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The improvement of the investment climate in Russia and its positive effect on the inflow of foreign direct investment into the country's economy is being declared at the highest levels of the Russian government as an important objective for the further economic development of the country. One of the most important instruments for that improvement should be the consideration of foreign investor's opinions and ideas and reaction to the most urgent and critical issues which serve as obstacles to their investment activities in Russia. This paper considers the case of Japanese investors in Russia. It is based on the results of a survey of Japanese companies doing business in Russia (members of the Japanese Business Club Moscow) and content analysis of a set of interviews with the representatives of the Japanese business and academic community and also of non-governmental organizations. We identify which factors attract Japanese capital to Russia and which hinder investment activities. Studying Japanese investment in Russia reveals the particular challenges and obstacles that make Japanese companies reluctant to engage in business activities in Russia. The research reveals and systemizes the factors restricting the development of investment cooperation and their roots, and identifies possible ways of overcoming these challenges. The analysis shows that the constraining factors can be divided into 3 groups by the origin: external – associated with the problems of the investment climate in Russia, internal – associated with specific features of the Japanese production and management system, and other factors – non-economic factors which mainly concern business culture and informational issues.

The paper analyzes the shifts in government priorities in terms of support of big and medium manufacturing enterprises amid 2008—2009 and 2014—2015 crises. Based on the data of 2009, 2014 and 2018 surveys of Russian manufacturing firms, using logit regressions we identify factors that affect the receipt of financial and organizational support at different levels of government. The analysis shows that in 2012—2013 the share of manufacturing firms that received state support shrank significantly as compared to 2007—2008; moreover, the support concentrated on enterprises that had access to lobbying resource (such as state participation in the ownership or business associations membership). In 2016—2017 the scale of state support coverage recovered. However, the support at all levels of government was provided to firms that carried out investment and provided assistance to regional or local authorities in social development of the region, while the factor of state participation in the ownership became insignificant. The paper provides possible explanation for these shifts in the criteria of state support provision in Russia.