a caveat...there are so many
potential sources of information, that it really is necessary to
define your focus a bit more.

Many of the reports at the links I gave you in the original answer
identify "who's who" for particular industry segments.

For instance, in the Furniture Sector report at:

http://www.buyusainfo.net/info.cfm?id=110023&keyx=207EFA8597BFA3FAF04C30458743473C&dbf=isa1&loadnav=no&archived=no&addid=

it includes the following:

U.S. Market position
 
The local experts evaluate the share of U.S. furniture in the Russian
market as not exceeding 2%. In general, U.S. home and office furniture
is represented in Russia by the following companies: Bush Industries,
Baker Furniture, Steelcase Inc., Nova International, O'Sullivan
Furniture, Sauder Woodworking company, Hekman and some others.

while a similar report on security systems in Russia says:

Fire-fighting equipment

In 2001, the market for fire-fighting segment equaled $20 million. The
most popular brands are: C&K Systems, Honeywell (U.S), eff-eff
(Germany), ESSER (Austria) Esmi (Finland), and Aritech (Belgium).
Visonic Group (Israel) has maintained its lead in this segment for
almost 7 years. The Group represents the whole assortment of related
products, from detectors to central stations.
Currently, the share of foreign equipment in this sub-sector
constitutes 50-60 percent, of which 35% belongs to German and Austrian
companies, 40%-U.S., and 25% shared between Finnish and Israel
companies.

------------------

The reports are each authored by a "sector specialist" who works for
the US Government.  The authors are identified at the front of the
report, and you can contact them for more detailed information.


I hope this is what you're looking for.  Let me know if I can be of
further assistance.