This volume opens with an overview of the business conditions in Russia since the beginning of the early 1990s. The authors then discuss three distinct stages of the transition - early commercialization, the process of mass privitization and the emergence of new business-government relationships. Using original interviews and surveys conducted annually over a five-year period, the authors evaluate the evolution of Russian business from a longitudinal perspective, rather than taking a retrospective approach at the end of the period. They analyze the primary data from newly established firms, privatized former state enterprises and organizations owned and supported by state and municipal governments.