It’s no longer a question of what we do; it’s a question of how we do that

I sat down with my managing editor the other day for a quick roundup of developments that had shaped things here at Marchmont over the past 12 months; and as we went on, him asking questions and me answering, broader matters of Russia’s advance down its long and winding path to innovation were discussed. It has been a tough year, but not without headway...

Another year of tumultuous progression to an innovation economy is drawing to a close. What have you observed that might be considered a distinctive feature? Are there any new elements in Russia’s regional innovation infrastructure?

I’d say that the chief accomplishment of the outgoing year were some real results from Russian Venture Company, Rusnano, Skolkovo and other state-run initiatives that are ready to support this innovation economy.

For example: it was just some months ago that Skolkovo announced that “already one hundred companies were accepted for residency in the hub.” And if I’m not mistaken this number jumped recently to about 250. Just a year ago they had only a few top employees at Skolkovo, and today there’s a whole team in place. 

There are five cluster funds and agreements to establish the Skolkovo Institute of Science and Technology together with MIT; and there are people working on those.

At Rusnano, hundreds of millions of dollars of revenue are being generated from projects that the firm has invested into in the nanotechnology sphere to create advanced manufacturing facilities working on nanocoatings, nanocosmetics and other things.

A year ago it was decided that Russian Venture Company had to start its Seed and Infrastructure Funds. Today, these Funds are operational. There are already three investments approved by RVC’s InfraFund and more by the Seed Fund—whereas five years ago the concept of RVC investing in such early-stage projects was far from any reality. RVC’s Seed Fund is also looking into pre-seed projects, and we at Marchmont are extremely interested in that area as that’s our focus.   

Which regions are in front in the advancement and which are trailing?

Tomsk is surely one of the leaders in Russia; Novosibirsk’s Akademgorogok is just fabulous. I think Nizhny Novgorod also has a good chance to be a leader with support from the administration and the Sistema Sarov techno-park and the creation of a pre-seed support and packaging center here in Nizhny Novgorod. If this comes to fruition, this will be a fantastic push for the Nizhny region. Other regions that have made huge strides include Kazan and Obninsk; of course, Moscow and St. Petersburg are taking leading roles.

Areas where I think there has been less progress but there’s huge potential would be Chelyabinsk, Astrakhan, Yekaterinburg and Tyumen.

The most important thing that we can see from our dialog across Russia is that the focus of the dialog has changed. It’s no longer a question of “what do we do?”; it’s a question of how we implement these things, how we can develop more business angel clubs, how we can channel private sector money into the development of innovation and support the infrastructure needed for that. And I think Marchmont has played an important role in helping shape this new dialog. Not the idea of “let’s build an innovation economy,” but “let’s think about what real impediments to that innovation economy are and how we overcome them.”

Is the state still the main player in the market, or are businesses and/or universities taking over?

The state is still the main player. The role of the government in this country is fundamentally critical to laying the right foundation for private investors to invest in innovation.

Universities are beginning to understand how to utilize the new laws such as Law 217, and there’s a growing body of evidence and case studies of success stories (and failures) allowing the authorities in Moscow to begin to amend laws to improve their efficiency.

The most important thing is that the private sector and the government sector in Russia need to understand how to work together to achieve common goals. Maybe in the old commodity economy the role of the government sat in the position to lead all efforts. In a modernized innovation-driven economy the role of the government is simply to properly motivate business owners to invest in modernization by establishing the rules of the game.

Are there any legislative moves that in your opinion could better bridge the current gaps between the state, science and business?

Absolutely! Tax policies, currency control laws and Central Bank laws are critical to be adjusted for the 21st century, revolving around electronic contracts without stamps, for example.

Young innovators need currency accounts to deal with global licensing companies. There must be ways for those young innovators not to resort to illicit activities but rather be comfortable in their home provincial towns working with local banks to be able to sell products and IP to global social networks and markets. The laws in Russia need to be fundamentally altered to lower the risk levels for individual entrepreneurs to jump into the game of business inside Russia, not outside.

I believe top-level authorities in Moscow deeply understand these problems. Unless there’s a new business-friendly set of laws in place in Russia within the next two or three years, the entire generation of entrepreneurial start-uppers may be pushed to leave this country, which would be a catastrophe to Russia.

The RF seems to be pushing innovative SMEs to look for export markets rather than domestic applications. Is this the right way to stimulate growth in the hi-tech sector?

Absolutely not! Pushing young innovative companies to sell abroad means pushing them to leave this country. The most important thing to do is to stimulate domestic demand and legislatively lower the cost of investing in modernization for business owners.

There should be a substantial revision of anti-monopoly laws to encourage the creation of a competitive market economy, not the economy filled with individual monopolists surviving without any competition in their niche markets. This system has no future. Only a competitive system, both domestically and internationally, will push the owners of corporations to invest in the improvement of their own competitive advantages.

As Russia enters the WTO and becomes more and more integrated into the global economy, the pressure of competition will only increase.

If you look at any historical example of an innovation economy in the U.S., Israel or Singapore, any such economy first and foremost established its own domestic industrial bias, and only after a strong market was firmly in place within the home country did companies use the strengths and profits from this market to then begin to export.

Regrettably, most industry doesn’t buy Russian technology for modernization. How do Russian companies get their innovation sometimes? Western companies come to their boards and persuade them to buy some fabulous new technology to improve performance. The problem is that technology from Western Europe might have been originally developed in Russia, then packaged beautifully in Germany, and resold to a Russian corporation at ten times the price.

What the RF government could do to address the problem is to encourage the development of domestic packaging centers—pre-seed level funding and support structures that help innovators from the academic world to package their technologies to be custom-made for Russian industry.

A US company is commercializing in the States a cutting-edge nanostructured titanium technology once developed by Bashkortostan scientists but never supported or used by Russian innovation market players. A Japanese company is commercializing in Japan a revolutionary plasma-based technology to harden and sharpen razor blades developed by Tomsk researchers but finding no market domestically. There are other examples of this kind. What do you think this is: sabotage? lack of understanding of how to apply domestically? backhandedness of modernization rhetoric?

The immediate problem is the lack of successful commercialization strategies by innovators. But the root cause is not enough business angel investors which play a critical role in developing such strategies.

There’s major disconnect between academia and business in this country. Western companies want Russian technology—one of the best in the world—and there’s the lack of domestic investors that test the technology first in the Russian market.

What happens often is that a scientist trying to sell his products domestically can’t find buyers, and then a large global corporation offers him a highly paid job overseas. This is a very attractive option because thus scientists can turn their dreams into products.

This is not sabotage—this just indicates that Russia has not prepared itself yet for this global economy. The top owners of corporations here in Russia don’t seem to be fully aware of what their assets need to improve themselves and don’t have internal mechanisms to receive bottom-up signals that would make them aware. Mid-level people simply wait for top-down instructions. They do not have the mentality to kick some ideas up from the bottom.

This is perhaps a legacy of the old times when Gosplan (the USSR’s government economic planning behemoth) alone decided what was to be done to improve an industry and how academia could participate in that.

In the same manner, Russian universities do not study markets—unlike US universities where researchers always think how to make a product that would improve, say, General Electric or Ford. These ideas come out from the bottom of American universities and are delivered by business angels to the board levels of large corporations. And in the symbiosis effect, large companies place orders directly with universities. In Russia, such connections don’t exist.

‘Innovation specialties’ in the Russian regions. Does this innovation cluster talk resonate with you?

Sure! Russia has the tremendous potential to develop a pharmaceutical cluster in Obninsk, an IT cluster here in Nizhny Novgorod, a nuclear medicine cluster in Chelyabinsk; of course, Novosibirsk and Tomsk have huge potential in many areas.

I believe that over the next ten years there’ll be more and more connectivity between different clusters as key fundamental scientific disciplines require cross-fertilization in order to produce specific solutions to problems. 

So, the nanotech specialist in Yekaterinburg will need to hook up with the biomed expert in Obninsk to create a new medicine which works at a certain molecular level to affect brain diseases, for example.

I believe Russia will develop what I would call system integrators across the country that would analyze various fundamental scientific trends and then piece them together into products for Russian industry first and foremost. Once the products are proved to be extremely efficient for Russian industry, their makers will then be able to go international. This is how it should develop within the next 15-to-20 years.

Your outlook for the 2012 innovation market in Russia?

In my opinion, 2012 will mark a milestone in the acceleration of Russia’s advancement to a diversified innovation-driven economy. There’s going to be more progress, I’m sure, and Russian Venture Company, Skolkovo and Rusnano will gather steam building the correct foundations.

I think the modernization drive will continue in Russia, and the recent political commotion will speed it up because young people who are actively interested in Russia’s development are making their feelings known—not in the aggressive way but simply showing that they want to participate in overall social life in Russia.

Please also take a look at my most recent interview on these and other issues with VentureVolga.com. Would love to have your comments.

Gregg Robins’ ‘Heroes’

In Support of America's 'Heroes', Singer-Songwriter Gregg Robins Joins With HonorVet to Raise Funds For U.S. Military Returning Home

"Helping our Heroes at Home" Initiative Will Donate All Proceeds From Robins' Song 'Heroes' to HonorVet

Robins' Plain-Spoken, Emotive Rock, with Unexpected Instrumentation, is Highlighted on Debut CD, Out October 25th; Early Raves Compare Robins to Cat Stevens, Praise the Music as Having "A Particular Resonance"

Singer-songwriter Gregg Robins will use the song 'Heroes' from his 10/25 debut CD 'Everything That Matters' to raise funds for American military returning home from the battlefield. Robins has partnered with HonorVet for his "Helping our Heroes at Home" initiative, in which 100% of the proceeds from sales/downloads of the song 'Heroes' will be donated to HonorVet. Robins comments: "Building community and empowering our veterans by giving them the tools they need to re­integrate back home - this is what's special for me about the HonorVet approach. We honor ourselves by honoring those who have so bravely served our country as we help them to feel at home once again."

The 'Heroes' song is available for purchase here: http://greggrobins.com/heroes/. There is a $2 minimum per download, but the hope is that supporters will be inclined to donate more than the minimum purchase price. All proceeds will be donated to HonorVet, a non-profit, non-partisan organization. Members of the HonorVet community will be able to download the song at no charge.

Jesse Canella, C.E.O. of HonorVet, commented: 

"It has been such a pleasure to get to know Gregg. He truly is passionate about giving back and supporting the military community and his song 'Heroes' makes that very clear. We are grateful for his support not only to our organization but also to the entire community of those who have and continue to serve our great nation."

Early reviews have praised Robins' CD as evoking the music of Cat Stevens, and of having "a particular resonance." The Record-Journal commented, "Robins' song "Heroes" tells the story of soldiers returning home. He does it masterfully and with such heart and passion, which is hard to capture in song."

The song was written on the eve of Robins' visit to the Landstuhl Medical facility in Germany. He recently discussed the track in an expansive podcast interview, and a transcript of the discussion re 'Heroes' follows:  "Heroes is written for our soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The intention with this track is to raise funds specifically for them. In 2009, I was about to go to a place called Landstuhl, a medical facility in Germany where injured soldiers on their way back to America from Iraq and Afghanistan stop for medical treatment. Some of them are very, very sick. Some of them have lost limbs. I thought that maybe the soldiers there would appreciate some music, so I offered to bring a guitar and an amp and play for them. And the response back was that they would love that. So, I decided I should write something specifically for them, but that was very difficult, because I didn't know how exactly to relate. I've never served in the military, though I do have many friends who have served. I asked myself, what could I say, not coming from the perspective of having understood or understanding what they do? What essentially came to me was that they should be honored because whether we think the wars are just, right, unjust -whatever we think about the wars, certainly we should honor the soldiers who go there, who were sent there, and who try to defend our freedoms."

SOMETHING ELSE REVIEWS

SOMETHING ELSE!

Gregg Robins' debut album, and this is quite a feat, speaks to the idea of loss — loss of family, loss of country — without ever descending into a shivery gloaming. A Bronx transplant living in Russia, he was separated not just from his home but also from his children after suffering through a broken marriage, and that space between Robins and everything he so desperately loves couldn't, at times, be any wider on the appropriately titled Everything That Matters.

Yet, the album's intriguing instrumentation, and Robins' dogged determination to find purchase in this new and uncertain world, keeps the project aloft. For all that he seems to have lost at first, there is something gained for Robins through the telling — and, through sheer force of will, it seems, things begin to turn for him.

Like most singer-songwriter projects, this is, on its face, an autobiographical, deeply personal journey. But, along the way, Everything That Matters transforms into something more universal, beginning with the way Robins transforms the album's base of stark acoustic instrumentation — so reflective of the hard truths associated with divorce — with these richly expressive local textures. At times, you hear something in his soloing approaching klezmer; at others, there's an angular Eastern European feel to the strings, as well. By the time this trip is concluded, Robins has done much to reconcile things. There is a touching, ex-pat sentiment to tracks like "Morning In America" and "Heroes," but at the same time Robins slips into a unmannered, folksy Russian dialect for the tune "Pages of My Life." He moves from a desolate loneliness in his family life ("Sounds of the Day," "So Many Ways" and, in particular, the shattering "Memories & Yesterdays") toward the hill-topping vistas of "Just What I Needed" and the title track — songs that provide a detailed roadmap as Robins rediscovers love and ultimately reconnects with his long-lost daughters. There arrives this particular resonance. For all of its specificity, Everything That Matters ends up dealing with some very universal things, delving into meaningful thoughts on loss and on what's important. Just as particularly, Robins has crafted an album with a musical underpinning that keeps providing these small bursts of sunlight and surprise. Taken together, they make this one of the most uncommon of delights — an exploration amongst very familiar landmarks that somehow feels brand new.

Everything That Matters, a crisp, spacious sounding set scheduled to be issued Oct. 25, was mixed by Yvan Bing, who has worked with Phil Collins. The record was mastered by Greg Calbi, who did similar work for Bruce Springsteen's Born to Run and Paul Simon's Graceland. David Hadzis was producer, along with Robins.

THE RECORD-JOURNAL
By Jim Pasmski, 1 0/20/11

http://jpsmusicblog.blogspot.com/2011 /1 0/c

d-review-gregg-robins-gives-us.html

CD Review: Gregg Robins Gives Us "Everything That  Matters"

Classical trained musician, Gregg Robins is releasing his debut album "Everything That Matters" on October 25. Robins started out as a classical clarinetist, he then moved on to alto saxophone. His passion now lies in American folk music, which is showcased on his new album as he tells of his journey of human emotions and experiences.

The gentleness of his sound is noticed right from the beginning with the opening song "Sounds Of The Day." His song-writing style draws similarities to Cat Stevens, where each artist would only use the minimal instrumentation to convey the song's meaning. Robins' song "Heroes" tells the story of soldiers returning home. 

He does it masterfully and with such heart and passion, which is hard to capture in song. Robins' songwriting rarely strays from the mellow acoustic background that only enhances his vocals on the songs "Pages Of My Life" and "If I Could Be There." Robins' does plug-in for a couple songs, the up-tempo rocker "Walk Away" and the patriotic "Morning In America." But, his strength lies in his folk-style storytelling as in "Just What I Needed" and "Angel."

More about HonorVet.org:
HonorVet.org is a non-partisan, registered 501(c)(3) not-for-profit organization devoted to giving back to the men and women who have dedicated their lives to serving our country. HonorVet.org provides transitional, psychological, spiritual, educational, and career support using an interactive-community to serve veterans, service members and their families in a safe and trusted environment. Learn more about HonorVet, the 'next generation community for veterans,' here: http://honorvet.org/.

More about Gregg Robins and his upcoming debut CD:

With plain-spoken, emotive lyrics and unexpected instrumentation, singer-songwriter Gregg Robins crafts a heartfelt debut CD dedicated to his three daughters. Robins, a Bronx transplant living in Russia, builds engaging songs that are direct and conversational in tone, many driven by the pain of a broken marriage, the estrangement from and ultimate reconciliation with his daughters, and the hope of finding new love. On the October 25th release 'Everything That Matters', Robins' understated delivery is often juxtaposed by lush instrumentation, ranging from strings to klezmer-infused solos to songs that suggest a Native American rhythmic undertone, and more. Visit www.greggrobins.com for audio samples and additional information. Listen to Robins discussing the evolution of the CD, via this expansive podcast: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDgWTc58Rjc.

There's an emotional integrity to the music that is reflective of the subject matter, as Robins suggests in his song notes, below. Highlights include the rich and winning track 'If I Could Be There,' the ironically titled 'Angel', and a Russian-language version of the song 'Pages of My

Life'. There is also a pair of tracks, 'Morning in America' and 'Heroes', which convey Robins' patriotism from abroad. 'Morning in America' focuses on the 2008 presidential election, and 'Heroes' shines a light on our men and women in the military.

The Production Team for the album includes:
David Hadzis of Arthanor is the Producer, with Gregg Robins as co-Producer. Since the mid-80's, Hadzis has been involved in the production of over one hundred record releases in Europe, the U.S., Canada and Australia. Yvan Bing of Kitchen Studio is the Mixing Engineer. He studied audio engineering at Berklee Music College in New York and was the main engineer at Dinemec Studios in Geneva. He has worked with Phil Collins, including on his last album. Greg Calbi of Sterling Sound is the Mastering Engineer. He has mastered at the highest level for decades, including Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run" and Paul Simon's "Graceland."

For more information about Gregg Robins, to set an interview, or for a review copy of his debut CD, contact sethcohenpr@earthlink.net

“Everything that Matters”

Gregg Robins is not only a long-standing member of Marchmont’s Advisory Board; he’s also an interesting musician playing plain-spoken, emotive rock. He’s releasing his debut album titled “Everything that Matters”, to be available in stores from October 25, 2011 and is promoting a special website, http://greggrobins.com/ whose goal is simple: to connect with fans that are moved or touched in some way by the music. Here’s Gregg:

“Everything that Matters” began being recorded in 2009, spanning four countries and many studios, and involving many talented musicians, from guitarists to drummers, backing vocals and strings, and with tracks in English and Russian.  It is a debut album that represents the realization of a dream.

“Everything that Matters” is a journey for me across the spectrum of human emotion and experience: from heartbreak to love, separation to reuniting, to the euphoria of an historic election and the spirit and saga of our soldiers far away.

I’m encouraging you to sign up on the website as fans, see press news, hear a blog, and hear some songs—including one in Russian!

The value of history

South Korea has been awarded their Winter Olympics—after a third try. I read about it and my memories of that country came to mind. Perseverance in achieving goals is not the only characteristic its extraordinary people have.
 

In addition to heading a rating agency, OmniGrade, I also work as a board member of an international factoring association, IFG, and am responsible for Asian factoring operations. I have been to many Asian countries as an IFG representative, meeting managers of local financial institutions. It’s so easy to arrange such meetings; you simply write a letter or email with an introduction and a topic you’d like to discuss and soon receive a reply confirming an appointment or courteously denying it for a reason.
 

With South Koreans, however, it was different; to every letter of mine I received similar answers: “to decide whether to meet you Mr. X is kindly requesting your bio.”
 

My first reaction was astonishment: why on earth do they need to know my bio if they are aware of my current position? But such requests would come over and over and over again; and I then realized that asking me for this did make certain sense. It is the history of an individual with its past experience and reputation that is the best criterion for the Koreans to see if interacting with that individual is worthwhile.
 

The same is valid for companies. It’s by no accident that many European firms still apply considerable efforts and spend a lot of money to whitewash themselves from the ‘legacy’ of their predecessors who, for instance, collaborated with the Nazis in Germany.
 

Keeping corporate history open has positive effects. A company has survived several crises—that means its viability is high and it is capable of honoring its contractual obligations in tough times. A company has repeatedly introduced new products and services to the market—that means it is genetically prone to innovation.
 

Remembering and analyzing a firm’s past can turn problems into achievements when managers can rightly say: yes, we lost something at a certain point in history but we have gained invaluable experience that is ours for good. The reverse may also be true, though; disregard for a company’s history wipes out prior achievements, and the past stops being a helper when it sinks into oblivion.

Greek lessons

Greece is a poor wretch economically these days. Capital flight; workers going on strike across the country; its banking system losing liquidity; credit ratings going down—no luck.

I think, if we analyze the reasons why this traditionally affluent country has found itself in a predicament like this, we will learn some valuable lessons, both macro- and microeconomic.

Lesson #1: as the saying goes, if you hang a rifle on a wall, be prepared for an eventual shot. If an economy bears a burdening ‘rifle’ of systemic problems, including lack of diversification and multibillion dollar image projects like the Athens Olympics a country can’t capitalize on as there’s no sane strategy, etc., the problems will erupt one day.

Lesson #2: spending cuts (government spending cuts in the Greek case) are hardly a focus of counter-crisis policy. This is relevant for companies as well as countries.

Lesson #3: be honest. The Greeks once chose to falsify its stats to qualify for the longed-for Euro zone; now they have to pay the price as national currency devaluation—an effective tool to combat debt crisis—is beyond their reach.

Last but not the least: something has to be implemented to keep in check rating agencies that exacerbate the calamity. For example, S&P has recently degraded Greece’s sovereign rating further—a fourth straight such move in just one year, this time by two grades. This is a potential threat to not only countries but companies as well. People pay for a service that undermines their future—isn’t it strange?

I myself run a small rating agency, and we keep emphasizing that no matter what a rating level, the very fact of a company’s willingness to be scrutinized by external experts adds to more credibility—in contrast to companies that opt not to do so. And this works; in a contemporary business, whichever it is, upholding the interests of your clients is key.

A bit more on honesty and confidence. In my perception, when Greece was faking its data its creditworthiness was much lower than it is today. No wonder to me: the Latin word “credit” means “trust.”

With Jackson-Vanik in place, ‘Commercial Reset’ is a target

As talks over Russia’s accession to the WTO are apparently drawing to a successful close and the ‘Commercial Reset’ of the U.S.-Russia relations is seemingly right around the corner, the U.S. House of Representatives predicts an uphill battle the White House will have to face in persuading Congress to approve permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) with Russia “due to concerns over Russia’s trade practices and human rights record.”

I think it’s clear that the House Republicans are playing a high-stakes game with Barack Obama this year. They don’t want the American president to have so many successes, such as the most recent nuclear treaty with Russia. The G.O.P. representatives are nervous that by continuing a string of successes Obama will cement his leadership position to win the next presidential election.

There’s a lot of infighting for who are going to be the ‘serious’ candidates for the American presidency and who are absolutely non-starters. Look at Donald Trump, a Republican Party candidate for the 2012 campaign! A master at PR and promotion, he’s hardly a serious candidate to run the national economy, I’m sure; it’s no fun job.

The reality is that there aren’t enough high-powered candidates that are stepping up to the plate who can really win. So the leadership of the Republican Party is quite scared. To immediately agree, “yes, this is a high priority, we have to get Russia into the WTO and rescind the Jackson-Vanik amendment” would simply play into the hands of President Obama.

A large majority of sizable US businesses that have experience in Russia are quite interested to expand their business relationships. For example, the US-Russia Business Council in Washington recently made a strong appeal to the business community to look at the situation rationally and very carefully.

When Russia is accepted to the WTO (probably before the end of this year), if the U.S. has not rescinded the Jackson-Vanik amendment, it will put all American companies doing business in Russia in jeopardy, as the amendment is not consistent with the WTO membership. The situation will give huge advantage to French, German and other international companies.

There are three other countries that are applying for a special trade status in relations with the U.S. I think in this situation the Republicans are trying to gather some arguments that they can use to make some win over the Obama administration. By threatening to block the repeal of the Jackson-Vanik amendment they are trying to get some concessions from Obama.

Everybody knows Jackson-Vanik has to be rescinded; it is outdated, and Russia no longer restricts people of Jewish heritage to emigrate. But the Republicans want to get something first from Obama.

I don’t know who made this comment, but it seems rather logical: if the administration simply lets Russia join the WTO without Congress repealing the amendment, who’s then going to look stupid are the Republicans. I think the Obama administration is trying to be smart now that the G.O.P. is playing games, saying, “if you refuse to do this, then you’ll be to blame for the entire business community losing out on opportunities for Russia.”

Is Russia a normalized market economy? No, not yet. Is it on the road to becoming a normalized market economy? Yes. Will membership in the WTO encourage the development of Russia as a normal market economy? Absolutely. It’s in everyone’s interest.

There’re some vested interests in Russia that don’t want the country to become a member because they make a lot of money as long as Russia stays out. But the vast majority of companies will gain from the membership.

In my opinion, the Republicans’ “maybe we won’t allow the amendment to be rescinded” makes them look rather childish, and it’s a game they are not going to win because if they fail to extract concessions, the business community will speak up loudly, and every member of the House and the Senate will be receiving letters from American businessmen who are going to lose out by the U.S. kind of ‘withdrawing’ from this trade program with Russia.

On biathlon woes and business competition

The Russian national biathlon squad has failed at all key events of the outgoing season. I couldn’t care less for this in an economic context, I admit, unless we had as the head of Russia’s Biathlon Union one of this country’s most high-profile entrepreneurs, Mikhail Prokhorov—a billionaire who owns Onexim Group and a US basketball team, New Jersey Nets, and is the chairman of Russia’s largest gold producer, Polyus Gold . He is Russia’s second richest man and the 39th ultra high net-worth individual in the world according to the 2010 Forbes list with an estimated fortune of $13.4bn.

I have read perplexed comments from dismayed advocates of a market economy and winter sports: hey, where is the efficient management that we all know should be part of any private endeavor?

I think it is one of the most widespread illusions cherished by Russian society in transition. In fact, managers employed by private businesses are hardly any more efficient than those working for contemporary government corporations or even socialist enterprises in the Soviet times. In fact, it’s not ‘effective managers’ that are an advantage of a modern market economy; it’s competition helping people with good managerial skills surface and prove themselves that is. Outside competition any management system, be it a privately owned business or a government-run project, is doomed to degradation.

We still have hopes that it’s competition with the Norwegian, German, Swedish and other leading biathlon federations that can eventually improve the quality of management at Russia’s Biathlon Union, thus contributing to more medals.

I would recommend another ‘therapy,’ too, which may look a bit eccentric, though. The sport once brought Mr. Prokhorov into it, among other things, for the businessman to pony up funds to develop biathlon. So, why not attempt the reverse: rearrange the system so that the patron could stop spending but rather start gaining from the Union’s proceeds?

Maybe, the situation will be faster improved if the stakeholders start regarding the sport as a business project capable of generating money.

In any actual business, overinvesting may do harm unless applied to a healthy competitive and creative environment.

All that said, we can however be sincerely enthusiastic about the way Mr. Prokhorov’s ‘Yo-mobile’ hybrid car project is progressing. Odd on the face of it, the Yo project is undoubtedly business-oriented and able to ‘gnaw out’ its share of the automotive market.