Russian Emigrants in the Corporate Culture of American High-Tech Firms

Author(s): Janna Ataiants, Irina Olimpieva
Editor(s): Stephen Aris, Aglaya Snetkov, Matthias Neumann, Robert Orttung, Jeronim Perovic, Heiko Pleines, Hans-Henning Schröder
Series: Russian Analytical Digest (RAD)
Issue: 107
Pages: 5-8
Publisher(s): Center for Security Studies (CSS), ETH Zurich; Research Centre for East European Studies, University of Bremen; Institute of History, University of Basel
Publication Year: 2012

The Russian Federation's scientific community has suffered a new wave of brain drain in recent years, which is distinguished from the exodus at the beginning of the 1990s by the relative youth of the migrants, the spread of new forms of brain drain, and a change in the main reasons for the migrants to leave. Russian citizens generally are successful in adapting to American universities and high-tech companies, though there are differences in professional strategies across generations. Russians praise the corporate and managerial culture and the organization of work in American high-tech firms, particularly in contrast with Russian scientific organizations. At the same time, Russians bring to American culture not only professional expertise, but also the specific features of their national character, which is largely the product of their socialization in the Soviet and post-Soviet environment. Most of the migrants are not interested in returning to Russia, which holds relatively little attraction for them.

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