Russia, independent since 1991, is the 8th largest consumer market in the world with a population of 142m. It is a vast country (nearly twice as large as the USA) spanning nine time zones and has vast natural resources including oil and gas, timber, furs, precious and nonferrous metals. It comprises 83 federal areas and 12 economic regions and major cities include Moscow (pop. 10.4 million), St. Petersburg (4.6 million), Novosibirsk (1.4 million) and Nizhniy Novgorod (1.3 million).
Main exports include Oil and oil products, natural gas, wood and wood products, metals, chemicals, weapons and military equipment. Domestically it has strong industrial bases in automobiles, trucks, trains, agricultural equipment, advanced aircraft, aerospace, machine and equipment products; mining and extractive industry; medical and scientific instruments; construction equipment. Its workforce is estimated at 76 million comprising services 58.1%, industry 31.9% and agriculture 10%.
InterSearch has a large office in Moscow headed by Ms Yulia Zabazarnykh:
What are the main sectors and industries in your country?
Oil&Gas, industrial sector, FMCG, retail, IT
Do you provide other services to clients?
Yes, HR surveys, Graduate programs, outstaffing
How much international work do you do?
A lot of searches for international companies in Russia. There are at least 50% of international companies among our clients
What projects are you working on at the moment?
General Managers, Marketing Directors, Regional Directors, BDMs, CFO, Chief Accountants, Sales Managers, HR Directors, Lawyers, etc. Totally we are working on more than 300 assignments at the moment.
How has the market changed in the last three years?
There was a significant economic growth in Russia within the period between 2006-2008, until Autumn, 2008. Then we suffered from Crisis for about nine-ten months, but since summer, 2009, economics has been recovering, and for now the market is rather stable, although we have not reached the level of the beginning of 2008 yet.
As leader of the firm how do you spend your time?
I develop business and marketing strategy of the company and long-terms plans. I also manage the team of consultants, and I deal with key clients. There are four partners in InterSearch Russia/Kontakt Agency, and each of us is responsible for our own practice.
