Learning New Productivity Criteria in Transition Economies: Evidence from 450 CIS Companies

The empirical data suggests that the ownership structure of the CIS firms studied did not determine productivity improvements during the years 1995-97. This finding indicates that within this time period, ownership structure was not the main determinant in explaining improvement in organisational performance, but rather than this reflected the transition path, i.e. whether the transformation occurred via the reconstruction of the old or through developing a new organisational entity. The main difference between these two transition paths can be summarised as follows: the transition path of privatised companies can be characterised as organisational revolution whereas the transition path of private start-ups can be described as organisational evolution in a revolutionary business environment. Moreover, the empirical data indicates that there was a significant relationship between the younger age of the top manager and productivity improvement in a company. This finding suggests that adapting Soviet management culture into the post-Soviet environment can be a more complex task than merely learning new organisational practices.