The authors, a Russian businessman and the head of an American consultancy, examine how economic life in Russia has been affected by perestroika and democratization, and argue that the time is ripe for Western businesses to take advantage of low costs and weak barriers and enter the Russian market. They point out some of the difficulties of operating in Russian and the other former soviet republics - absence of hard currency and lack of a proper business culture, but state that once allowance is made for these anomalies and some attempt has been made to understand Russian attitudes, the benefits of early entry could be enormous. They examine joint enterprises as diverse as the exchange of space technology and the opening of an ice-cream shop to illustrate the difficulties and benefits of doing business in Russia.