92 



6 



group \MA was meeting to consider the reports of teams that had been investigating needs for 



storing grain and potatoes. 



American business ventures are progressing only slowly into the Russian market in large part 

 because of pditical and economic uncertainty. This is understandable but altogether not bad, in ay 

 opinion, because it gives us a diance to learn more about Russia and the Russians. I would 

 emphasize, they are not the only tiewoomers to today's world. Nonetheless, we could be doing 

 better, at least on a small scale, using s<Mne of ^iriiat I feel are misused funds allocated for some of 

 the large and unsuited i»ograms to guarantee investments. West European governments are backing 

 their businessmen's ventures to an eitent and in places that surprise even me. ScHne of these 

 projects are relatively small, but effective. Some of our larger companies could do the sanie thing 

 on their own, and without risking a great deal of capital, but being accustomed to thinking in huge 

 terms and not being used to thinking in a 'down-sized mode* the business goes to the Italian, Dutch 

 or even Swiss. 



SmaU-scale ventures in Russia would be attractive to small entrepreneurs here, if they knew about 

 them and had a bit of help and direction from our government or scMne associati<HL Hands-<Mi 

 expertise and business sense could go a long way in Russia if for no reason other than practicality 

 and timely decision making. After seeing vrfiat the Russians needed and had that could be used in 

 a project and what the likely payoff return and risks would be, the small entrepreneur would 

 probably make the decision on the spot whether to inoceed. This is over simplified, but the point 

 is the time to make boardroom decisions could be avoided. This is not to say conservative 

 approaches are not in order or the interests of shareholders are not to be protected. This b 

 something the budding Russian businessman does not yet appreciate fiiUy. Further, small-scale 



