The management and performance of international joint ventures

This study investigates several core aspects of the management and performance of international joint ventures with parent firms from Europe, North America and Australia. The focus of the study is the relationships between management control of IJVs, autonomy granted to the IJV management, trust between IJV partners, perceptions of cultural differences between IJV partners and the performance of IJVs. The study builds on the existing literature by examining new data and providing new empirical insights. Data was collected by means of an international mail survey using a self-administered questionnaire and an e-mail survey. The General Directorate of Foreign Investment (GDFI) database in Turkey and the OSIRIS database served to provide two sampling frames for the data collection. The perspective of this study is an empirical investigation of the nature of management control exercised by the parent firms over the joint ventures. This study provides new evidence on the relationships between the dimensions of management control and the performance of a sample of JVs. The overall concept of autonomy is examined by discussing differences in the management and control of decision-making as categorized by operational versus strategic decisions. Furthermore, the influence of IJV performance and IJV duration on autonomy is considered. The relative importance of both national culture and corporate culture differences on the management of the joint venture is considered. The influence of joint venture age and the influence of autonomy granted to JV management are investigated with particular reference to culture. This study provides a framework of trust by treating perceptions of cultural differences as antecedents to trust, the degree of JV autonomy granted as a consequence of trust and JV performance as both antecedent to and consequence of trust. This study identifies the key determinants of IJV performance as management control of IJVs, autonomy granted to the IJV management, trust between IJV partners and perceptions of cultural differences between IJV partners.