Foreign operations of Russia's largest industrial corporations--building a typology

Russia's outward foreign direct investment (FDI) has grown rapidly during the past decade. This article discuses outward FDI from Russia through developing a typology of Russia's largest outward investing industrial corporations. The typology is based on two specific features of Russian companies' foreign operations, namely the relatively low level of transparency and disclosure and, the strong involvement of the Russian state. The article delineates four typological groups of Russia's foreign investing industrial corporations: 1. non-transparent patriots, 2. transparent patriots, 3. transparent independents, and 4. non-transparent independents.