Moscow Madness: Crime, Corruption, and One Man's Pursuit of Profit in the New Russia
Author: Timothy Harper
List Price: $24.95
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ISBN: 0070267006
Publisher: McGraw-Hill Professional (19 April, 1999)
Sales Rank: 155,664
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 out of 5
Customer Reviews
Rating: 4 out of 5
A Good Read!
Journalist Timothy Harper has written an absorbing, detailed business saga. This intimate account chronicles the wild and frustrating adventures of U.S. businessman Rick Grajirena, an import-export entrepreneur in Russia's new free-market economy. "It was not difficult for Grajirena to find prospective partners and possible deals. Indeed, when it became known that he was an American looking to buy and sell in Russia, all sorts of characters - some seemingly reputable, many obviously not - came forward with one scheme after another." In the midst of this colorful cast of characters, Grajirena shines as one of the "good guys" as he jumps into and out of the beer biz and ends up in health foods. He runs into every form of Moscow madness, from the mafiya to some basic cultural divides, and manages to thrive as well as survive. We [...] highly recommend this swashbuckling book. In fact, we can't wait for the movie.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Tim Harper presents a compelling look at the new Russia.
Moscow Madness takes you through Russian customs and then provides a forensic-like look into the business customs, chaos and cultural impediments facing American entrepreneurs seeking to be business pioneers in the new Russia. Tim Harper presents a compelling and original hybrid style of writing that is part novelist and part foreign correspondent. Moscow Madness gives new meaning to "red tape." The story is told chiefly through the entrepreneurial and cultural adventures of Rich Grajirena. Although Rich Grajirena never earns more than 100,000 in a year, despite years of complicated, creative, trans-Russian endeavors, his Moscow setting machinations provide the reader with a multi-million dollar look into the new Russia. What makes the book particularly appealing and easy to relate to is that the story concerns the frustrations of an individual seeking to traverse Russia's business terrain and not a difficult to relate to conglomerate. Moscow Madness offers microscopic-like clarity as to how difficult it is to start up a successful business, let alone one that requires the successful merging of two distinct countries, cultures and colorful characters. While most present day writer/attorneys are fixated on court room drama, Harper utilizes his foreign correspondent and legal background by painting on a much larger geographical and sociological canvas. Harper convinced me that while Russia may no longer be the evil empire Moscow Madness is real.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Lessons here for Investors
I really wanted to like this book, and stayed up late to finish it off. But it's hard to take a book completely seriously when it puts Sakhalin Island on the Atlantic Coast ( page 206 ).The book has many lessons for the investor. The first being, don't leave your circle of competence. Here was someone who had a lot of expertise in the sailmaking world, from a U.S. business perspective, but no expertise it appeared in Beer distribution or in actually basing business overseas.
The second big lesson for the investor is - don't put your money into something until you see something concrete. Mr Grajirena seems to have made much of his money drawing a salary from schemes that have no sales! Much of his time appeared to be spent travelling to Russia on a vague hope of some outcome ( the set-up of EuroHealth ).
It is interesting to note where Miller Beer is now with regards Russia. Miller Brewing has been sold to South African Breweries ( how many people know that Miller Genuine Draft is now NOT American owned ? ), and Miller Beer sold in Russia is now made in Russia. SAB has bought up old East European breweries, and refurbished them. SAB is now the world second largest brewer. Someone made money in Moscow.
What comes through in the book is the level of arrogance of many Americans doing business overseas. An example of this in the book is when specifications are delivered in inches not metric. The American answer to the Russian complaint is that the Russians built a space programme copying, so why can't they change these measurements this time ?
But the book does have the imagination running with " what if " possibilities when the Miller brand becomes established in Moscow. What if they had operated within their working capital and kept to a more reasonable business plan ? What if they had kept their expenses to a minimum from the outset ? What if they had properly organised their finances and had enough equity raised ?
By all means read this book for insight into Russian business. But consider also the largely unconscious window it gives us into how Americans see the world ( as a subsidiary of USA Inc ).
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