Aniket.D.

Dholakia 117550592102 Global Country Report Pestle Analysis Russia :For each of the 8 countries we're covering, we'll start off with topline statistics as sort of a summary, or more of a launching pad for further exploration. We'll start with Russia, partly because this may be the last 5-year period that it is included in the top 10 international powers. Out of all the 8 countries I will look at individually, Russia faces the most daunting challenges. They have faced worse--I would hate to be a centenarian from Russia--but I doubt if they have the resources or leadership to avoid a sharp general decline over the next five years. Most numbers here are from Wikipedia or the CIA World Factbook, with a little Nationmaster thrown in. GDP: 8th in the world 2009, 1.75 trillion Population: 9th in the world, 142 million Military expenditures: 5th in the world, $50 billion The Russian Federation just finished a spectacular decade, averaging 7% annual growth since 1998. But at the end of that spectacular decade, their average income is $640 per head, their life expectancy is 66, and they only average 14 years of schooling. They really needed to make better use of the Golden Decade. Russia is extremely dependent on exporting natural resources, especially natural gas and oil. The price of those are falling. So is their population--it's declined 5% since 1993 and although it is slowing it shows no sign of reversing. Alcoholism, drug addiction and AIDS are taking a heavy toll on Russia. Inflation is high, at 12%, and unemployment looks to increase from its current 6%. They've already blown through a good chunk of the petro-dollars they had put aside, and the current economic crisis is not going to be kind to Russia.

Seems pretty clear that Vladimir Putin is very much running the show, with President Medvedev along for the ride. This suits the Russians just fine--but it shouldn't. A decade of rising oil prices made Putin look a lot better than he really is. Their levers of power are the energy they supply to much of the EU and their stockpile of nuclear weapons (They are 5th in military spending, with $50bn annually, less than 10% of the U.S.). On the perceived corruption index, they rank #129, between Niger and Sierra Leone. On business efficiency, they are ranked 45th out of a total of 51 countries, and sit between Italy and Romania. Their environment's a bit of a mess, with a lot of leftover waste from the Cold War, the oligarchic exploitation of resources, and some stuff left over from WW2. As Nationmaster lists them, "air pollution from heavy industry, emissions of coalfired electric plants, and transportation in major cities; industrial, municipal, and agricultural pollution of inland waterways and seacoasts; deforestation; soil erosion; soil contamination from improper application of agricultural chemicals; scattered areas of sometimes intense radioactive contamination; groundwater contamination from toxic waste; urban solid waste management; abandoned stocks of obsolete pesticides". They can survive this because the country's so big. As for technology, they can't run their oil companies without Western help--but they're trying. They export nuclear technology and have good competence there. But Russia only has one university in the top 100, so long term prospects for entreprenurial excellence are dim. I hate to be so bleak--maybe when we look in greater depth we'll see reason for hope for this country--they certainly have shown themselves to be resilient, if nothing else.

PESTLE highlights :Political landscape In July 2009, President Medvedev and Barack Obama reached an agreement to cut back their countries' stockpiles of nuclear weapons. Russia also supported the

US decision to shelve controversial missile defense bases in Poland and the Czech Republic.

In April 2010, Ukraine and Russia signed an inter-governmental protocol on the supply of goods on industrial cooperation in 2010. The sides also signed protocols on cooperation in the aviation industry and on industrial policy. Economic landscape :Although, the country managed to maintain 6% growth in 2008, the Russian economy contracted by 8% in 2009. With the prevailing economic deterioration, the government has drawn policies to reduce budget deficit which was about 6% of GDP in 2009 to around 3% by 2012. The insurance market in Russia has grown continuously for the last five years, despite sharp declines in the life insurance segments value since 2003. The Russian insurance market generated a gross premium income of $36.9 billion in 2008, representing a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 18.4% for the period spanning 2004-2008. Social landscape Income inequality in Russia has widened in the post-liberalization period. The difference between the 10% richest and 10% poorest among the population in Moscow was over 42 times in 2008 compared to 38.6 times in 2005. Even though the country went through a severe economic crisis during 2009, the government was able to carry out large-scale anti-crisis measures without any cuts in social spending. The actual social spending increased by over 27% in 2009 compared to that of 2008. Technological landscape Russia has been historically known for its excellence in space technologies and is one of the most successful countries with regards to its implementation of many space programs. The government has allocated more than $11 billion for the Russian Space Agency for the period 200615.

The country's IT market is presently the fastest-growing in the Central and East European (CEE) region. There is huge potential for IT spending by Russia's traditional industries to make their conventional systems of operations IT compliant. Legal landscape The new government has set a long list of legal reforms which are expected to bring improvement to the countrys judicial system. Russia has also agreed to various legal assistance programs from many countries to solve its domestic and international legal issues. Environmental landscape The Russian government is planning to set up an effective security system to prevent pollution and man-made environmental disasters. The main tasks outlined by the government include implementation of environmental decisions consistently and completely, and the creation of an effective system for ecological security in the country.