Aboriginal entrepreneurship in Russia: resources, technologies and social institutes

Abstract

Aboriginal entrepreneurship is seen as a new form of social organization. Economic activity in the enterprises of indigenous peoples is based on family and kinship ties, and focuses on traditional use of nature, as well as on the knowledge and culture of the peoples of the North. Therefore, their entrepreneurship is limited by the traditional lifestyle, which is based on reindeer breeding, hunting, fishing, and gathering. The government authorities adopt laws and programs aimed at the preservation of the traditional lifestyle of indigenous peoples, but not at the development of free enterprise. Indigenous people offer the strategy of modern development, which is based on original culture and new social institutes. The author analyzes enterprises of Sakhalin (fishery), Yamal-Nenets AO (reindeer breeding) and Khanty-Mansi autonomous areas (cultural business, tourism) and considers the factors influencing development of native business and its place in modern market economy.