Scientific publications

Importance The article deals with the institutional issues of development of business communities in the border region of Russia, involved in the modern global market integration processes. Objectives The aim of the article is to assess the status of institutions governing the cross-border cooperation and foreign economic relations, the business of the Republic of Karelia participate in. Methods To consider the internal and external factors that determine the characteristic and status of foreign economic relations of Russia and the problems the business in the Republic of Karelia faces in the process of foreign economic activity, we used institutional and descriptive analyses. The empirical evidence of economic and sociological surveys of enterprises in the Republic of Karelia in 2013 served as an information base. Results We specify a wide range of positive and negative factors influencing the behavior of cross-border business in Russia, among which we highlight the economic, environmental and political interests of the countries that have socio-economic relations with Russia, as well as the quality of the institutions that govern their activities. We found that export activities got burdened with many institutional barriers, among which there are the information, infrastructural, and administrative ones. Conclusions and Relevance High export business activity gets accompanied with destructive processes in the system of institutional regulation in this sphere. A number of barriers prevent companies-exporters from successful activity. Under these circumstances, the instruments used do not perform the function of boosting business at its reorientation from a resource-intensive to capital-intensive export model. The results of the research may be useful in making management decisions in the field of cross-border cooperation to improve the conditions of business activity.