Strategies for international business growth in Russia/CIS-region

This work proposes a general approach for drawing up a business growth strategy for the CIS region. Key elements of this paper include broad analysis of the external and internal environment, e.g. comprehensive market research, business trends, and the competitive situation, macroeconomic development, labour market, risks, barriers and regulations. In terms of the internal environment, the thesis evaluates the company's internal resources and capabilities, strengths and weaknesses. As a result of the analysis, the CIS region has been evaluated as being a high potential, dynamically growing region, in particular due to major governmental projects in infrastructure and energy efficiency, but also due to increasing industrial automation as the region catches up with other developed countries. Based on the results, the business unit has defined goals to ten-fold current sales over a five-year period. The bundle of main drivers for this growth is detailed in this paper. Finally, this work presents a fundamental approach for drawing up a business growth plan for CIS, which is structured and based on theory is essentially pragmatic, ready-to-use and focussed on the long term.