Pizza Huts in the land of Pushkin? Oreo cookies in Omsk? Big Macs in Belgrade? ! Yes, all that -- and more. Maybe.
American companies have long viewed doing business with the Soviet Union as a dubious proposition, given the stormy politics of the superpower relationship. But under perestroika, General Secretary Mikhail Gorbachev's campaign to revitalize his country's economy, the Soviets are trying to attract American know-how to help step up the tempo of development. Encouraged by their overtures, dozens of U.S. companies -- among them Honeywell, Occidental Petroleum and Archer Daniels Midland -- are forming joint ventures in the Soviet...