Third Annual Survey on Russian Export Software Market

Methodology

The main results of the survey were obtained based on a RUSSOFT poll of companies and organizations in the Russian software export industry (other countries of the former Soviet Union - primarily Ukraine and Byelorussia - were not analyzed). Questionnaires were sent out to companies on the Association's contact database, which is the largest of its type in Russia, accounting for roughly 80% of all legal entities currently involved in exports of software products and software-development services. It includes data on all major exporters.

RUSSOFT's database includes about 1,500 companies and organizations that develop software and software support, of which at least 1,000 are exporters. These companies and organizations were potential respondents in our survey. This year, 115 completed questionnaires were returned, which makes the sample 11.5% of the mooted total number of exporters; this is quite a high indicator.

There is reason to believe that this sample reflects the general situation for most of the issues studied. In any case, dividing the companies that answered into groups based on certain criteria gives similar results to those for the whole of the sector. For example, location of head office is almost identical in the sample and the sector as a whole.

Table 1. Distribution of survey respondents and all software export companies by location

City	All companies, %	Survey respondents, %
Moscow and Moscow Region	45.6	36.0
St. Petersburg	16.0	19.3
Novosibirsk	7.9	7.0
Nizhny Novgorod	2.1	5.3
Tomsk	1.1	3.5
Kazagn	2.3	2.6
Voronezh	1.3	2.6
Izhevsk	0.8	2.6
Rostov-on-Don	0.8	2.6
Chelyabinsk	1.9	1.8
Yekaterinburg	4.6	0.9
Other	15.6	15.8

Source: third Annual Survey of the Russian Export Market for Programming Services, Solutions and Products. RUSSOFT Association and Outsourcing-Russia.com, 2006

The non-correspondences are the result of differences in demand for the services of software companies on the domestic market; it is either significantly higher than the Russian average, or significantly lower. Overall, the sample provides the necessary reliability, especially as additional informational sources are used in analysis of current sectoral trends.

Questionnaires were filled in by senior managers, who have access to all the information needed to answer the questions. In most cases, respondents were general directors, their deputies, or marketing directors.

It should be noted that the survey reflects the situation in the sector as seen by legally operating companies and organizations. Data has not been collected on programmers' collectives and individual specialists who work with support from foreign clients without tax registration. This shadow sector is difficult to study - especially in the software development sphere - due to the very easy transfer of data through the Internet. However, it is unlikely to be significant in comparison with the turnover of legally operating companies, as otherwise there would be noticeable migration of personnel to and from the shadow sector - something that no developers have mentioned. An assessment of the magnitude of software export by individuals has been done based on data from the Independent Software Developers Forum (ISDEF).

The information obtained from polling developers was processed by RUSSOFT's analytical department. Various correlations were determined between the answers obtained and the companies' profile and the conditions in which they work.

When "bare" patches appeared (e.g., when only a small number of answers fitted during division along various criteria) or when apparently irregularities appeared, additional analysis and information collection was carried out that produced the proper results. In addition, when the current report was being prepared, various surveys available to the RUSSOFT analytical department were used, as well as authoritative expert assessments and the opinions of company managers.