Detours on the Road to Hell? A Chinese Private Firm's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) Project in Post-Soviet Slavia

'Detours' is an eight-part in-class Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) project experience. The setting is international EPC (Engineering, Procurement and Construction) cooperation between the privately owned Chinese organization, Shennan Industrial Development Company, and the government of fictional 'Slavia' - a post-Soviet country eager to attract Chinese investment for the modernization of its obsolete cardboard-producing industry. The case study provides a broad picture of contemporary business practices in post-Soviet economies and focuses on the actual business and cultural challenges faced by the various parties. All of the events are framed within a real large-scale BRI project. During the case discussion, students will be presented with vast array of strategic, operational, political, communicational and legal choices. The case can therefore be taught in courses on Strategy, Negotiations, International Project Management and 'Doing Business in China'.