This study examines the impact of institutional shifts on the strategic choices of Russian firms. It proposes and tests hypotheses of how a shift from a weak to a strong institutional context is likely to affect firms’ knowledge accumulation, absorptive capacities and internalisation of operations. Using discriminant analysis, the econometric investigation demonstrates that firms tend to allocate greater resources towards improving their knowledge and absorptive capacity and make more efforts to vertically integrate—in line with improvements in the institutional environment. These investments ensure the survivability and competitiveness of firms in the long term. Furthermore, the study demonstrates that the long-term strategic orientation of firms goes hand in hand with rising resource allocations by the nation-state towards economic development. The findings align with the institutionalist political economy views that institutions are the ultimate overseers that allow the market to operate efficiently, especially in emerging market environments. The paper is also instructive to other developing economies about the need to strengthen their institutional environments, which supports the long-term orientation of firms and has a positive impact on economic development. The analysis does not take into account the impact of sanctions on Russian business and economy, post the annexation of Crimea and the armed conflict with Ukraine. Nor does it consider the impact of COVID-19 on the economy. As such, the study attempts to constitute an untainted comparison of two paths of transition on Russian firms—shock therapy, vis-à-vis, an institutional political economy approach.

本研究考察制度变迁对俄罗斯企业战略选择的影响。它提出并检验了从弱制度环境到强制度环境的转变可能如何影响公司的知识积累、吸收能力和运营内部化的假设。使用判别分析，计量经济学调查表明，企业倾向于分配更多的资源来提高他们的知识和吸收能力，并做出更多的垂直整合努力——与制度环境的改善相一致。这些投资确保了企业的长期生存能力和竞争力。此外，该研究表明，企业的长期战略方向与国家为经济发展增加的资源配置密切相关。研究结果与制度主义政治经济学观点一致，即制度是允许市场有效运作的最终监督者，尤其是在新兴市场环境中。该文件还对其他发展中经济体具有指导意义，需要加强其体制环境，支持企业的长期定位，并对经济发展产生积极影响。该分析未考虑制裁对俄罗斯商业和经济的影响，以及克里米亚被吞并和与乌克兰发生武装冲突后的影响。它也没有考虑 COVID-19 对经济的影响。因此，该研究试图对俄罗斯公司的两条转型路径进行无污染的比较——休克疗法，相对于制度政治经济学方法。