Victor Tolmachev Participates in Expert Discussions at Gaidar Forum 2015

The first day of Gaidar Forum came to its end. Impact of the downturn on economy, development of international integration, improvement of business environment, and human capital were among its key topics.

Mr. Tolmachev commented the actual issue of doing business in the current economic conditions and said that business is very sensitive to downturn, and it is hard to forecast and take relative actions to develop further in the environment that has developed nowadays. However, downturn means not only new threats, but also new opportunities. The time of hard natural selection is coming, and only the strongest companies will make it through.

“The question of how to react to what is going on in the economy is answered by everyone in different ways. One could say that medium business is the most vulnerable here. Large business has resources for survival, the small has flexibility. Medium businesses are huge enough now, but they do not possess the resources large business has and do not have an opportunity to curtail their projects and downsize. This is why one can react to downturn in two different ways: Either you stand up and fight, or you do not resist and die. I believe resources for surviving in a complicated environment have to be searched for,” he said.

Human capital is the greatest value for any company in the current times, and it is important not to let it get depreciated. “Lost profit can be returned, but a professional team is shaped for decades. This is why we are convinced that people is what matters the most. Professionals allow us to take on the most ambitious projects and develop the company,” Mr. Tolmachev said.