By Jimmie Covington
Commercial Appeal
February 7, 2006
After traveling many thousands of miles to DeSoto County, a member of a group of Russian visitors asked the question on most of everyone's mind Monday morning:
"How is Wal-Mart different from the shopping malls?"
And the American hosts had an answer:
Malls, Ole Miss faculty member Bud Hamilton said, try "to create an atmosphere of ease and comfort, and I don't think any of us would say that going to Wal-Mart feels it is easy or comforting. Most of us feel like it is a major ordeal."
Hamilton, an assistant professor of business administration at Ole Miss's DeSoto Center campus in Southaven, was talking to an 11-member group of Russian retail owners and managers.
The group is visiting this country as part of a U.S. State Department-sponsored program designed to allow businessmen from Russia gain knowledge about business approaches and techniques here.
The Southaven Rotary Club is serving as host this week for the Russian group. Accompanied by a facilitator and interpreter, they'll travel to West Memphis and Marion, Ark., after the week in Southaven.
Members of the delegation are staying with host families during their visits.
Hamilton outlined how Wal-Mart started in rural areas and later moved into city centers after becoming a large and strong retailer. Later in the session, he discussed business ethics.
In an interview, Elena Polyakova, facilitator with the group, said, "We work through Rotary Clubs. We bring non-English-speaking Russian businessmen and we visit companies which belong to the industry they represent.
"They are very experienced people. They are highly educated people but they need to get information from the country where private business is very mature. Private business is very young in Russia."
With Polyakova serving as an interpreter, one of the visitors, Andrey Gorodnov, 37, said he is director and founder of a company that has 720 employees. He said his company has stores that are similar to The Home Depot stores in this country.
He said he hopes information gained here will be useful.
"We want to know how economics works and about retail businesses and retail stores in America," he said.
Polyakova said Gorodnov is a physicist who also holds a PhD in economics. She said he also has been a world champion in a form of wrestling.
Natalya Kolchanova, 31, is deputy director of a firm that sells children's goods.
"I would like to learn how to do merchandising, how to motivate employees, the specifics of working with suppliers and also inventory and management," she said with Polyakova interpreting.
Joe Baker is Southaven Rotary's coordinator for the delegation's visit. He said the assistance being provided by Rotary members, other volunteers and businesses in terms of transportation, housing and meals is saving the State Department more than $32,000 over the three-week visit to the Memphis area.
The delegation will visit eight stores in Southaven who have volunteered to assist, he said.
The delegation is part of the Productivity Enhancement Program administered by the Center for Citizen Initiatives, a San Francisco-based nonprofit organization that is involved in bringing Russian entrepreneurs and business owners to this country for learning activities.
