Living Next Door to Gazprom
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EN310E 003 Roar Flatøy & Kenneth Johansen LIVING NEXT DOOR TO GAZPROM “How a Norwegian company found itself in Murmansk, employing 80 engineers and welders – and a guy from Verdal.” Preface This conclusive thesis forms part of the course MSc Energy Management at Bodø Graduate School of Business and MGIMO University in Moscow. Reinertsen AS is so far the only Norwegian energy sector supplier that has made a serious effort to enter the Russian market. The aim of the thesis is to identify which factors played part in making Reinertsen NWR’s establishment in Murmansk an unprecedented success. Acknowledgements Throughout our work we have been met with goodwill. We are grateful to all those who have shared their time with us. Our appreciation goes to Torkild Reinertsen, President and Geir Suul, Director of Business Development at Reinertsen AS for valuable insight into the strategic perspectives of Reinertsen’s internationalization process. We would also like to extend a special thanks to Manager Svein Grande for welcoming us at Reinertsen NWR’s facilities. Thanks also go to all those who have helped us paint the background picture: Thor Christian Andvik from Statoil, Alexey Fadeev at Murmanshelf, Kåre Storvik from Storvik & Co, Geir Reiersen from Siva, Jan Egil Sørensen and Knut Henningsen from PetroArctic, Håkon Skretting from Intsok, Dmitri Teryakhin and Marat Bagautdinov. Lastly we would like to thank Bodø Graduate School of Business and Bodø University College. The amount of resources and time, at all levels, put into making this program fly has made it an inspiration and a pleasure to be pioneering students of MSc Energy Management. Bodø, May 23, 2007. Roar Flatøy Kenneth Johansen Bodø Graduate School of Business - II - Abstract Russian-Norwegian cooperation and the term “The High North” have been subject to increased attention, especially from an energy perspective. The impression that North West Russia holds a great promise for Norwegian companies has been widely projected by media and politicians. The lack of energy business initiative in North-West Russia is however curiously absent, save for one company, the case of this study, who has achieved success in short time. This thesis utilizes internationalization theory to analyze why Reinertsen NWR’s establishment in Murmansk was successful. The findings suggest that managerial commitment, a broad resource base and re-export have played important roles for a successful start-up. Bodø Graduate School of Business - III - РЕЗЮМЕ Сотрудничество между Россией и Норвегией в регионе Крайнего Севера, в особенности в связи с развитием топливно-энергетических проектов привлекает к себе все больше внимания. Как в прессе, так и на политическом уровне выражается крайняя перспективность данного сотрудничества для норвежских компаний. Весьма любопытным в этой связи является рассмотрение деятельности одной из компаний, добившейся значительных результатов за достаточно короткий промежуток времени. В рамках данного исследования проводится анализ деятельности компании Reinertsen NWR с позиций теории интернационализации. Изучаемая компания разместила свое представительство в г. Мурманск, что оказалось весьма удачным решением. В исследовании рассматриваются факторы, обеспечившие успех, которого компания достигла за весьма короткое время. Предположительно, значительную роль сыграли следующие обстоятельства: особый подход к менеджменту, богатые природные ресурсы и осуществление операций реэкспорта. Bodø Graduate School of Business - IV - Sammendrag Norsk-russisk samarbeid og begrepet ”Nordområdene” har de siste to årene vært gjenstand for økt norsk og internasjonal oppmerksomhet. Mulighetene innen petroleumsutvinning har vært spesielt i søkelyset. Inntrykket av de lovende mulighetene for norske selskaper i Nordvest-Russland har blitt fremmet av media, politikere og forskjellige forskningsinstitusjoner. På bakgrunn av denne bonansaen ønsket forfatterne å foreta et komparativt casestudium for å se på hvilke faktorer som fører til suksess i energibransjen i Nordvest-Russland. Mangelen på initiativ fra norsk næringsliv ble tidlig åpenbar, og studiet ble endret til en grundig analyse av den eneste aktøren i energibransjen som har lykkes i Nordvest-Russland, Reinertsen NWR. Studiet tar i bruk internasjonaliseringsteori for å analysere hvorfor etableringen av produksjonsbedriften Reinertsen NWR har vært en enestående suksess. Funnene indikerer blant annet at en engasjert toppledelse, en bred ressursbase, uavhengighet fra markedsforhold samt å unngå partnerskap med en russisk enhet har spilt avgjørende roller for suksess i oppstartsfasen. Bodø Graduate School of Business - V - INTRODUCTION.......................................................................................................................1 THE AIM OF THE RESEARCH .......................................................................................................2 OUTLINE OF THE THESIS ............................................................................................................5 1. METHODOLOGY: SCIENTIFIC METHOD................................................................7 1.1. WHAT IS METHODOLOGY? ..........................................................................................7 1.2. METHODOLOGICAL ANCHORING .................................................................................7 1.3. SCIENTIFIC APPROACH – METHODS ............................................................................9 1.4. STRENGTHS AND LIMITATIONS OF THE THESIS ..........................................................22 1.5. ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS .......................................................................................23 FRAME OF REFERENCE ......................................................................................................25 2. CULTURAL DIFFERENCES........................................................................................25 2.1. IS IT POSSIBLE TO UNDERSTAND RUSSIA?..................................................................25 2.2. THE COMPLEXITY OF CULTURE .................................................................................26 2.3. HOFSTEDE’S 5 CULTURAL DIMENSIONS.....................................................................27 2.4. RUSSIAN BUSINESS CULTURE ....................................................................................29 3. INTERNATIONALIZATION LITERATURE.............................................................32 3.1. WHAT IS INTERNATIONALIZATION ............................................................................32 3.2. DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES ON THE INTERNATIONALIZATION PROCESS ......................35 3.3. LEARNING AND INNOVATION ADOPTION PERSPECTIVES ............................................36 3.4. THE NETWORK PERSPECTIVES ...................................................................................39 3.5. RESOURCE BASED PERSPECTIVES ..............................................................................41 3.6. ECLECTIC PERSPECTIVE ............................................................................................43 3.7. WEAKNESSES OF THE INTERNATIONALIZATION THEORIES ........................................48 3.8. ARGUMENTS FOR OUR CHOICE OF THEORETICAL APPROACH .....................................48 3.9. OUR RESEARCH MODEL.............................................................................................50 BACKGROUND........................................................................................................................53 4. RUSSIA.............................................................................................................................53 4.1. HISTORY ...................................................................................................................53 4.2. 1985-1991 MIKHAIL SERGEYEVICH GORBACHEV.....................................................55 4.3. 1991-1999 BORIS NIKOLAYEVICH YELTSIN..............................................................56 4.4. INSIDE PUTIN’S RUSSIA.............................................................................................58 5. THE PETROLEUM INDUSTRY ..................................................................................73 5.1. GEOPOLITICS.............................................................................................................73 5.2. THE HIGH NORTH .....................................................................................................76 5.3. THE NORWEGIAN PETROLEUM SECTOR ....................................................................77 5.4. THE RUSSIAN PETROLEUM SECTOR ..........................................................................81 5.5. THE RUSSIAN-NORWEGIAN ENERGY COOPERATION.................................................90 6. REINERTSEN AS AND REINERTSEN NWR ............................................................93 6.1. REINERTSEN AS........................................................................................................93 6.2. REINERTSEN NWR....................................................................................................94 7. ANALYSIS.....................................................................................................................105 7.1. REINERTSEN IN DUNNING’S ECLECTIC FRAMEWORK:..............................................107 7.2. SUMMARY...............................................................................................................120