What Russians think of big business

Russians expect big business to be more active in solving social problems in the country, Vremya Novostei writes. In the opinion of 68% of people in this country, the creation of new jobs is the best way for business to help solve social problems in a region or city. This information was provided to the press by the All-Russia Centre for Public Opinion Studies (VTsIOM), which conducted a nationwide survey of 1,600 people this May.

A third of the respondents consider that businessmen should give the workers at their enterprises an additional "social package." A quarter of the people thought businessmen should take part in the construction of social facilities, while 20% wanted them to develop cities and towns.

Public opinion experts note that if businessmen somehow cope with the task of creating and maintaining regional infrastructure, its achievements are less significant in meeting other basic demands. For instance, 20% of those surveyed spoke about an active role of business in cultural and sports undertakings, while 12% mentioned the construction of churches.

Meanwhile, job creation and providing an additional "social package" were mentioned only by 3% and 2% respectively. A noteworthy fact, according to the experts, is that 18% of the respondents considered that big businessmen took no part in solving local social problems, VN notes.