Publications
Publications
- February 2012 (Revised June 2012)
- HBS Case Collection
Rospil.info
By: Paul Healy, Karthik Ramanna and Matthew Shaffer
Abstract
What should business leaders do about corruption? In December 2011, four HBS alumni met to debate how to engage the unprecedented protests against Vladimir Putin's corrupt government, which had erupted in Russia in response to alleged fraud in the recent parliamentary elections. A notable figure in the protests was anti-corruption blogger Alexey Navalny. Navalny used publicly available requests for tender, "crowd-sourcing," and volunteer experts to discover, expose, and encourage prosecution of corrupt dealings by the Russian government. These efforts made Navalny a cause célèbre in Western media and a popular figure with Russia's tech-savvy population. But was Navalny the right figure for business leaders in Russia to organize around? What were the risks of getting involved with a politically volatile activist?
Keywords
Leadership; Crime and Corruption; Government and Politics; Social and Collaborative Networks; Blogs; Information Industry; Russia
Citation
Healy, Paul, Karthik Ramanna, and Matthew Shaffer. "Rospil.info." Harvard Business School Case 112-033, February 2012. (Revised June 2012.)