Journal archive

The necessity for the adoption of the so-called second antimonopoly statute — a set of measures and amendments in the legislation — is predetermined by the present day situation in Russia characterized by governmental abuse of market power, tough anticompetitive acts of market participants. Such law¬breakers should be criminally prosecuted. One of the main ideas of the second antimonopoly statute is the new version of Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the RF which states criminal responsibility for the gravest violations of the antimonopoly legislation. The amendments that make up the second antimonopoly statute are aimed at making legal anticompetitive measures more up-to-date, suitable for the existing economic activity and maintaining favourable competitive environment in the country. Aleksey Gennadievich Sushkevich, Head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service, spoke for the journal on innovations in antimonopoly regulations.

On Amendments to Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the RF Federal Law № 216 of July 29, 2009 «Banning, Limitation and Elimination of Competition** moved a number of amendments to Article 178 of the Criminal Code of the RF that reflect considerable changes in the attitude of the government to the role of the criminal code as a means of protecting fair competition in our country. The amendments proposed to the «antimonopoly» article of the crimi¬nal law came into effect on October 30, 2009. A long and, so to speak, tiresome process of drafting that started in April, 2006 preceded the adoption of the statute. The initial version of the statute was worked out by the specialists from the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences, later on it was completed and agreed upon with the participation of all the interested parties: the RF President Administration, the RF Ministry of Justice, the Ministry for Economic Development of the RF, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the RF, the Federal Antimonopoly Service. Despite the fact that the newly adopted version of Article 178 is considerably different from the one offered by the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences its key-points were not modified.

The process of economic globalization makes Russian enterprises not only exist in a tough com¬petitive environment in the domestic as well as in the international markets, but also opens wide perspectives in front of the most effective of them. The practical activity of Russian companies in the sphere of their internationalization has extended in the recent ten years. Nevertheless the financial crisis revealed the ineffective character of strategies in those national companies (for the most part raw materials companies) which operate in foreign markets, thus it once again proved the existence of negative characteristics in the present day Russian economy. The article is aimed at finding ways to increase the competitive capacity of Russian enterprises in the process of their entering the foreign market.

In the article is discussed the problem of competitive relationship's development in electricity markets, established as a result of activating the Electricity law, according to which combining transmission and buy-sell activities with electrical energy is prohibited. The author makes a review for types of antitrust legislation trespassing in retail and wholesale electricity markets and draws the conclusion about future development of competitive sphere for electricity markets.

The journal continues to publish Professor Rais Akhmetovich Fatkhutdinov's textbook «Organization's Competitive Capacity Management. The third topic is devoted to the issues of economic laws usage for stimulating objects competitive capacity. Particularly should be stressed the author's analysis of scientific viewpoints about object management in competitive capable economics, which set the necessary basis for elaboration and admission of management business solutions, during the management process in commercial organizations. The distinctive feature of represented in this part theoretical materials is their practically oriented nature, and, due to that, designation for whose, who are aiming to reach leadership in competitive race.

It is a well-known fact that competitive capacity of an enterprise is basically determined by the ef¬ficiency of its marketing strategy, the ability to choose a promising niche in the market, and to enter new markets. It is also known that a small enterprise, as a rule, cannot spend a lot of money on marketing research and a promotion campaign. The financial crisis made it more difficult for small businesses to market and promote products. What are the ways to smoothly enter new regional markets today? What are the ways to estimateproduct promotion in a new region? How can local officials assist in these issues? How can small businesses get competitive advantages? Elena Ljvovna Emelianova, President of the Interregional Marketing Centers Association, answered these questions at an interview for our magazine.

The development of entrepreneurship is one of the most important tasks for the economy of the country. However small enterprises are rather vulnerable and have difficulties in competing with big companies. In the present day economic conditions small enterprises are in great need of govern¬mental support. Moscow authorities are aware of it and give a lot of attention to this sector of the city economy. What practical measures are taken to support the development of the city's small business? What niches in the city economy are big-business-competition-free and suitable for successful operation of small and micro businesses? Mikhail Vishegorodtsev, Minister of the Moscow City Government, Head of the Department for Small Business Support and Development answered these questions at an interview for our magazine.

The research was conducted in the following way: the conditions of firms in a separate branch of industry of a certain region were studied. Four industries with the prevailing small-scale business type of enterprise were chosen: food industry, wood processing industry, motor-car and chemical industries. Besides these industries one of the most important for today industries — the information technology industry — was chosen among the innovative branches of non-manufacturing business.

In the article the author analyzes the growth of natural monopolies in the USA and comes to the con¬clusion that the theory of the natural monopoly is an economic fiction. It goes back to the idea that at the end of the XIX and beginning of the XX century there was tough competition in infrastructural areas which obviously was not favored by manufactures. First of all they made the administration grant them the monopoly status; afterwards with the support of some prominent economists they constructed the grounds for the monopolization. The article ends with the opinion that there is no place for it in the US economy of the XXI century. Is there any place for the monopoly in the Russian economy of the XXI century?