Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!mailrus!cornell!uw-beaver!tektronix!pogo!curtc From: curtc@pogo.GPID.TEK.COM (Curtis Charles) Newsgroups: comp.misc Subject: Re: I'm pro Russian Message-ID: <6386@pogo.GPID.TEK.COM> Date: 2 Dec 88 19:47:53 GMT References: <5569@sdcsvax.UCSD.EDU> <2067@garth.UUCP> Reply-To: curtc@pogo.GPID.TEK.COM (Curtis Charles) Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Wilsonville, OR. Lines: 61 In article <2067@garth.UUCP> smryan@garth.UUCP (Steven Ryan) writes: >Next you'll be telling us if you cut a Russian, they'll bleed. ...and 'cause they're commies, they probably bleed RED too! Last year I did a term paper (in a grad level international marketing class) on (ta da) Trade with the Soviet Union. The US trades with the USSR to a much greater extent than you'd imagine. You can buy Coke-a-Cola in Moscow. You can buy a Big Mac in Leningrad. A great number of the oil field supplies used in the Soviet oil patch are designed and produced by American companies. But these commodities are a drop in the bucket compared to US agricultural exports to the USSR (no, wheat isn't #1; corn is!). The most interesting findings of my study were: 1) The Russians are very good at paying their bills, and there is very little country risk due to a very stable government. 2) The Russian market is virtually untapped, and is hungry for American goods. (Levi's draw $100 in Moscow!) 3) The Russians are a pain to deal with. What takes a week to close in Cincinatti takes 6-8 months to close in Moscow. They change the rules (bid on this, deliver that), and probably drive the hardest bargains in the world. Counter trade is factored into almost all deals (sure, we'll buy 100,000 gallons of Coke syrup, but you've got to take 25,000 pairs of size 42 dungarees in exchange!) Also, how does one place a value on a square block of Tblisi? Or in a workers time? Or on a factory in Moscow? (This is a problem because free market competitive factors aren't setting the prices, the government is. So how do you compare the governments prices to those elsewhere to figure out if the deal is OK?) 4) Petrostroika has opened up the possibility of joint ventures. The ground rules were that the venture had to be 51% owned by the USSR, couldn't break any Soviet labor laws, and had to be managed by Soviet citizens. It could make deals outside of the USSR, or sell to the internal market. 5) The US exports mostly agricultural (read renewable) products to the USSR, while the USSR exports mostly mineral resources (read non- renewable). 6) The Russians try hard to import as much know-how as possible, especially in the areas of (surprise) international banking and marketing. They are also interested in western business planning methods. (The joint ventures are designed to squeeze both know-how and capital out of the deal.) Business with the USSR is definately worth the hassle. The size of the market is enormous, and the rewards and tremendous. USENET access with the Russians? Sure, why not. Perhaps through this kind of communication we can start to dispel the myth that the Russians are blood thirsty killers with knives at our throats. You can bet a shot of Vodka that the KGB and CIA will both be listening in though. (In fact, if you subscribe to Pravda here in the states, our very own CIA will send you a monthly postcard (alternatively in English and Russian) telling you that they know!) So what! I haven't seen any really sensitive info go over the net; it's mostly just smalltalk (no caps :-). ------------------------------------------------------------------------ Curt Charles | "Let our swords run red with the blood of curtc@pogo.GPID.TEK.COM | infidels..." Sean Connery