Top management team trust, behavioral integration and the performance of international joint ventures (original) (raw)

Managerial trust and work values within the context of international joint ventures in China

Journal of International Management, 2007

The paper reports on a study of International Joint Ventures (IJVs) in China and provides empirical evidence on how Chinese managers in IJVs, compared with their State-Owned Enterprise (SOE) counterparts, are responding to their new work environments. Changing work practices, in particular human resource management (HRM), are altering the trust dynamics between managers and their subordinates. Changed trust relations pose problems for many Chinese managers originally from SOEs but now working in IJVs. The study examines how Chinese mangers' perceptions of trust in subordinates are being influenced by the work values in IJVs. Key findings of our study suggest that for these managers, trust in subordinates is related to certain beliefs surrounding work values of centralization, formalization and group orientation.

Trust between international joint venture partners: Effects of home countries

Journal of International Business Studies, 2013

Trust is an important factor in interorganizational relations. Interorganizational trust in cross-border relationships is likely to be influenced by the home countries of both partners. Using data on 165 international joint ventures (IJVs), we show that the perceived trustworthiness of an IJV partner is influenced by the general propensity to trust in the trustor's home country. Moreover, the trustworthiness perceived by a focal parent firm is also affected by the home country of the other IJV partner. This second effect is mitigated by experience between the partners.

The Contextual Factors that Affect the Development of Trust at the Initial Stages of International Joint Ventures

The importance of International Business (IB) Systems and in particular International Joint Ventures (IJVs) has increased in recent years. Great numbers of enterprises worldwide form International Strategic Alliances (ISAs) and IJVs in order to expand internationally and gain global competitiveness. One of the most important factors that affect the success of IJVs is the notion of trust between alliance partners, as evidenced by the growing volume of published research on the subject. The objective of this paper is to present a number of propositions on the contextual factors that have an impact on trust at the initial stages of the formation of an IJV and constitutes the basis for future research where we plan to examine the importance of trust in International Joint Ventures (IJVs) that include at least one Greek business partner.

Revisiting multinational firms' tolerance for joint ventures: A trust-based approach

Journal of International Business Studies, 2005

In spite of the increasing popularity of international joint ventures, managers express a high level of dissatisfaction with them. This paper argues that overemphasis on the outcome has resulted in a neglect of the social processes underlying the outcome. The paper elaborates upon the rationale for a cooperative approach towards interorganizational collaborative relationships based on trust, and discusses it in the context of joint ventures. This is then applied towards understanding multinational ownership preferences and tolerance for joint ventures. It is argued that trust-centered logic is largely consistent with approaches that emphasize the issue of ownership, and deepens and enriches the insights provided by the latter. A shift in focus from ownership to relational dynamics is encouraged.

Trust in international joint venture relationships

Journal of Business Research, 2003

A great deal of attention has been paid to the performance of international joint ventures (IJVs) and trust has been recognised as a key factor influencing it. This paper examines the emergence of trust as a process and develops a process model of trust building in IJVs, which is used to analyse four case studies. The main conclusions are the following: Whereas competence-based trust starts from public information, promissory-based trust and goodwill-based trust are individually orientated and mainly develop through direct personal interaction. Such interaction may lead to bonds of friendship between delegates. Before these bonds evolve, trust is mainly based on the perceived self-interest of the partner in the joint venture. When the bonds of friendship dominate, the main source of trust shifts towards emotional commitments. Thus, in the early stages of an IJV, promissory-based trust predominates, and as the joint venture progresses, competence-based trust emerges. Goodwill-based trust is important throughout the process. A commitment to cooperate emerges from initial self-interest. The model is capable of further development and testing. D

An integrated perspective of social exchange theory and transaction cost approach on the antecedents of trust in international joint ventures

International Business Review, 2017

This study investigates the antecedents of trust in International Joint Ventures (IJVs). Building on social exchange theory (SET) and transaction cost theory (TCT), we develop an integrated framework in which trust development requires two sets of antecedents: (1) social antecedents (prior alliance experience with partner, partner's cultural sensitivity and reputation, inter-partner communication, expected longevity of the IJVs), and (2) structural antecedents (interdependence, ownership share, resource complementary). The developed framework is tested using web-survey data collected from 89 IJVs established by Nordic firms in Asia, Europe and America. Empirical data analysis based on structural equation modelling suggests that a partner's cultural sensitivity and reputation, inter-partner communication, and expected longevity are the social antecedents from SET that enhance trust. From TCA, the structural antecedent of resource complementary develops trust, while balanced interdependence and balanced ownership are unrelated to trust. These findings have important implications for managers planning to form and manage IJVs.

Trust as a success factor in international joint ventures

Global Perspectives on Management and Economics in the Aec Sector, 2005

International joint ventures (IJVs) in construction often face a highly complex environment, since in most instances they are formed to build large scale engineering projects. One of the primary requirements of actors in such systems is to reduce the environmental complexity. On an organizational level, many IJVs disentangle therefore responsibilities by functional separation and delegation of work. On a social level, delegation of work requires trust in the capability and willingness of others to perform their duties without supervision. As such, trust is a mechanism which allows us to reach our goals efficiently within this setting. Trust itself is mediated by communication involving symbolic interaction. Especially during the start phase, IJVs in construction are high-pressure environments without established networks. The intent of this article is to describe the research carried out and the conclusions drawn to determine the role of trust under such conditions.

Impact of culture on ‘partner selection criteria’ in East Asian international joint ventures

International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, 2009

Selecting the right partner is important for the success of alliances and 12 joint ventures. For international joint ventures (IJVs) from diverse cultures partner 13 selection process can become complicated. Prior studies have investigated the 14 alliances and joint ventures to develop a set of objective criteria for evaluate 15 potential partners. This paper reports the study of IJVs formed by Singapore firms in 16 Peoples Republic of China and India. The intent was to develop a methodology for 17 identifying partner selection criteria in a cross-cultural setting. The findings reveal 18 that the partner selection process follows a different logic in Confucian societies.

Exploration of relational factors: Sino-foreign joint venture partnering

Journal of Strategy and Management, 2015

Purpose-Despite recent threats of economic contraction, China still offers attractive opportunities for foreign companies seeking to expand their business activities through joint venturing (JV) partnering entry strategies. Recent research has indicated a growing recognition of the importance of relational factors in JV partnering. This paper builds on recent research findings that identify critical relation success factors in JVs and explores these in the context of a Hong Kong-based civil aviation services company seeking to expand business activities in Greater China. Design/methodology/approach-While the extant management literature focuses primarily on factors relevant to the inter-partner relationship between partners in the formation stage of a joint venture, this research takes a dynamic stakeholder perspective in respect of the relevant relational factors over the evolution of a partnership. The research described in this paper is based on a case-based study that identifies and examines the relevance and importance of uniquely Chinese factors such as guanxi, renqing and mianzi in the specific context of a strategic partnering relationship. Findings-This phenomenological study provides empirical evidence of critical linkages of these to intrinsically Chinese notions of guanxi, mianzi and renqingit links these to key strategic partnering success factors identified to be trust, conflict resolution, commitment and cooperation. This study thereby reinforces the importance of the uniquely Chinese relational context in cross-border JVs. Moreover, the research findings suggest that these factors underpin the dynamic bi-directional stakeholder relationship in a Sino-foreign strategic partnership. Originality/value-This study conceptually links the uniquely Chinese relational factors (guanxi, mianzi and renqing) to key success factors supporting the establishment of a strategic partnership in a Sinoforeign context; moreover, it contributes empirical evidence substantiating the proposed conceptual linkage.