Among the most famous collections of archival documents of сonsiderable interest to researchers of national history of the Soviet period, there is the so-called personal archive of I.V. Stalin. Currently, these documents are stored in the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History. The author analyzes the documents, “confiscated with the help of agents” from A.I. Guchkov, on the history of the German-Polish-Japan coalition and its plans against the Soviet Union.

The article tells the history of creating a widespread now financial instrument — Eurodollar, about the role in its appearance of the USSR and the Soviet banks abroad — Moscow Narodny Bank in London and Eurobank in Paris, about the events preceding its appearance — the International Monetary and Financial Conference in Bretton-Woods, about the USSR’s attempts to escape from American sanctions. The article describes the consequences of introducing Eurodollar, of establishing new order for US dollar use in the world and the punishment of countries not supporting these new rules. One example of control over implementation of sanctions imposed by the United States is the story of punishing the Soviet Union for trade with Cuba, when US dollars, been applied by Moscow Narodny Bank for buying Cuban sugar, were blocked for 30 years. The article is dedicated to professionalism and ingenuity of the Soviet bankers and to the errors they committed, by inexperience.

The forthcoming ethical market economy will be the economy of sufficiency. It will provide “enough for everyone’s needs, but not for the greed of everyone” (Mahatma Gandhi). It will be sustainable, encouraging for long-term solutions and punishing for short-term speculations. Both freedom and justice will be provided. The balance of free markets will be achieved through fair solution of the problems of climate, income, taxes, gender equality and procedures. A new vision of what is a human being will appear: people do not only seek to get maximum wealth and benefits, stepping over other people. They also look for community, mutual aid and intelligence in life. Such anthropology will counterbalance competition and community. It will change economic and political theories. It will result in new understanding of the responsibility. Responsibility will be considered as a report to all involved parties, including future generations, for believers of monotheistic religions — as a response before God — the source of life, and for the followers of dharmic teachings — as an aspiration for harmony with dharma, the universal order and for a proper way of life. Christian, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, Sikh and other values and spirituality, including non-religious worldview, will represent a joint ethical foundation for such economy of sufficiency. It will limit the greed of separate people and human institutions, leading to a new economic paradigm of equitable and sustainable markets.

The present article discusses the features of the corporate fraud and shocks influence on the capital structure of the company. Actions of Russian companies related to distortion of the accounting reports, implementation of deals with some interest (exceeding authority by the board of directors), sham transactions aimed at withdrawal of assets from the company (damage to the company and its shareholders), as well as obtaining unjustified tax benefit, contribute to financial restrictions and increase the lack of companies’ transparency. On the other hand, the impact of adverse market shocks makes Russian companies to focus on saving large amounts of money inside the company. In addition, the paper examines the effect of adverse shocks on changes in the debt policy of the company. Attention is drawn to the link between corporate fraud and financial policies of the company in view of adverse shocks impact on the sources of funding. Fraud causes the situation when Russian companies tend to save more money because of additional restrictions related to involving debt finance. Analysis results suggest that companies choose the internal source of financing as less expensive, following the hierarchical theory of optimal funding. The accumulated monetary reserves allow them to overcome at lower costs the effects of adverse shocks that determine financial instability. Corporate fraud and adverse shocks affect the company’s financial policy, forcing it to rely more on internal financing and to constantly increase its cash reserves, solving the problem associated with financial constraints.

The article dwells on comprehension of approaches and methods of strategic decision-making under growing instability of external conditions. The author proposes an algorithm for elaborating breakthrough strategic decisions based on diagnostics of a problematic situation, identification of systemic contradictions, which resolving allows to reach breakthrough strategic solutions and to form new business models. Methods and typical techniques for searching such decisions are shown.

The article gives a holistic view of the history and current state of the Japanese tea sales in Russia. Growing demand for Japanese tea is caused by population aging, by fashion for organic and healthy food. Asia’s dynamic growth causes a surge of interest for Japanese and Chinese cuisine, where tea plays an important role. Article material will allow to understand the types of Japanese teas and traditions of their production. Dynamics of Japanese teas export in the XIX – early XX centuries and supplies destinations are shown. The article describes mechanisms of Japanese teas falsification and identification of their grades — depending on the season of tea leaf collecting. Information about current state of the Japanese teas market in Russia and about the main players is presented. Considerable attention is paid to the Japanese tea ceramics and traditions of “primitive art”, to special Japanese perception of teaware defects.