PUB - Publikationen an der Universität Bielefeld

Siemens was the largest electrotechnical com-pany operating in Russia before 1914. Begin-ning during World War I, and finally as a result of the Bolshevik industrial nationalization, Sie-mens lost its Russian property. But even after the October Revolution there was common ground for business relations between the Soviet government and Siemens. Soviet Russia on the one hand depended on foreign trade to accom-plish its industrialization and electrification goals. Siemens, on the other hand, was looking for new markets to lower the negative effects of the economic crisis in Germany and the loss of Western markets during World War I. Bilateral German-Soviet relations were gradually estab-lished after 1921 and provided a framework of treaties for these business relations. However, the actual establishment of these trade relations between the German company and Soviet Rus-sia remained difficult. Siemens was skeptical about even beginning to communicate with the Bolsheviks and very critical about the general perspectives of Soviet trade. Based on the assumptions of the New Institu-tional Economics theory, this article focuses on the establishment of communication and busi-ness relations between Siemens and Soviet Rus-sia. It will be argued that information, cultural knowledge and trust had a significant influence on the corporate strategy. The establishment of business relations between Siemens and Soviet Russia will therefore be interpreted in this article as an institution building process.