Marginal Cost and Correct Answer free essay sample

The new frequency recommendation was designed to address the family histories of the patients. The optimal frequency should be where the marginal benefit of an additional pap-test: Answer Selected Answer: equals the marginal cost of the test Correct Answer: equals the marginal cost of the test Question 3 5 out of 5 points The flat-screen plasma TVs are selling extremely well. The originators of this technology are earning higher profits. What theory of profit best reflects the performance of the plasma screen makers? Answer Selected Answer: innovation theory of profit Correct Answer: innovation theory of profit Question 4 5 out of 5 points To reduce Agency Problems, executive compensation should be designed to: Answer Selected Answer: create incentives so that managers act like owners of the firm. Correct Answer: create incentives so that managers act like owners of the firm. Question 5 out of 5 points Based on risk-return tradeoffs observable in the financial marketplace, which of the following securities would you expect to offer higher expected returns than corporate bonds? Answer Selected Answer: common stock Correct Answer: common stock Question 6 5 out of 5 points Generally, investors expect that projects with high expected net present values also will be projects wi th Answer Selected Answer: high risk Correct Answer: high risk Question 7 0 out of 5 points The ____ is the ratio of ____ to the ____. We will write a custom essay sample on Marginal Cost and Correct Answer or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Answer Selected Answer: correlation coefficient; standard deviation; expected value Correct Answer: coefficient of variation; standard deviation; expected value Question 8 5 out of 5 points The net present value of an investment represents Answer Selected Answer: the expected contribution of that investment to the goal of shareholder wealth maximization Correct Answer: the expected contribution of that investment to the goal of shareholder wealth maximization Question 9 5 out of 5 points Suppose we estimate that the demand elasticity for fine leather jackets is ?. 7 at their current prices. Then we know that: Answer Selected Answer: a 1% increase in price reduces quantity sold by . 7%. Correct Answer: a 1% increase in price reduces quantity sold by . 7%. Question 10 5 out of 5 points Marginal revenue (MR) is ____ when total revenue is maximized. Answer Selected Answer: equal to zero Correct Answer: equal to zero Question 11 5 out of 5 points Those goods having a calculated income elasticity that is negative are called: Answer Selected Answer: inferior goods Correct Answer: inferior goods Question 12 5 out of 5 points An income elasticity (Ey) of 2. 0 indicates that for a ____ increase in income, ____ will increase by ____. Answer Selected Answer: one percent; quantity demanded; two percent Correct Answer: one percent; quantity demanded; two percent Question 13 0 out of 5 points The method which can give some information in estimating demand of a product that hasn’t yet come to market is: Answer Selected Answer: the barometric method Correct Answer: the consumer survey Question 14 5 out of 5 points When using a multiplicative power function (Y = a X1b1 X2b2 X3b3) to represent an economic relationship, estimates of the parameters (a, and the bs) using linear regression analysis can be obtained by first applying a ____ transformation to convert the function to a linear relationship. Answer Selected Answer: double-logarithmic Correct Answer: double-logarithmic Question 15 0 out of 5 points The standard deviation of the error terms in an estimated regression equation is known as: Answer Selected Answer: coefficient of determination Correct Answer: standard error of the estimate Question 16 5 out of 5 points One commonly used test in checking for the presence of autocorrelation when working with time series data is the ____. Answer Selected Answer: Durbin-Watson test Correct Answer: Durbin-Watson test Question 17 5 out of 5 points The variation in an economic time-series which is caused by major expansions or contractions usually of greater than a year in duration is known as: Answer Selected Answer: cyclical variation Correct Answer: cyclical variation Question 18 5 out of 5 points If two alternative economic models are offered, other things equal, we would Answer Selected Answer: select the model that gave the most accurate forecasts Correct Answer: select the model that gave the most accurate forecasts Question 19 5 out of 5 points The type of economic indicator that can best be used for business forecasting is the: Answer Selected Answer: leading indicator Correct Answer: leading indicator Question 20 5 out of 5 points Which of the following barometric indicators would be the most helpful for forecasting future sales for an industry? Answer Selected Answer: leading economic indicators. Correct Answer: leading economic indicators. Question 21 5 out of 5 points An appreciation of the U. S. dollar has what impact on Harley-Davidson (HD), a U. S. manufacturer of motorcycles? Answer Selected Answer: domestic sales of HD motorcycles decrease and foreign sales of HD motorcycles decrease Correct Answer: omestic sales of HD motorcycles decrease and foreign sales of HD motorcycles decrease Question 22 5 out of 5 points If the British pound (? ) appreciates by 10% against the dollar: Answer Selected Answer: the US importer of British goods will tend to find that their cost of goods rises, hurting its bottom line. Correct Answer: the US importer of British goods will tend to find that their cost of goods rises, h urting its bottom line. Question 23 5 out of 5 points In a recession, the trade balance often improves because Answer Selected Answer: fewer households can afford luxury imports Correct Answer: fewer households can afford luxury imports Question 24 5 out of 5 points Trading partners should specialize in producing goods in accordance with comparative advantage, then trade and diversify in consumption because Answer Selected Answer: more goods are available for consumption Correct Answer: more goods are available for consumption Question 25 5 out of 5 points Marginal revenue product is: Answer Selected Answer: defined as the amount that an additional unit of the variable input adds to the total revenue Correct Answer: defined as the amount that an additional unit of the variable input adds to the total revenue Question 26 5 out of 5 points The marginal product is defined as: Answer Selected Answer: The incremental change in total output that can be produced by the use of one more unit of the variable input in the production process Correct Answer: The incremental change in total output that can be produced by the use of one more unit of the variable input in the production process Question 27 0 out of 5 points Which of the following is never negative? Answer Selected Answer: slope of the isocost lines Correct Answer: average product Question 28 5 out of 5 points Marginal factor cost is defined as the amount that an additional unit of the variable input adds to ____. Answer Selected Answer: total cost Correct Answer: total cost Question 29 5 out of 5 points The cost function is: Answer Selected Answer: a schedule or mathematical relationship showing the total cost of producing various quantities of output Correct Answer: a schedule or mathematical relationship showing the total cost of producing various quantities of output Question 30 5 out of 5 points Economies of Scope refers to situations where per unit costs are: Answer Selected Answer: Reduced when two or more products are produced Correct Answer: Reduced when two or more products are produced Question 31 5 out of 5 points For a short-run cost function which of the following statements is (are) not true? Answer Selected Answer: The marginal cost function intersects the average fixed cost function where the average variable cost function is a minimum. Correct Answer: The marginal cost function intersects the average fixed cost function where the average variable cost function is a minimum. Question 32 5 out of 5 points What method of inventory valuation should be used for economic decision-making problems?

Why Did People Keep Paying Rising Real

Why Did People Keep Paying Rising Real 2008 was rather rough for the economy of the United States. In many ways, the problem which the state encountered in 2008 reminds of another crisis, which was much stronger and had much more dreadful consequences, yet developed on very similar premises as the one of 2008.Advertising We will write a custom essay sample on Why Did People Keep Paying Rising Real-Estate Prices? specifically for you for only $16.05 $11/page Learn More The notorious Great depression that struck the United States in 1929 also concerned the issue of mortgage, increasing prices and the intense feeling of financial insecurity. As a matter of fact, there are a number of features which are characteristic of both crises in question. According to Salisbury, the results of the 2008 crisis were just as disastrous as the situation during the Great depression: â€Å"the economic circumstances in the United States now and during the 1929-1940 have several elements in common† (Salisbury 23). One of the common issues with both crises was the mortgage problem. Despite the fact that mortgage agencies are rising prices (Nanto 24), in 2008, people still continued to pay rent for their houses, which raises the question why people followed the attempts of the mortgage agencies to profit from the crisis. As a matter of fact, the answer to this question is rather simple. First of all, it is important to mention once again that dishonest brokers created the illusion of their companies being completely transparent, thus, making people believe that what they would get the services which they would pay for (Zandi 187). Thus, even as the price for the rent increased, people would still pay for the mortgage, being completely sure that they would not be left without their homes. However, as soon as the price rose even higher than ever and the people who lost their jobs due to the crisis could not pay for the rent anymore, the houses went into foreclosure, thus, making people lose their hearth and home. Logically, the people who have suffered because of the swindlers who offered the mortgage which could be sustained only in the case the house was flipped should have been more cautious. Indeed, the rapid increase of the price for the mortgage should have been taken with a grain of salt by the people who rented houses. However, apart from the psychological factor mentioned above, there were also the economical and the financial ones. During a crisis, it must have been extremely risky to switch from one mortgage to another in the search for a more trustworthy company. Honest mortgage companies and swindlers are quite hard to tell apart to begin with; in addition, when changing the mortgage company, one is most likely to come across even higher prices, which was quite undesirable for the people who were struck with the crisis. Hence most of the problems connected with mortgage and the rising prices for it stemmed.Advertising Looking for essay on business economics? Let's see if we can help you! Get your first paper with 15% OFF Learn More Despite the fact that there obviously were the ways to deal with the mortgage issues other than following the policies of the mortgage companies which decided to raise the money for the rent, the reasons for people to keep paying the rent money is still understandable. Mostly because of the instability of the economical situation in the country and the fear that the change of a mortgage company will be only for the worse, people complied with the outrageous rules imposed on them by the mortgage companies. Nanto, Dick K. Global Financial Crisis: Analysis and Policy Implications. Harrisburg, PA: Diane Publishing Co. Salisbury, Philip S. The Current Economic Crisis and the Great Depression. Bloomington, IN: Xlibris, 2010. Print. Zandi, Mark M. Financial Shock: A 360 º Look at the Subprime Mortgage Implosion,  and How to Avoid the Next Financial Crisis. Upper Saddle River, NJ: FT Press, 2009. Print.

Connection Between Surf, Spirituality And Media Speech or Presentation

Connection Between Surf, Spirituality And Media - Speech or Presentation Example Surfing brings about and evokes the spirituality within individuals. Surfing helps to rejuvenate the connections and oneness with the cosmology. It helps to link the surfer with the positive energy that persists in the world. Another experience that surfers share which evokes spirituality in them is friendly relation and bond they develop for the various aquatic species that reside within the ocean. Some suffers have also reported that they have experienced communication between various aquatic species that on various occasions when they were on the shore in solitude waiting for the right moment to hit the waves. It is also assumed that the spiritual connection that surfers go through also causes them to develop a sense of responsibility in them to save and protect the marine life that resides in water. Today, many organizations have been established that help surfers to gather on a platform, make them aware of their responsibility towards the aquatic life and also to acknowledge the m that the sport they play has a religious point of view too which means that surfing is not merely an experience but it has certain religious perspective.... Spirituality is something within or at times is sought. These days spirituality is obtained through various means. One of them is through sports. When a surfer hits the waves, he comes in contact with the forces of nature that persist. The waves drive him to the shore. On his entire quest on the waves he is in direct contact with nature, the surfer is eventually following the course of nature. Indulging in the waves, he finds his way to the shore which portrays a real experience; a man enters this temporary and fake world. Gets involved in various activities, those who seek the path of God and patiently wait for their reward finally stand victorious like a surfer after hitting the high waves comes back to the shore same way a man continues his journey in this world and the world after. Kreeft in his essay on surfing and spirituality states that "The key elements in the symbolism are pretty clear: I, the surfer, am—myself. The body with which I surf in the sea symbolizes the so ul, with which I "surf" in God. The sea is God. The beach is the approach to God. Surfing is the experience of God, or the spiritual life" (Kreeft, Surfing and spirituality). This is a very precise way to explain surfing and spirituality. Media plays a very important role when it comes to the reinforcement of sustainability as a principal part of surf mentality. This is an all-inclusivemeasure—the magazines and videos featuring professional surfers cannot be shallow and focus only on surfing. Sustainability needs to come up more frequently than once a year in the magazines, for example, in the â€Å"green† issue. Surf media affects the youth: many individuals were influenced by surfing

Write a Letter of Recommendation for Yourself Essay

Write a Letter of Recommendation for Yourself - Essay Example The time and resource management skills and the need to interact with people helped me in adopting the new trends and behaviours. Hence, my early life experiences contribute greatly towards my management skills and communication and interaction abilities. My independence and belief in personal efforts are the main traits that lead to my success in all walks of life. These traits are also helpful for my future career. Personal leadership and management have leaded me to achieve marvellous management skills which are highly regarded in today’s diversified environment. The ability to integrate in the new systems and adapt to changes that are found in different organizations due to multicultural workforce, also stand as a positive aspect of my personality. I have the expertise to lead a team or group of people and make the success of goals certain. My leadership traits, flexible attitude and communication techniques act as a helpful tool to manage peace, order and harmony between the group members. My academic achievements and records are not limited to the theoretical knowledge but I have the ability to apply them effectively in my practical life. As an accounting student from Santa Clara University, I have been given lessons and proper guidance on the application of theoretical concepts and techniques in the working environment. Accounting concepts such as basic and intermediate accounting, GAAP and SOX are parts of the knowledge that I had learnt. Management skills, planning, goal setting and budgeting are the concepts which are not limited to the business environment but are applied in everyday life for a better and bright future. To apply and polish my accounting knowledge and utilize the natural traits that I possess, I had my internship in Indonesia last summer. During this working experience, I realized the true potentials of my knowledge and realized the shortcomings of the practical applicability of the learned concepts. My professionalism does not

A memorandum Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words - 1

A memorandum - Case Study Example mit courts as well as local governments from subjecting religious, religious monitored institutions, clergy as well as their employees into penal acts for refusing to sanctify or recognize marriages that are against their religious doctrines. This law provides freedom to access of all places of public accommodation to persons of divere sexual orientation, religious affiliations, ethnic, cultural and political affiliations. That is, this law guarantees all citizens living in New York the freedom and the right to access all places that have been made public for provision of accommodation services. According to this law the term â€Å"public place of accommodation† includes road houses, inns, taverns, motels and hotels. The public is free to access such facilities whether for purposes of health, food, entertainment and rest. Additionally, this law provides the freedom and rights to the populace of New York to access saloons, parks enclosure and bar rooms where spirituous as well as malt liquors are sold; the public is also able to access ice-cream parlors, soda fountains, confectionaries and all any other facility that has been opened with an intention to provide services and products to the general public. From case provided, taking into consideration the telephone conversation that was recorded by Jennifer McCarthy between Mrs. Gifford and Melisa Erwin, it is indicated that Mrs. Gifford answered Melisa politely that they could not host a lesbian or same sex marriage on the Liberty Farm. This is a fact that could be claimed using the New Marriage Equality Act of 2011. The act hinders any kind of discrimination that may be directed to persons intending to engage in same sex marriage. It is therefore a fact that Mr. and Mrs. Gifford violated the terms of the New York Marriage Equality Act, by specifically asserting that they could not host McCarthy and Melisa’s wedding on their Liberty Ridge Farm on the basis that they were Lesbians. In relation to the New York

The Practice of Leadership and Management as a Nurse

The Practice of Leadership and Management as a Nurse Management is an economic resource to meet objective. It is a social process entailing responsibility for the effective and economical planning and regulations of the operations of an enterprise in fulfillment of the given purpose. Leadership on the other hand is the process of influencing individuals or groups towards achievement of a goal in a given situation. The purpose of this paper is mainly to synthesize differing leadership and management concepts and to apply principles of leadership and management, team building concepts, and organizational theory to nursing clinical practice. This is to ensure quality improvement, ensuring that the financial data is up to date, to ensure minimal risks occur at the health centers and avoid recurrent clinical problems. It is therefore important as a nurse to apply leadership and management concepts to ensure that there is motivation for the good operation under the hospitals. Nursing management is the performance of the leadership functions whilst ensuring the leadership powers are kept in place. This leadership powers include: coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, reference, information and should make sure they are all wrapped and exercised. Nursing management includes all the main functions of management namely: Planning; this includes the forecasting and the selection of objectives with the policies, programs and procedures for achieving them. Nurses should therefore be in a position to plan with clear focus Organizing; this is concerned with decision of work and the allocation of duties, authority and responsibility. This will enable nurses to avoid reoccurring of previous errors. Directing/leading; it involves the guiding and supervising subordinates. The nurses must make sure the subordinates are oriented into the understanding why, guided towards improved performance and motivated to work effectively towards the hospitals goals Controlling; it is the process involved in setting up of standards, the regular comparison of physical events with standards and then taking up the corrective actions. The nursing management is therefore applying this functions and leadership roles especially at the nursing unit. They also have other primary responsibilities of staffing, motivating, communicating, commanding and budgeting among others. Importance of Management and Leadership to Nurse Managers Firstly, it ensure quality improvement by incorporating unity of direction, unity of command, stability of staff which will lead to a sense of belonging and ensures patients are well taken care of. Also it helps by ensuring that the financial data is up to date by employing the principle of authority and responsibility which calls for accountability and prevents misuse of authority. In addition it minimizes risks at the health centers by making sure there are order and a scalar chain of command and conclusively, avoids recurrent clinical problems. Difference between Leaders and Managers leaders generally innovate and develop while managers administer and maintain Leaders focus on people inspiring trust and openness while managers focus on systems and structures and make staffs rely on control Leaders do the right things and keep an eye on the horizon while managers do things right and keep an eye on the bottom line Leaders originate things whereas managers imitate things Leaders change the status quo while managers accept the status quo Management Style and Leadership style The contingency approach or situational approach suggests that there is no one best way to manage and organize but rather, successful managerial decisions options depends upon the situations and circumstances in which such decisions are made. Autocratic leadership style is considered as a classical approach to leadership or dictatorship. It is one in which the managers retain as much decision making authority as possible. Bureaucratic leadership is where the managers manage by the book that is; everything must be done according to procedure or policy. Laissez fair is the one in which the leader provides little or no direction and gives employees as much freedom as possible. All authorities are given to employees and they must determine their goals, make decision and resolve problems on their own. Democratic leadership style encourages employees to perform part of their decisions. Democratic manager keeps his or her employees informed about everything that affect their work and shares decision making and problem solving responsibility. I would therefore apply the democratic leadership style since it will ensure that I consider the subordinates that units for the benefit of the health care and the society at large. II. Application of leadership and management of nursing practice Case Scenario A health care that envisages providing the best and competitive health care facilities must have staff example the charge nurse, sister nurse who are excellent in their chosen disciplines, have strong leadership capabilities, and are comfortable working in the environment. Top managers of the unit should therefore posses distinct characteristics of great leaders, thus being a boon to the health unit and society especially as patients. Also strategic management is believed to spread the realization of organizational objectives. The intensity of global competitiveness in best service requires managers to adopt strategic management and be well versed with the characteristics associated with strategic decisions. Problem Being the nurse in charge of advanced health care institute, there has been problems as a result of poor management and leadership skills. Firstly the employees turnover is high that is the numbers of employees under various department employed per year is almost 100%.Secondly the health care members usually receive orders from various supervisors bringing forth a lot of confusion, the division of labor is poorly done such that some patients may be attended by more than one nurse and the others may fail to be attended. The problems that were previously done are reoccurred therefore making the number of patients to get services to other health care unit .In addition there are a lot of complains from other staff that their remuneration is not fair enough and that the level of job satisfaction is quite low. Plan action Behavioral approach to management; this is based on the perception that those involved in the organization are the predetermining of organizational and managerial effectiveness. It is concerned with understanding of the individual workers with emphasis on motivation, needs, interpersonal relationships and group dynamics. For instance, Douglas Mc Greggor-Theory X and Theory Y .Douglas MC Greggor believed that employees are lazy beings hence managers should use carrot and stick in motivating employees in theory X assumption. In theory Y assumptions Douglar MC Greggor believed that work is like a play and if a play is not interesting the employees will not be interested in the play. With this kind of a system and applying Henri Fayols principles of management that are relevant to principles management, I will ensure that there is fair remuneration, that also there is stability of staff, the principle of unity of command will also be useful by ensuring that members receive orders from on ly one supervisor. The most appropriate leadership style to succumb the problem is democratic leadership style which requires a leader to be a couch that has the final say but gathers information from the staffs before making a decision Steps in resolving this problem Problem recognition Problem definition Planning and design Solve the problem Implement the problem Strategies of leading and managing people Motivation is the process that accounts for an individual intensity, directions and persistence of efforts towards attaining a goal. It is the reasons why employees would want to work hard and work effectively for the organization. To motivate those involved towards a solution requires the elements of motivation which are; ability, level of skills, knowledge about how to complete the task, attitude, fillings and beliefs. By applying the motivation that is content theory and process theory, managers will be able to increase their motivation capacity. To gain effective support, the managers should ensure that they guide and supervise the subordinates accordingly and by way of example. The transfer of information between different people in a business should have a unit of direction to avoid conflict and confusion in authority. Change Theory Change is making things different or doing things in different ways. In most organization, change activities are activated. The modern approach to changes requires organization to be proactive to changes. In nursing management, for instance there are stimulants to changes. The emergence of newly created or reregulations of existing laws, increased in the number of accidents and errors, high level of labour turnover, changes in the legal system governing labour and other general areas. The change process includes; Initial problem identification where the initial problem is identified Obtaining data relating to the problem through different methods of data collection Problem diagnosis to understand the roots of the problem Action planning; this involves strategically having plans for solving the problem Implementation which involves application of the problem solving techniques to the problem Assessment of the consequences and learning from the process and giving feedback to other interconnected individuals and steps Organizational Environment Management environment refers to forces influencing organizational activity and management policies from within and outside the organization. The internal environment refers to the internal resources, activities and events of the organizational members. The stakeholders depending if it is a profitable or non profitable organization have a direct and specific impact upon organizational operation, the general environment especially the patients affect the organization. My strategy to solve the problem will have a social, cultural, economic, political impact on the agency. III. Evaluation Today the notion of total quality management means that the total organization is committed to quality. Total quality management means a total effort towards meeting customer needs and ensures selection by planning for quality. This can be easily evaluated by the outcomes of the staff members in accordance to the expected results. My plan would have work if the results are as per my plans and all the other problems are resolved. This is by ensuring there are no recurrent clinical problems and the clinic operates efficiently. Barriers Staff resistance to change is as a result of selective perception, fear of unknown, organizational culture and custom, anticipated inconveniences and probably economic factors. In addition the cost of analyses and making these changes is high and the organization may consider the cost outweighing the benefits. Also, the time required to solve the problems, making changes and coming up with a new plan may be too much and the organization may decide to ignore the problems. Furthermore there may be circumstances where the project will fail land this may lead to abandoning the project that was to incorporate change. In addition there can be changing priority and another plan has to be developed. IV. Summary In summary a leader should employ aspects of a good and effective leader. By applying the different leadership style that is autocratic, bureaucratic, and democratic and laissez fair, a leader should ensure that he is competent enough. Management is a social process entailing responsibility for the effective and economical planning and regulations of the operations of the enterprise, in fulfillment of the given purpose. Also the manager should ensure that he applies the principle of management especially scientific management and art management. There is still a sense of art in all management and in intuition is a very useful guide. Nobody will say that book learning will make successful manager. The importance fear of human relations with its psychological contacts is often a matter of personality more than procedure .Nursing management will thus involve incorporating all the principles and functions of management in order to ensure effective work is done and incorporating leadershi p style to motivate and cooperate with other staffs. Conclusion

Ultimately Disgusting :: essays research papers

Ultimate fighting is one of the most brutal and barbaric sports ever to be seen on television. Ultimate fighting is a no-rules fighting competition, designed to provide violent entertainment for its viewers. In this competition a fighter is allowed to punch, kick, and choke his opponent to win a fight. Ultimate fighting first came to the United States in 1993 when SEG began promoting it as, 'The Ultimate Fighting Championship.'; Ultimate fighting is an unsafe sport and people should not be permitted to view or compete in such violent competitions. Dr. George Lindberg editor of the Journal of the American Medical Association says, 'Someone's spinal cord could be fractured, an arm could be broken, and choking could result in brain damage. The possibility of injury is very high'; (Sokolove 1). The American Medical Association wants an all out ban on boxing and ultimate fighting. Senator John McCain, the leader in the opposition wants it banned because he is concerned about injury to the competitors (Kirby 20). In the UFC competitors have received broken arms, damaged their spinal cord, and been knocked out on several occasions. In a recent event in the Ukraine, a competitor died after he was beated badly. After the fight he collapsed, was taken to a hospital, and later died (Kodi). Cockfighting is banned in almost all states in this country, however in most states ultimate fighting still goes unregulated. Why are we allowing humans to compete in events that we have decided is too dangerous for animals (Sokolove 1)? Isn't allowing this type of event to go on telling our children that it is ok to fight? This type of event serves no positive purpose, and only increases the tolerance for violence in our society. Fans and promoters of ultimate fighting argue that fighters should be allowed to compete in any type of violent event if both participants are consenting. Isn't there a point then where all of this goes to far though? Suppose someone wants to televise the death of someone who consents to being killed. Under their logic this type of thing would be ok because everyone is consenting. We have already banned such consenting activities such as prostitution, drugs, and assisted suicide; we should just add this to the list. John McCain believes that the fighter's consent is deceptive. He says a fighter is, 'driven by profits or the enticements of publicity associated with it and unknowingly is placing his or her life at risk (Kirby 20).

How does the writer create suspense in the Tell Tale Heart? Essay

The Tell Tale Heart is an extraordinary horror story. It was written by Edgar Allan Poe. His horror story keeps you interested, builds a lot of tension and creates suspense. I am going to write an essay on how Edgar Allan Poe creates suspense by explaining thoroughly all the techniques he uses. These techniques are, use of repetition, punctuation, how he uses first person, sound, imagery, tension, his use of time and finally in addition, how Poe uses italics and similes. I will also use quotes from the Tell Tale Heart to explain my points fully. Firstly, Poe uses lots of repetition or repeated words. For example, â€Å"I moved it slowly- very, very slowly.† Poe does this because he wants you to imagine how slowly and carefully he thrust his head in, so the man would not wake up. Also, he keeps repeating this because he is saying that it wasn’t just slowly. It was much slower than that. This quote was shown on the third paragraph, already this soon he has used a repetition. My next example is he uses or repeats the words â€Å"madness and mad† a lot. This has the effect of you believing that the main character is actually quite mad, even though he is repeating he isn’t. This is said throughout the story, starting from the first paragraph and the reader starts to understand what the murderer is really like. My final example is â€Å"it grew louder- louder- louder!† This adds to the point of how loud it really was and by repeating it exaggerates how it was. It also gives you a clear image of this, as it is repeated throughout the paragraphs. As a last point, I would like to explain the effect of using repetition. Repetition exaggerates the point and gives you a clear image of how it was. It adds to the suspense, for example â€Å"carefully, very, very carefully.† This shows he took it over the top because he had to be very quiet. Secondly, I will explain how Poe uses a variety of punctuation, for a greater effect. He uses punctuation to speed up and slow down the pace, which is much better than reading normally. My first example is â€Å"they heard! – They suspected! – They knew!† In this quotation, Poe has gripped the audience using dashes and exclamation marks. As this speeds up the pace, so therefore you can feel the murderer is frightened, worried and terrified. Poe speeds up the pace here because there is a lot of tension at this point. If he never used this you would read it normally and wouldn’t feel the suspense in this piece of text. My next example is â€Å"I foamed- I raved- I swore!† Here dashes and exclamation marks are used again. The punctuation shows he was angry and shouting. This is especially shown by the exclamation marks. To finish with punctuation have a good effect on the reader. It speeds up and slows down the pace and is more interesting than reading normal. This is also a very good hooking technique and adds to the suspense quite well. Finally, he uses a lot of punctuation throughout the whole story giving a good result. Next, Poe uses first person because it lets the reader see the story from the murderer’s point of view. This makes the story more interesting, as you can find out all the feelings and emotions of the murderer along the way. Where as, in 3rd person you wouldn’t get to know as much. My first example is â€Å"I have told you that I am nervous: so I am.† This quotation shows how the murderer feels when he is going through killing the man. My next example is â€Å"I heard a slight groan, and I knew it was the groan of mortal terror.† This quotation gives a very good effect, as it shows what he heard and saw right up to slaughtering the man. Also, from first person narrative you can share what is happening in some ways. Poe makes out the murderer as to be the following things, very secretive as you don’t know the sex, name, appearance and very little of his background. Next, he is incredibly mad, as he killed a man and cut his arms and legs up. The quotation to show he is mad is â€Å"I heard many things in hell.† This example shows he isn’t exactly normal. The murderer is also very obsessive as he can’t stop talking about they evil eye. He is crazy and gets very nervous around people, especially when the officers of the police come in near the end. You can also see he is disturbed and very unusual. Furthermore, the murderer has a routine and is in some ways organised because he plans out everything on what he is going to do step by step. Poe makes the murderer different and crazy in his own way. This is because it adds to the horror and suspense of the story. In addition, the murderer being first person uses a hooking technique which is to directly address the reader. This keeps the reader involved and keeps them paying attention to what’s happening. My first example is â€Å"how then, am I mad?† In this quotation, when he talks to the reader he uses rhetorical questions (questions that shouldn’t be answered). This includes the reader in the story, as they are being talked to. My next example is â€Å"I smiled – for what had I to fear?† This does the same again using rhetorical questions to the reader. This is almost like the murderer is sharing his worries with you, which has a good effect overall. To conclude this section, using direct address and talking to the reader, gets them involved on what is happening and is a great result, as sometimes you can relate to the story. Poe does this by using the word â€Å"you† and question marks from rhetorical questions. Another unique way Poe creates suspense is describing a lot of sound in the Tell Tale Heart; this has an exceptional effect on the reader. My first example is â€Å"for the hinges creaked.† This phrase reminds you of old scary horror films and makes you wonder, who is behind the door? It is also a creepy noise that relates to old abandoned houses. My second example is â€Å"It was the low stifled sound.† This quotation shows that in some ways he is paranoid as he is hearing things. It gets the reader more into suspense, as he believes the murderer is not alone and something is going to happen within this. Also, the sound gives you an idea of how it sounded. An additional example is â€Å"the old man sprang up in the bed, crying out- whose there?† In this example there is a lot of tension, you can almost hear the old voice of the man. A last quotation is â€Å"I fairly chuckled at the idea.† This shows that you can imagine the murderer laughing in an evil way; also he is amused that the man has no idea about what is going to happen. As a final point, sound gives the idea of how something sounded – so maybe quietly. It gives an idea of the surroundings and creates atmosphere. Poe has used this at the right moments in the story when he is describing something. A further reason Poe creates suspense is the use of descriptive words (imagery). These describe a lot of things throughout the story, these things are – evil words, the description of the eye and murdering the elderly man. A lot is used at certain points to emphasise his ideas. Also, it keeps you imagining and gets you hooked. Some examples of evil words he uses are â€Å"corpse†. This gives the reader the idea of a murdered body; it gives a scarier effect as it is more horrifying than just saying a dead body. My next example is â€Å"the evil eye†. This shows the eye was not exactly normal and it wasn’t nice looking. It was something that made his blood run cold and make him shake with fear. So you can imagine what it was like, also it suggests the centre of the story. My final example for this point is â€Å"the mortal terror.† It shows the feelings of the man and he wasn’t just frightened he was absolutely terrified. Additionally, he makes the ‘eye’ sound disgusting, here are some examples â€Å"his eye resembled that of a vulture.† This shows his eye was repulsive as it looks like a vulture (not a very nice creature). It also lets you imagine what the eye looks like. Another example is â€Å"a pale blue eye†. This describes how the eye looked and that it was unusually pale, which makes the reader feel the same way, as the murderer. Poe also makes ‘death’ sound disgusting, as all the tension builds up in a horrible way. The man gets killed astonishingly, which is quite scary. He gets suffocated by the bed covers and the way it is revolting is that, it says â€Å"the heart beat on with a muffled sound.† So he suffocated and his heart carried on beating a few minutes after. He also â€Å"shrieked† just before he was murdered. Finally, a last point that was terrifying is that when he pulled back the covers â€Å"he was stone dead.† So you can imagine how horrible he looked while dead. To conclude this, Poe uses descriptive words all throughout the story. This is to emphasise how horrifying something looked and it shows that the murderer looks at everything from the dark side. Next, Poe’s use of tension right through the story increases and decreases. This is done to not get the reader bored, whilst reading. It usually starts low, and then builds up more and more until it is really high. The parts where the tension is high is when: he is about to murder the man, when he is trying to hide the body under the floorboards and when the police has come round and he is about to confess. The parts when there is a low amount of tension is when: they are at the start and the murderer is explaining why he wants to kill the man and when he is waiting long time for when it is the right time to kill. Poe has made the tension go up and down because it is more exciting and keeps you in suspense. If I was to draw a graph for this it would go up and then down all the way through, so in other words it would go zigzag. A next point is how Poe uses time in the Tale Tell Heart, in some sections time goes slowly and some times it goes fast. When Poe makes time go slowly the character is doing something important or the murderer is describing something in detail. The evidence for this is â€Å"slowly so not to wake the man up†. Here this is a part where time goes slowly as it is telling the audience he has to be very quiet – to not cause any suspicion. Another example for time going slowly is when he is killing the man. The example for this is â€Å"yet for some minutes longer I stood still.† Here everything is going slow because he is about to murder the man. Poe makes time go fast when he is describing his actions over a period of time. My example for this is â€Å"every morning when the day broke.† Here he is describing time fast and over a period of time. Poe has made time go fast and slowly, so there is more tension and pace. A final point, to how Poe creates suspense in the Tell Tale Heart, is using italics and similes. To start with italics emphasize what is said, or something repeated. So it could emphasize something horrible that has happened, for a scarier effect. My example for this is â€Å"I now grew very pale.† This is said when the police officers have come in, to show he is nervous. The italics give emphasis to how pale he looked, so the murderer was looking really colourless. Italics are used a lot in The Tale Heart for many different reasons. Next, similes are used to describe something towards something else. My first example for this is â€Å"his room was as black as pitch.† This quotation gives you a clear image of how dark it was, as it is being referred to a pitch. Another example is â€Å"a low dull quick sound, such as a watch makes when enveloped in cotton.† This gives you another image of what the sound was like being referred to something else. As a final point, Poe uses italics and similes because they stress the point clearly. In conclusion, Poe uses a variety of techniques to create suspense in the Tale Tell Heart. These are – use of repetition, punctuation, how he uses first person, sound, imagery, tension, his use of time and italics and similes. These techniques create a good effect on the reader and are mostly successful hooking techniques. Poe keeps you reading the story by making you want to know what happens next using these skilful ways, without those ways The Tell Tale heart wouldn’t be as good. I think that the use of tension is most effective because it covers just about all the areas and it makes the story more exciting and interesting to read. The part of story I think is the best, is where all the tension increases when he is going to murder the man. This is because at that point you don’t want to put it down, as there is a lot of suspense. Overall, I would rate The Tale Tell Heart a very good horror story, with impressive techniques used throughout.

Marketing Essay

For any entrepreneur, marketing is an important component for the success of all businesses. Marketing can be identified as the process in which any business informs, satisfy and keep possessions of its customers. It is the main ingredient to bringing in customers to increase profits for a business. Many may think that marketing is as simple as advertisements and promotions but in the real business world to be successful, marketing is a bit more complex. A business needs a solid marketing plan to succeed and also to show the investors the company is able to return the investment the investors have given. For an entrepreneur to master the marketing skill the individual must understand the marketing mix. Marketing mix is the combination of the elements of marketing and what roles each element plays in promoting your products and services and delivering those products and services to your customers (about. com). Elements of Marketing Mix The marketing mix has four elements and until recently there have been a few new added elements which are referred to the 4 ps or the 7 ps of marketing mix. The 4 ps of marketing are product, place, price, and promotion and the additional p’s are process, people and physical evidence. When looking at it from a business sense of view it make a lot of sense because even though the added p’s can be explained in the original 4 ps, they each can stand alone. For instance process can be looked at as the protocol used by businesses for the marketing strategies and people can be seen as what they used to explain in debt the product or services. Last but not least physical evidence is what most consumers today go by which shows firsthand that a product or services does work. Product is the product and services offered to your customer, and how they are different from the competitors’ products. Businesses also have to make sure when offering a product to their customers it has to have the correct features meaning it must look good and work well and have enough to go around. Price is described as how you price your product or service so that your price remains competitive but still allows you to make a profit. In pricing businesses should also keep their targeted market in mind ensuring it is affordable to them and potential future customers. Place is describe as the distribution or where your business sells its products or services and how it gets those products or services to your customers. Place is very important because a business would want to make sure that their goods and services arrive when and where they are needed. For the promotion element it is the methods used to communicate the features and benefits of your products or services to your target customers. In today market promotion is made easier because your targeted consumer can be reached by the push of a button. With that being said businesses should keep technique and deliverance of the product and services offered into consideration also. The fifth p in marketing mix is described as people and is how your level of service and the expertise of the people who work for you can be used to set your business apart from the competitors. With the majority of products and services being offered by the click of a button, most consumers tend to rely on reviews to help them decide. If the business does not have the right people that look professional and have good ethics with the knowledge of the product or services they are selling it can hurt the business extremely. Which brings us to the saying a first impression last. Organization The Atlanta barber and beauty supply company or ABBS is an organization that supplies barber and beauty shops all around the country. They have been in business serving professional barber shops since 1946 with new, used and antique barber supplies and equipment. It is specifically marketed to the licensed barber or beautician shop owners. Just like any other organization ABBS has used the four elements of marketing mix to assist in the marketing strategy. For the product element the company has shown how each of their products are of great professional quality and last for years. Even though they sell top quality products, they also provide lower end products for those that maybe not willing or able to spend as much. They sell the same products as their competitors but they have a wider variety of clippers and shears in stock that are antiques. This allows them to provide their products to a larger consumer group from the older shops to the younger and ever changing shops. The company takes pride in having any kind of hair products in stock. Some barbers have specialty shops that only cater to an older market and likes nostalgic products and equipment to make their shop look and feel like the barber shops of the past, and ABBS has these products and items in stock and can ship them anywhere all around the world. This element does not affect the development of the company’s marketing strategy because it helps it by making sure the company keeps plenty of stock of their products. This element also gives the company a reason to look at other countries hair products to see what new products are being made and used in that country that can be sold to that market in the future. In the price element this affects the marketing strategy of the business by making the company decide how to price their products without making the price to expensive but attractive to customers to gain more customers than the competitors. The prices for the products are at competitive rates but lower than other barber supply companies because they give discounts to the owners of the barber shops. They also give a discount on shipping on all items purchased $60 and over. That is a strategy to bring in and keep more customers to use their internet website. The place element/distribution element for the ABBS is placed in 186 Mitchell St. S. W. Atlanta, GA that is the main building set for distribution of all barber and beauty products. The company utilizes its internet website by offering its products via e-commerce to a worldwide market. This affects the company’s marketing strategy and tactics in a good way by broadening their market to attract more customers. The more the clients they can generate worldwide the more the companies’ profits will increase. The internet is the best tool to advertise a business and its products these days, because of its power to reach a mass amount of people around the world in a matter of seconds. They also use catalogs to keep their existing customers updated on new products and price and can also be a good way of keeping them in the loop of new adventures to come. In past years the radio and TV ads were the top marketing tool for businesses, but it came with an expensive price to get a radio or TV ad spot it also only reached a local market so small businesses were stuck only doing business domestically. The internet made it easier and cheaper for mainly anyone to advertise anything to anyone all around the world. Now the company distributes its products from the main building in Atlanta to thousands of clients in many different countries. The ABBS Company has developed policies for its internet clients that are overseas; it also ships to APO/FPO addresses. In the promotion element the company communicates through the internet to advertise its products it also sends out catalog magazines to all new barbershops that are listed in the phone books of each city. The company is a top search when searched on Google. ABBS promotes the business in all forms of the marketing aspect, from newspaper ads, magazines, radio/TV ads, and the internet. Conclusion In conclusion new entrepreneurs understand that the marketing mix is a good tool to use when planning the marketing strategy of the business. It shows that these strategies are ever evolving with time and for a business to be and keep being successful their approach to cater to their consumer must also evolve. After identifying the four elements of marketing mix which are product, price, place, and promotion I was able to describe how each element affected the development of the company’s market strategy and tactics. I also described how each of the four elements was implemented for the business, and identified the industry in which ABBS exists.

Rise of Russian Business Elite Essay Example

Rise of Russian Business Elite Essay Example Rise of Russian Business Elite Essay Rise of Russian Business Elite Essay Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 www. elsevier. com/locate/postcomstud The rise of the Russian business elite Olga Kryshtanovskaya a, Stephen White b,* a Institute of Sociology, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia b Department of Politics, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK Available online 24 August 2005 Abstract The early 1990s saw the formation of a new group of Russian property owners, often derivative of the late Soviet nomenklatura. The richest and most in? uential were known as oligarchs, and they established a dominant position in the later years of the Yeltsin presidency. Only 15% of the 1993 business elite still retained their position by 2001, after the 1998 devaluation of the currency. Those who took their place were younger, less metropolitan, better educated and more likely to have a background in government, including many who had enjoyed ministerial status. The new business elite is less personally ambitious, but its political in? uence is no less considerable and its representation in decision-making bodies has more than doubled over the post-communist period. The logic of development is towards a concentration of economic power in the hands of 20e25 large conglomerates in a politically subordinate association with government, along South Korean lines. O 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Regents of the University of California. Keywords: Business; Elite; Oligarchy; Russia Introduction The Soviet system allowed di? erences of income and private accumulations of wealth. But it did not permit the private ownership of factories and farms, or even of * Corresponding author. Tel. : C44 141 330 5352; fax: C44 141 330 5071. E-mail address: s. [emailprotected] gla. ac. uk (S. White). 967-067X/$ see front matter O 2005 Published by Elsevier Ltd on behalf of The Regents of the University of California. doi:10. 1016/j. postcomstud. 2005. 06. 002 294 O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 small businesses; living o? the labour of others was ‘exploitation’, and a criminal o? ence . These restrictions were being relaxed even before the end of communist rule, and a central feature of the policies that were followed under Boris Yeltsin after his election as Russia’s ? rst president in the summer of 1991 was the shift of productive resources from the state to private individuals. We must’, Yeltsin insisted, ‘provide economic freedom, lift all barriers to the freedom of enterprises and of entrepreneurship and give people the opportunity to work and to receive as much as they can, casting o? all bureaucratic constraints’ (Yeltsin, 1992: p. 6). In line with these policies, successive programmes of privatisation transferred state property into private hands; income di? erentials widened rapidly; and at the top, a new group of super-rich emerged, whose assets commanded respect not just within Russia itself but internationally. They became known as the ‘oligarchs’, with resources that typically combined banking, sections of industry and the mass media. 1 There were 15 of these wealthy magnates, and every Russian knew their names: Rem Vyakhirev, Boris Berezovsky, Vladimir Gusinsky, Vagit Alekperov, Vladimir Potanin, Mikhail Fridman, Mikhail Khodorkovsky and others. For 3 years, from 1995 to 1998, their power and their ratings rose steadily. Within government itself they had their ‘own’ ministers, o? cials and deputies. Berezovsky claimed personally to have secured the re-election of Boris Yeltsin in 1996 through the media campaign he had sponsored (Financial Times 1 November 1996: p. 17). He was known to be a member of the ‘Family’, the inner group around Yeltsin’s younger daughter who appeared to exercise decisive in? uence in the presidential court. Indeed it began to appear as if the state itself had been ‘privatised’, and that all important decisions were being taken by a small group of ? nancial magnates. It was certainly true that many of the country’s key positions were occupied by creatures of the major corporations, and that Duma parties were ? ling their foreign accounts by pushing through the kind of agreements the oil barons found most advantageous; some even did well out of the Chechen war. Who, asked analysts, really ruled the countrydpoliticians or businessmen? The crisis of August 1998, when Russia defaulted on its international debts and the rouble was in e? ect devalued, had profound e? ects throughout Russian public life, and no less upon its social structure. Some of the oligarchs were ruined (including Vladimir Vinogradov of Inkombank and Alexander Smolensky of SBSAgro); a few withdrew from public life, and others sought refuge abroad. Equally, There is already a considerable literature. In English, see for instance Khlebnikov (2000), Silverman and Yanowitch (2000), Rutland (2001), Ho? man (2002), and de Vries et al. (2004). In Russian, see Kukolev (1995a, b, 1996), Kryshtanovskaya (1996, 2002a, b) (on which we have drawn), Pappe (2000), and Mukhin (2001, 2004). The research that is reported in this paper was assisted by the Economic and Social Research Council under grant R000220127 in association with the Ministry of Defence under grant JGC902. Research on Russian business leaders has been conducted in the Elites Department of the Institute of Sociology of the Russian Academy of Sciences on the basis of a consistent methodology since 1993. In each case, an expert survey is used to identify a number of named members of the business elite (in 1993 there were 115 such names, and in 2001 there were 119); in a second stage, the biographies of these entrepreneurs are subjected to a more detailed analysis on the basis of interview as well as published data. 1 O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 295 here were changes in the relationship between government and the business elite, particularly after the election of Vladimir Putin as president in March 2000, as the regime began to pursue a policy of ‘equal distancing’ towards them. Putin, indeed, had promised that any ‘power-hungry’ oligarchs would ‘cease to exist as a class’ (Segodnya 20 March 20 00: p. 1). But what did this mean? The beginning of a struggle by the state with the oligarchy as a whole, or just with individual oligarchs? And did this mean that private business was beginning to play a smaller role in Russian politics, or, on the contrary, that its power had increased? In what follows we look ? rst at the emergence of the business elite, and then at the structural changes that have followed the collapse of the currency. We argue that over the whole period there has been a renegotiation, but not a dissolution, of the interpenetration of business and government that de? nes an oligarchy. Identifying the business elite We de? ne the business elite as the top echelon of entrepreneurs, who thanks to their ? nancial and economic resources have a signi? cant in? uence on the taking of decisions of national importance. The business elite, for our purposes, are a much more restricted group than the country’s major businessmen, including the largest shareholders (and sometimes top managers) of the leading enterprises and banks. The owners of some Russian corporations prefer to keep their distance from politics, although the scale of their business may be very substantial. And there are others for whom politics may be their main activity. Corporations of the ? rst kind can have considerable in? uence on the national economy; corporations of the second type have more in? uence on political decision-makers, and their role in the economy itself may not be signi? ant. In other words, the possession of substantial capital is a necessary but not su? cient criterion for membership of the business elite. 2 At a certain stage in the Russian reforms the business elite could have been regarded as a part of the ruling group of the society, a result not just of the resources they controlled and their degree of in? uence, but also of their origins. The ‘Komsomol economy’ in which the current business elite originated was a creation of the Soviet nomenklatura, which became the basis for the formation of a Russian property-owning class (Mawdsley and White, 2000: pp. 95e299; Martynova, 2001: ch. 4). The relative youth of individual members of the business elite in these early Our de? nition is close to that of other scholars. For the Russian Sociological Dictionary, for instance, the ‘economic elite’ should be understood as the ‘people who control the main ? nancial-economic structures of a country independent of judicial forms of ownership’; they may be divided into the directors of state enterprises, and the ‘business elite’ proper (Osipov, 1998 p. 638). For Ashin and colleagues, the business elite is the ‘top stratum of the entrepreneurial-? ancial group of the society’ (Ashin et al. , 1999: p. 294). Zaslavskaya de? nes à ¢â‚¬Ëœoligarchs’ as ‘not only owners, but also authorised executives and those who hold signi? cant numbers of shares of the major national and international corporations, holdings and industrial-? nancial groups’ (Zaslavskaya, 2004: p. 370). There has been considerable controversy in Russian sociology about de? nitions of this kind: see for instance Toshchenko (1999). 2 296 O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 eform years should not mislead us: the nomenklatura exchanged power for property, without necessarily engaging themselves in commercial activities. For the conduct of business of this kind they recruited younger associates, who were able to make use of government revenues to support their commercial initiatives. These younger associates were recruited from the party’s ‘reserve’, the Komsomol, who represented the lower level of the party-state bureaucracy in the Soviet period. Both before and after the crisis of 1998 there was a fairly substantial group of people who had a noticeable in? ence on public policy, thanks to their ? nancial resources. Their money gave them control of mass communications, the ability to fund election campaigns, assist parties and ‘purchase’ deputies, and to lobby government directly. Russia was not unusual in these respects: in the early twentieth century Michels had already formulated his ‘iron law of oligarchy’ according to which a democracy, in order to preserve itself and achieve a degree of stability, is obliged to separate out a more active minority element, or elite. For this reason, according to Michels (1959: p. 7), democracy inevitably turned into oligarchy. Writing subsequently, Miriam Beard claimed that the opportunity to achieve power was at the same time an opportunity to acquire wealth, since there were no obstacles with society that prevent the rich acquiring power for instance, through their ability to spend at election time (Beard, 1938: p. 166). Oligarchy may be de? ned as a state formation in which the major owners have not only economic power, but also enormous political in? uence. They take part in the formation of government and at the same time receive privileges from government, on which their wellbeing is dependent. An oligarchy is based on the interaction of two elite groups: the political ‘establishment’, which is ? nanced by big business and provide it with access to the most pro? table forms of entrepreneurship, and businessmen themselves. The interpenetration of power and property is expressed in the constant bargaining that takes place between both sets of actors, including the ? ? ? lling of key positions. Businessmen bring their proteges into government, and politicians after their resignation ? nd refuge in private corporations, bringing with them as a form of capital their wide network of contacts. In an oligarchic state the distance between state power and big business is minimal: it is a narrow circle in which everyone knows everyone else (Kryshtanovskaya, 1996). A de? nition of oligarchy of this kind is close but not quite identical to the one that was most widely employed in the Russian press during the 1990s, in which 10e15 businessmen were regularly named in this capacity. Unlike journalists, for whom a situational and individual analysis is important, the social scienti? c approach is a di? erent one: the oligarchy is considered as a social group whose personal composition has no particular signi? ance other than as a basis for constructing the sample to be examined. For these purposes the oligarchy is faceless, and not dependent on the replacement of one name by anotherda Gusinsky, for instance, by an Abramovich. What is at issue is not a list of the individually important, but the social relationship between the two groups who continue to constitute the Russian elite: politicians and businessmen. Accordingly, the downfall of individual oligarchs may represent not the weakening, but the strengthening of the oligarchy as a larger entity. O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 297 The origins of the business elite Russia’s developing bourgeoisie has been the object of close attention over the entire post-communist period (for the use of this term see Gill, 1998). But interest was at its highest point immediately before the August 1998 crisis when it seemed that the country was being run, not by a disorganised elite under the guidance of a decrepit president, but by a small group of nouveau-riche tycoons. These were the ‘real government of Russia’, in the view of the Financial Times (K’eza, 1997: p. 98). The sociologist Tat’yana Zaslavskaya (1997: p. 54) described them as a ‘renewed oligarchy’ made up of the ‘most competent or fortunate members of the nomenklatura’, with no less power and a good deal more wealth than their Soviet predecessors. Just seven of them, according to Berezovsky himself, controlled half of the entire Russian eco nomy (Financial Times 1 November 1996: p. 17). The in? uence of this small group of Moscow businessmen steadily increased at the same time as the state itself began to disintegrate, and the country’s economic position deteriorated further. Russia’s oligarchy received an important stimulus in 1995 when the government decided to give private business the shares of major enterprises in exchange for their ? nancial support (Freeland, 2000). The debt auctions were a Rubicon separating two stages in the formation of the business elite. Up to this point the business elite consisted of ? nanciers who had enormous in? uence in the political world, but their role in the Russian economy was not particularly signi? cant. There was not much incentive to invest in industries that needed extensive modernisation before they could start to yield a pro? . After the Russian government had approved the principle of debt auctions major ? nanciers were able to invest their money more advantageously, strengthening their position in politics and in the economy. In this way, the owners of the banks that were allowed to engage in these activities in the mid-1990s became a group with genuine, rather than virtual economic power. Now their political authority was determined not by their connections in the corridors of power, but also by their real economic weight. The process by which the role of the major businessmen in society increased was clearly re? cted in the ratings of the country’s most in? uential public ? gures that appear regularly in the newspaper Nezavisimaya gazeta, based on expert surveys. The ? rst businessmen appeared in the list in 1996 (see Table 1). By 1997 they had achieved their maximum in? uence, and the leader of the groupdBoris Berezovskydwas regularly identi? ed as one of the country’s half-dozen most powerful individuals. One of the oligarchs, the head of Al’fa Bank Mikhail Fridman, spoke in this sense in an interview in 1997, soon after President Yeltsin had received him and his colleagues in the Kremlin. Imagine’, as he put it, ‘if President Gorbachev had met a businessman or two, it would have been meaningless, because their social status was so di? eren t. Just the fact that the meeting with Yeltsin took place shows how complete is the change in place and role of the business community in our social hierarchy. Now we occupy a very prestigious place’ (interview, 1997). In the ? rst years of their existence the oligarchs were a fairly small and united group, who represented not so much the entrepreneurial class as a whole as their own 298 O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 Table 1 Oligarchs and their in? uence, 1996e2000 1996 1. Berezovsky B. A. 2. Potanin V. O. 3. Vyakhirev R. I. 4. Gusinsky V. A. 5. Khodorkovsky M. B. 6. Alekperov V. Yu. 7. Fridman M. M. 8. Aven P. I. 9. Abramovich R. A. 10. Mamut M. A. 11. Smolensky A. P. 12. Vinogradov V. V. 13. Nevzlin L. B. 14. Yevtushenkov V. No. of oligarchs included Average rating 98 84 e e e e e e e e e e e e 2 91 1997 6 20 13 15 28 25 e e e e 26 55 e e 8 24 1998 4 19 8 15 25 23 59 e e e 31 51 90 e 10 33 1999 5 53 12 19 72 26 94 98 29 e e e e 36 10 44 2000 4 47 7 15 60 26 54 39 5 21 e e e e 10 28 Source: Adapted from data supplied by the Vox Populi agency, as published regularly in Nezavisimaya gazeta; the list shows the place of Russian businessmen within the country’s 100 most in? uential individuals, in descending order of magnitude. narrowly corporate interests. Even their lobbying was directed not so much towards the adoption of laws in which Russian capital as a whole had a signi? cant stake, but towards the receipt of speci? c privileges for their own ? rms. The best known of the ? rst-wave oligarchs attempted not so much to de? ne the political direction of the country as to monitor personnel changes in the government. The idea of the allpowerful nature of the oligarchs in 1995e1996, indeed, was a myth that had been blown up by the media, and their real in? uence on politics was much more limited. The television executive Igor Malashenko, who had joined Yeltsin’s re-election campaign sta? in 1996, insisted later that stories about the ‘incredible power of the oligarchs’ were ‘pure nonsense’, and often encouraged by the oligarchs themselves to exaggerate the in? uence they could command (Nezavisimaya gazeta 3 June 1998: p. 8; Schroder, 1999). But behind the empty newspaper phrases a real process was ? oing on, marking the advance of an entire entrepreneurial class. The oligarchs of 1995e1997 were ambitious and naive. They enriched themselves so quickly that they began to su? er from what Stalin had called the ‘dizziness with success’; in particular, they engaged in open political adventures. They became deputies without any di? culty (which had the welco me advantage that it gave them immunity from prosecution). A few even stood for the presidency in 1991 (manager and banker Martin Shakkum), and again in 1996 (pharmaceuticals magnate Viktor Bryntsalov). But it soon became clear that politics was an expensive game for a business elite that had not yet established its own position, and the frontal attacks of the new Russians were succeeded by attempts to in? uence politics in a more systematic but indirect way. The business elite began to use the media for its purposes, as well as the opposition, trade unions and state o? cials. They started to O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 299 buy insider information so as to use it in their business activities, and to in? ence the taking of particular economic decisions. The ? rst multimillionaires emerged at a time of considerable instability in the country’s power structures, and rose quickly to the very top. They understood all the advantages of their position as businessmen-politicians and played a dangerous game, ? nancing political organisations and the mass media. Their rise coincided with the privatisation of state property and w as accelerated by the re-election of Boris Yeltsin in 1996; afterwards, some of the most prominent oligarchs formed a part of the Kremlin ‘Family’ itself. Pappe, one of the ? rst to study this process, has argued that ‘Up to 1998 all the most powerful economic groupings increased their resources as compared with those available to the power structures’. But from the end of the year and particularly after the August ? nancial crisis the whole process ‘went into reverse’, and soon there was not a single industrial group (with the possible exception of the massive gas corporation Gazprom) that was in a position to in? uence government or even deal with it on equal terms (Pappe, 2000: p. 46). The August crisis and the fall of the oligarchs The August crisis of 1998 and the sudden devaluation of the rouble that accompanied it led to an upheaval in the entire society, including the business elite. Indeed, on our evidence, only 15% of the 1993 business elite had retained their position by 2001. There are several reasons for this far-reaching turnover. In the ? rst place, there had been structural changes in the volatile Russian market. If before 1998 it had been dominated by ? nancial structures (banks, exchanges and investment corporations), after the crisis their role signi? cantly contracted. The speculative sector of the economy was almost destroyed by the August crisis, and did not recover. Goods exchanges, which at one time had ? ourished, disappeared almost entirely, and the number of banks fell sharply. But in the post-crisis period industrial enterprises emerged much more prominently, and they have continued to do so. These changes were re? ected in the composition of the business elite, which came increasingly to consist of entrepreneurs (by 2001 they accounted for as much as 64% of the total). What happened to the 85% of the 1993 business elite who had not retained their position in 2001? According to our evidence, most entrepreneurs who had been members of the 1993 business elite retained their positions in business (52%), but in many cases their scale of activity no longer allowed them to be included in the list of the country’s leading businessmen. Of the remainder, 6% became professional politicians and by 2001 were working full-time in parliament or in government. Nine percent had retired on a pension; these were mostly bankers who had headed commercial, formerly state banks in the early years of economic reform. A further 10% of the 1993 business elite had moved abroad, for the most part in order to protect their personal security, and two had been killed: the head of the Russian Business Round Table Ivan Kivelidi, and the head of the ‘21st Century Association’ Otari Kvantrishvili. 300 O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 There were related changes in the kinds of individuals that composed the business elite. A comparison of the data for 1993 and 2001 makes clear that it has become somewhat younger; its average age fell to 48. years as compared with 51. 8 years in 1993, shortly after the end of communist rule. As before, it is an overwhelminglydindeed exclusivelydmale group. A quarter of the business elite of 2001, fewer than before, came from Moscow or St Petersburg, rather more are from other cities (33%), and even more came from small towns or villages (42%). The reason for the greater provincialism of the business elite is the structural changes that have taken place in its composition; Moscow ? nanciers have to a large extent been replaced by regional industrialists. The occupational and educational background of the business elite has also been changing. In 1993 it was typical to enter business from science as well as industry itself, but by 2001 it was more common to migrate from the state service as well as industry (see Table 2). The entrepreneurs of 2001 were also more educated than their predecessors: just 3% had two degrees in 1993 but now 13% have a second quali? cation, often in law. The social and professional background of the new business elite leaves little doubt that it is still closely connected with the political elite of the Soviet period. Some 29% of the current business elite, for instance, belonged to the Soviet nomenklatura, a ? gure that was actually somewhat higher than it had been 8 years earlier in the immediate aftermath of communist rule. Similar processes have been identi? ed on the basis of survey evidence (Chernysh, 1994; Eyal et al. , 1998). But while the business elite of 1993 were typically of Komsomol origin, now the main source of recruitment of the business elite is government ministries (Table 3). Immediately before they entered the business elite, its members were enterprise directors (25%), state o? ials (20%), employees of private ? rms (27%), sta? from state banks (6%), and others. This was a career progression that was characteristic of the post-communist period. Formerly, the usual retirement destination of a senior public ? gure was the diplomatic service. Now, more often than not, former state o? cials after their retirement become top managers in major corporations. This tendency ? rst made itself apparent in 1992e1993, when a series of members of the government moved to work in commercial structures. They included Petr Aven, who moved from the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations to the Table 2 Origins of the Russian business elite, 1993e2001 Sphere of activity Industry Science Culture and education Study [ ] State banks State service Other (N ) 1993 35 26 15 0 17 0 39 (115) 2001 50 14 4 13 7 16 30 (131) Source: Authors’ data. The totals include all the spheres in which the respective business elite were active; ‘study’ indicates direct entry into the business elite on completion of higher education. O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 Table 3 Nomenklatura origins of the Russian business elite, 1993e2001 (percentages) 1993 No nomenklatura background Nomenklatura background Of which: Komsomol apparatus CPSU apparatus Soviet executives Senior ministerial positions 76 24 11 4 5 10 301 2001 71 29 7 4 5 12 Source: As Table 2. Those with a nomenklatura background in 1993 exceed the total shown as many members of the business elite worked in more than one position of this kind. residency of Al’fa Bank; Maksim Boiko, who left the State Property Commission to become general director of the advertising group Video International; and Viktor Ilyushin, the former head of Yeltsin’s presidential sta? and then a ? rst deputy prime minister, who moved into the state gas monopoly Gazprom. In other movements, Andrei Kozyrev went from the Foreign Ministry to the American company ICN Pharmaceuticals; Petr Mostovoi moved from the Federal Ban kruptcy Service to become ? rst vice-president of the diamond company Alrosa; Alfred Kokh, who had been ? st deputy chairman of the State Property Commission and deputy premier, became head of the Montes Auri company; and Oleg Sysuev, who had been deputy prime minister and before that mayor of Samara, became vice-president of Al’fa Bank. Subsequently the process became a much more general one. Over the entire post-communist period there have been substantial changes in the way in which the country’s leading entrepreneurs have entered business. In 1993e 1995 the most common way of establishing a successful commercial company was the creation by a state o? cial of a ? rm into which he could move directly. We call this process ‘moving chairs’; it was one of the ways in which the former ruling group exchanged their power for property. Instead of the ‘diplomatic exile’ of the Soviet period, a new means of retirement developeddmoving into business. Firms that were set up on this basis soon ? lled up with highly placed retirees. As we were frequently told in our interviews with former party o? cials and the senior sta? of government ministries, only ‘our own people’ were given appointments in ? rms of this kind, which had typically evolved from ministries and government bodies of the Soviet period. The next most common means of exchanging power for property was when a state body delegated the right to conduct commercial activity to its authorised representatives. The leading positions in these companies were then ? lled with young people who were not directly related to the Soviet nomenklatura, or who held only junior positions within it. And ? nally, the third common means of establishing a successful business was the privatisation of former state enterprises. In most cases 3 We rely in this instance on the interviews conducted for our ‘Transformation of the Russian elite’ project between 2000 and 2004 (450 interviews). 02 O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 the enterprise that had become a joint stock company did not change its managers (or did not do so immediately) and the director remained at his post, no longer simply the manager but now the owner of the enterprise over which he presided. In 1993 the most characteristic route into business was through the creation of a ? rm of one’s own by the use of o? cial position (57% of the business elite); by 2001 it was more common for members of the business elite to create their own ? ms through the privatisation of state enterprises (39%). Business and politics After the crisis, not only the business elite had changed: its in? uence upon the political process had also changed. The ‘old’ oligarchs of the Yeltsin period retired into the shadows, yielding their place to a new generation of entrepreneurs. These ‘new Russians’ were more provincial, more closely associated with domestic industry, and not so naively ambitious. The insecurity of the ? rst-wave oligarchs, who had su? ered because of their proximity to the regime, taught them to be cautious. The new oligarchs avoided public life and boasting about their wealth, but sought to establish ? rmer, less conspicuous relations with the authorities at all levels, acting more often than not through intermediaries. The destruction of the media empires of Berezovsky and Gusinsky, both of whom had been forced into exile, made it clear that the post-Yeltsin regime would not allow itself to be blackmailed, and that only groups that cooperated with government would be allowed to acquire important media holdings. The new motto was loyalty. But these changes in the political context did not mean that entrepreneurs withdrew into obscurity. Their in? uence changed in form, but all the same remained signi? cant. It was no longer individual mavericksdthe Borovois, Bryntsalovs and Berezovskysdwho stood out on the political arena, but a series of more shadowy ? gures representing the most powerful corporationsdGazprom, Lukoil, Yukos, Al’fa and so forth. Of the ‘old’ oligarchy, only the Al’fa group were still well represented on the political scene in the early years of the new century; two of its senior managers, for instance, took positions as deputy heads of the presidential administration in 1999 (Vyacheslav Surkov and Sergei Abramov). Al’fa people accounted at this time for an entire contingent of the presidential administration on Old Square in Moscow, where they occupied key positions as high-level consultants or department heads. However, notwithstanding the fact that the personal in? uence of the ? rst-wave oligarchs declined considerably, the role of major businessmen in society tended to increase still further. In Table 4 we set out our evidence for the Yeltsin (1993) and Putin (2001, 2003) leaderships, examining the proportion of key decision-making positions that are held by individuals from the world of big business in each of these periods. In almost every category the proportion of business representatives has increased and across all categories the representation of business more than trebled, reaching a remarkable 20% of government ministers. The minister of fuel and energy, for instance, was a representative of Yukos in 1998e1999 (Sergei Generalov), and was O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 Table 4 Business representation in elite groups (percentages) Top leadership Yeltsin cohort (1993) Putin cohort (2001) Putin cohort (2003) Source: As Table 2. 2. 3 15. 7 9. 1 Duma deputies 12. 8 17. 3 17. Government 0. 0 4. 2 20. 0 Regional elite 2. 6 8. 1 12. 5 303 Overall 4. 4 9. 3 14. 7 a representative of Lukoil in 2000 (Alexander Gavrin). Another ? gure from the Al’fa group, Andrei Popov, was head of the territorial department of the presidential administration, where he served side by side with his Al’fa colleagues Surkov and Abramov. Business in the Russian regions The oligarchy strengthened its position even more considerably in the Russian regions than in the federal centre. The crisis that followed the collapse of the currency in August 1998 a? ected Moscow oligarchs more than their provincial counterparts. The Yeltsin oligarchy collapsed, but in the regions the merger of business and politics continued. The August crisis, in fact, accelerated the process. Ruined Moscow businessmen closed their regional o? ces; in turn, they were taken over by local administrations or by the companies they controlled. There was, in e? ect, a new redistribution of property in 1998e2000. Property was removed from its former owners in exchange for the cancellation of debts, in either of two forms: the return of ownership to the state itself (nationalisation), or the replacement of one private owner by another (reprivatisation). Both of these methods were actively employed by local leaderships throughout the federation. The velvet nationalisation of the post-crisis period took place under the guidance of local authorities. The ? rst experiment of this kind was carried out by Evgenii Mikhailov, governor of Pskov region who introduced a monopoly in the production and wholesale trade of alcohol (Slider, 1999). The ? rst state unitary enterprise ‘Pskovalko’ was established for these purposes. The model proved extremely e? ctive, and over the following year eight more such enterprises were established, including ‘Pskovobllesprom’, ‘Pskovtorf’, ‘Pskovvtorma’ and others. To assist the newly established state enterprises local enterprises were deprived of their productive assets in return for the cancellation of tax arrears. Regional tax inspectors were encouraged to identify as many of these indebted enterprises as possible, and defaulters were forced into bankrup tcy so that their property could be taken over by local state enterprisesdin e? ect, by local administrations. Mikhailov’s actions were so much to the advantage of local elites that his approach was immediately adopted throughout the country, leading to the establishment of large numbers of local monopolies modelled on the national gas and energy monopolies. It was not only local political leaderships that forced Moscow oligarchs out of the regions. Local entrepreneurs who were friendly with or even related to local 304 O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 leaderships were also involved in the process. In Kursk, for instance, overnor Alexander Rutskoi handed the region’s network of chemists’ shops to his elder son Dmitrii, making him the general director of ‘Kurskpharmacy’. The governor’s younger son became a manager of the oil concern ‘Kurskneftekhim’, 49% of which was owned by a Moscow ? rm whose director was the same younger son. The governor’s brothers were also fortunate: the eld er became head of a state-joint stock company ‘Faktor’, and the younger became deputy head of the regional department of public security. The governor’s mother became the cofounder of a local ? m, and his father in law took over responsibility for the region’s cultural a? airs (these details are drawn from the National News Service at nns. ru). Reprivatisation and the strengthening of the local oligarchy have been taking place in all the Russian regions. It has acquired especially large dimensions in the national republics, where forms of authoritarian rule have become increasingly prominent. In Bashkortostan, to take another example, an entire clan of presidential relatives has come into existence. The president’s son, Ural Rakhimov, was vicepresident of the oil and gas company ‘Bashneftekhim’ in the early years of the new century; a relative of the president’s wife, Azat Kurmanaev, was president of ‘Bashkreditbank’; and the president’s wife, Luisa Rakhimov, held a senior position in the republic’s ministry of foreign relations and trade. The nationalisation of the Bashkir economy was also advancing rapidly, with the establishment of state monopolies in key spheres such as ‘Bashlesprom’ (timber), ‘Bashkirskaya toplivnaya kompaniya’ (fuel) and ‘Bashavtotrans’ (transportation) ( ns. ru). By 2000 the power of regional oligarchs had strengthened to such an extent that they began to expand economically in neighbouring regions. Regional oligarchs began to appear, with interests that spanned several of the subjects of the federation. In this process, new ? nancial and industrial groups came in to existence that had no connection with the ? rst-wave Moscow oligarchy. A striking example of this type was Aleksei Mordashov, general director of the ‘Severstal’’ joint stock company (based in Cherepovets in the Vologda region), who entered the list of the country’s most in? ential businessmen at the end of the 1990s. The same kind of interregional expansion was being carried out by entrepreneurs from Sverdlovsk and Samara regions, and Bashkortostan. New holding companies on a transregional scale that have emerged in recent years include the Urals mining and metallurgical company, Novolipets metallurgical combine, and the St Petersburg concern ‘New Programmes and Conceptions’. The increasing economic power of regional entrepreneurs was re? ected in their political in? uence. In local elections throughout the country it became apparent that electors preferred to vote for major businessmen, and for the directors of joint stock companies and of the region’s biggest factories. In the elections that took place in the late 1990s representatives of the industrial and ? nancial elite took 80% of seats in the Perm’ region, about 70% in Smolensk region, about 60% in Penza, Tambov and Tomsk regions, and more than half in Belgorod, Leningrad, Nizhnii Novgorod, Omsk, Rostov and Stavropol’ regions, and in Primorskii territory. The average, across all the regions that held their elections between 1995 and 1997, was 43% (calculated from Vybory, 1998). An increase in the political role of local oligarchs led O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 305 at the same time to a fall in the electoral role of civil society. The more oligarchs and o? cials in local legislatures, the fewer teachers, doctors and farmers. The election of representatives of the ? ancial-industrial elite to representative institutions of this kind demonstrates that the tendency for regional capital and government to merge has become increasingly powerful. The increase in the in? uence of ? nancial-industrial circles in Russian towns and cities is paralleled by the increasing in? uence of state-farm directors in the countryside. As a result, in all regional legislatures the directors of joint stock companies, and of unitary enterprises, banks and other commercial structures, have become the dom inant force. New entrepreneurs, within this general tendency, have themselves become more numerous, squeezing out longer-established factory managers throughout the regions and especially where relatively large numbers of local enterprises are in ? nancial di? culty. Owners and managers, according to local legislation, are allowed to combine their entrepreneurial activities provided their representative duties are carried out on a part-time basis. In this way, they have obtained a series of legislative and supervisory prerogatives but at the same time been relieved of the burdens of full-time legislative duties. The increasing in? uence of business on regional politics is also apparent in the formation of local administrations. With every year, for instance, the number of businessmen-governors increases. The ‘? rst swallow’ was Kalmykia, where the wellknown entrepreneur Kirsan Ilyumzhinov was elected president as early as 1993. In 1996 three local oligarchs became governors: Yuri Evdokimov in Murmansk (where he had represented the interests of the Moscow mayor’s group ‘Sistema’), Leonid Gorbenko in Kaliningrad, and Vladimir Butov in the Nenets autonomous region. The elections of 2000e2001 added several more, including heads of the most important local enterprises: in Chukotka the head of Sibneft’ and owner of Chelsea Football Club, Roman Abramovich (in 2000); in Taimyr the head of Noril’sk Nickel, Alexander Khloponin (elected in 2001 and then a year later as governor of Krasnoyarsk territory); and in Evenki Boris Zolotarev, head of development at the oil giant ‘Yukos’ (in 2001). In Krasnodar territory, the Koryak autonomous district and Primor’e local oligarchs had further successes: Alexander Tkachev, Vladimir Loginov (December 2000) and Sergei Dar’kin (in 2001). In early 2002 there were two further successes of this kind, Vyacheslav Shtyrov won in Sakha (Yakutia), and Hazret Sovmen in Adygeya. As a result of these changes, 12 Russian regions (or nearly 14% of the total) are today headed by major businessmen. Conclusions Several new tendencies in the development of the Russian business elite had become apparent by the early years of the new century. 1. Powerful ? nancial-industrial groups have begun to appear that are based not in Moscow but in the Russian provinces, and which are furthering the process of inter-regional integration. At the same time the transfer of the business and 306 O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. political activities of the business elite from the capital to the regions has been accompanied by an increase in the role of the state, which has taken steps to restore its control over political and economic life. The strengthening of the state has placed tighter limits on the business elite and restricted its freedom of activity, which has led to a reduction in its direct in? ence on the political process. This relates particularly to personnel matters, where the state has taken back the role of principal decision-maker, and to the mass media. By the early years of the new century the business elite were making fewer attempts to impose their own preferences upon government ‘from outside’, but were engaged in a process of interaction with all levels of government in which they could introduce their own priorities as issues were formulated and decisions were taken. From 1998 onwards there has been a further exclusion of Moscow capital from the regions and an increase in the concentration of power at the regional level. At the same time in a series of the republics the fusion of business and government has advanced even further, as has the formation of local oligarchies. Sometimes this process has assumed autocratic forms in which big business in a region has come under the absolute control not of the state, but of its leading o? cials, who have formed ? ancial-industrial clans enjoying an e? ective monopoly of political power. The interests of big business have changed. If before they were simply connected with privileges for their companies, now with the increase in the scale of their operation they have begun to press their views in relation to the regulation of the economy as a whole. This has led to an increase in the economic in? uence of private business, which has to some extent compensated for their loss of political in? uence. With the coming to power of Vladimir Putin in 2000 private entrepreneurs have begun to be excluded from the main electronic media. The destruction of the media holdings of Gusinsky and Berezovsky, and the arrest of Mikhail Khodorkovsky in late 2003, were intended to show ‘who’s boss’. The new regime made it clear it would not be blackmailed, as Boris Yeltsin had been; and formerly oppositional media were entrusted to groups that had shown their loyalty. In the period after the August 1998 crisis big business became a refuge for many retired politicians, with a substantial out? w of senior o? cials, ministers and civil servants into the managerial ranks of the major companies. Putin’s declared policy of ‘equal distancing’ for the oligarchs means a choice: either to support the regime in all its undertakings, or retire to the sidelines. No longer can Russia’s business elite establish their own parties and engage in open criticism of the go vernment. The new regime is engaged in restoring state power, after a period in which it had been privatised by o? cials and businessmen. In this new social order there is no place for opposition, unpredictable elections, or insubordinate nouveaux riches; rather, the preferred model is analogous to the cheibols in South Koreadenormous economic conglomerates whose activity is closely regulated. The further concentration of capital in the hands of 20e25 ? nancial-industrial groups that are completely loyal to the state appears to be the economic project of the Putin regime as it moves into its second and ? nal term of o? ce. O. Kryshtanovskaya, S. White / Communist and Post-Communist Studies 38 (2005) 293e307 307 References Ashin, G. K. , Ponedelkov, A. V. , Ignatov, V. G. , Starostin, A. M. , 1999. Osnovy Politicheskoi Elitologii. Prior, Moscow. Beard, M. , 1938. A History of the Business Man. Macmillan, New York. Chernysh, M. F. , 1994. Sotsial’naya mobil’nost’v 1986e1993 godakh. Sotsiologicheskii Zhurnal 2, 130e133. Eyal, G. , Szelenyi, I. , Townsley, E. , 1998. 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