M. Bozadzhieva, HBR
Experienced executives in this market have gone through at least two large crises over the past 20 years: in 1998 when the government defaulted on its debts, and in 2009 when Russia was infected by the global financial crisis. From these, they learned to stay committed to the market, protect their margins, make some selective investments, and wait for the recovery. This worked, because both crises were short-lived (lasting approximately 1-1.5 years) and were followed by rapid recoveries. Demand quickly bounced back.