In the article, the author investigates several aspects of how market institutions were being established in the Altai Krai industrial sector during the 1990s by the example of one of the largest plants specialized in agricultural machinery building. Special focus is made on the interaction between the plant administration and the local government concerning the choice of the anti-crisis management strategy. Generalization of the results of the state industrial policy at all governmental levels and the actions taken by the administrations of city-forming transport machinery enterprises allow to study the 1990s reforms in greater detail. As part of the study, the author concludes that the 1990s economic reforms which aimed at the creation of private property institutions in the Russian Federation did not take into account regional peculiarities of the Altai Krai transport machinery building industry. Insufficient regulation of securities allotment enabled the aggregation of major stocks of shares among the plant administration members. Modernization of facilities and equipment was needed to organize the manufacture of commercially viable products during the first half of the 1990s. Low investment attractiveness of securities and their short period of sale complicated the renovation of production facilities. Delays in payment between buyers and manufacturers posed a serious problem for large industrial enterprises of Altai Krai. Crisis phenomena in Altai Krai economy during the 1990s became one of the causes of a mass layoff in the city-forming enterprises of Rubtsovsk which in its turn led to increased budget spending. The local government payed attention to marketing development of industrial products. The growth of bilateral trading relations between Altai Krai and Mongolia in the second half of the 1990s resulted in Mongolian agricultural manufacturers becoming interested in the product range of tractors manufactured by OJSC Alttrak. Bulk orders allowed the tractor plant to increase the volume of production; however, its profitability was still low. The increase of production costs in 1997 became the reason for the plant's negative balance. The plant's financial situation worsened after the market crash of 1998, in particular, demand for tractors and agricultural machinery declined. This complicated the launch of batch production of the new tractor model, the T-250.

На примере ОАО «Алттрак» рассматривается процесс адаптации градообразующих предприятий сельскохозяйственного машиностроения Алтайского края к условиям рыночной экономики, что требовало детальной нормативной проработки механизмов приватизации, активной государственной промышленной политики на всех уровнях власти и привлечения дополнительных инвестиций для создания конкурентоспособной продукции. Недостаточно активная и гибкая политика руководства предприятия поставила его на грань банкротства и нанесла серьезный ущерб социально-экономической системе региона.