M.Tech. (Construction Management) / The aim of the study was to assessment of the critical success factors of joint ventures in the South African construction industry. The study strived to further establish the benefits and sustainability of contractor joint ventures between established contractors and small and medium contractors in the industry. In undertaking the study, primary data relative to contractor joint ventures was obtained by means of an administered questionnaire to one hundred and twelve (112) contractor representatives in the South African construction industry that had partaken or had an involvement in a joint venture project, to both the established and small and medium contractors. The findings indicate that multiple factors lead to the successfulness of contractor joint ventures, among these however, the main factors found to be efficient planning, commitment, trust, communication and comprehension. Other findings included the main benefits of both emerging and established contractor as well as the factors that can be used to measure the success of joint ventures. The research limitations can be said to include the fact that the study focused only on contractors that had previously taken part in a joint ventures project in Gauteng.

International joint ventures (IJVs), as organisational entities which are formed and controlled by local and foreign firms, are one of the most significant ways of expansion of international firms. IJVs have complex characteristics and the management of IJVs faces many problems. Due to these problems, IJV performance has attracted significant research attention – eventually any strategy has to be evaluated in terms of its success. The aim of this study is to investigate the factors that affect inter-organisational trust and as a result, the performance of IJVs in Iran, a developing country, which is in the early stages of the development of IJVs. According to Abosag and Lee (2012), there are few studies that concentrate on IJVs in developing and Middle Eastern countries and more studies on these areas are required. This empirical study is preceded by a systematic review of the relevant literature that led to the development of a conceptual model. The data were collected from a sample of managers in the industry sector of IJVs in Iran with their Asian partners by using a survey questionnaire, and analysed using the statistical package for social sciences, SPSS V.18. The results from this study show that inter-partner fit factors and relational factors have a strong and positive impact on the level of trust; however, fairness was not found to be positive and significantly related to trust. Religion and country risk were found to have a negative and significant relationship with trust. Moreover, a strong and positive relationship between trust and performance features (satisfaction, goal achievement and learning) and between commitment and performance features (satisfaction, goal achievement and learning) were found. This research provides empirical evidence for inter-organisational trust predictor variables for performance. A key contribution of this research is that it offers a robust framework that explains the antecedents of trust and demonstrates that trust has a definite positive impact on the performance of IJVs. The proposed framework is evaluated and tested against the original criteria of trust in IJVs, exactness and executability. Moreover, this study provides a novel contribution to the growing literature on trust in IJVs, particularly for developing countries such as Iran and the Middle East countries. The results of this research provide us with a meaningful managerial implication for the selection of competitors as IJV partners.

Separate essays on entrepreneurship, joint venturing, and trade comprise this thesis. The emergence of entrepreneurship is common in the real world but relatively less so in classical economic models. If industry incumbents are attributed with full rationality and perfect foresight, then there are few, if any, profitable opportunities left for new entrants (entrepreneurs) to exploit. This essay explains how entrepreneurs can emerge in a dynamic world when firms must choose between a technology strategy that is either statically or dynamically efficient. A model is developed which shows how such opportunities for new entry can occur when incumbents are caught in a Prisoners’ Dilemma game involving technology strategy. A relevance measure and policy implications are then explored. Joint ventures, especially of the R&D type, are becoming increasingly important as a way to gain needed technological and market competencies. Unfortunately, many joint ventures have the characteristics of a Prisoners’ Dilemma. Firms may cooperate or defect in the venture. If contracts, side-payments, and third-party verification of the venture outcome are unavailable, then the dominant solution to the Prisoners’ Dilemma (mutual defection) results. This paper proposes the use of an ex-ante auction to obtain a Pareto-improvement for these ventures. A Pareto-improvement is assured when non-transferable costs and benefits of firms are not conditional on joint venture strategies. When this condition is not met restrictions are required to obtain the Pareto-improvement. The problem of trade between countries that share an international open access resource is becoming significant as the world reaches the limits of critical shared resource stocks. It is modelled as a world with one primary factor, two intermediate goods, one final good (harvested from the open access resource), and two nations where it is assumed that either the trading takes place over one stage (nations are price-takers), or two stages (nations have market power). Imperfect competition and open access generated externalities affect the trading efficiency. To maximize world welfare this essay recommends subsidizing R&D where comparative advantage exists, and creating international agreements to ensure the one-stage game structure is used when trading. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Separate essays on entrepreneurship, joint venturing, and trade comprise this thesis. The emergence of entrepreneurship is common in the real world but relatively less so in classical economic models. If industry incumbents are attributed with full rationality and perfect foresight, then there are few, if any, profitable opportunities left for new entrants (entrepreneurs) to exploit. This essay explains how entrepreneurs can emerge in a dynamic world when firms must choose between a technology strategy that is either statically or dynamically efficient. A model is developed which shows how such opportunities for new entry can occur when incumbents are caught in a Prisoners’ Dilemma game involving technology strategy. A relevance measure and policy implications are then explored. Joint ventures, especially of the R&D type, are becoming increasingly important as a way to gain needed technological and market competencies. Unfortunately, many joint ventures have the characteristics of a Prisoners’ Dilemma. Firms may cooperate or defect in the venture. If contracts, side-payments, and third-party verification of the venture outcome are unavailable, then the dominant solution to the Prisoners’ Dilemma (mutual defection) results. This paper proposes the use of an ex-ante auction to obtain a Pareto-improvement for these ventures. A Pareto-improvement is assured when non-transferable costs and benefits of firms are not conditional on joint venture strategies. When this condition is not met restrictions are required to obtain the Pareto-improvement. The problem of trade between countries that share an international open access resource is becoming significant as the world reaches the limits of critical shared resource stocks. It is modelled as a world with one primary factor, two intermediate goods, one final good (harvested from the open access resource), and two nations where it is assumed that either the trading takes place over one stage (nations are price-takers), or two stages (nations have market power). Imperfect competition and open access generated externalities affect the trading efficiency. To maximize world welfare this essay recommends subsidizing R&D where comparative advantage exists, and creating international agreements to ensure the one-stage game structure is used when trading. / Business, Sauder School of / Graduate

Drawing on the dynamic capabilities perspective, this study provides some important insights into the paradox of the knowledge transfer-firm performance relationship in international joint ventures (IJVs) in an emerging market, China. It examines the IJV’s distribution capability as the underlying mediating mechanism through which the potential benefits of foreign parent-IJV knowledge transfer can be channeled and transformed into superior IJV performance. In this mediation process, the IJV’s absorptive capacity and market turbulence work as two boundary conditions that reinforce the role of foreign parent-IJV knowledge transfer on the IJV’s distribution capability. Specifically, this study delineates how the IJV’s distribution capability mediates 1) the complementary effects of knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity, and 2) the interactive effects of knowledge transfer and market turbulence, on IJV performance, respectively. Five hypotheses are proposed and empirically tested based on a random sample of 136 equity-based manufacturing IJVs in China. Overall, the results support the proposed hypotheses except hypothesis 1 which posits the IJV’s distribution capability mediates the effect of foreign parent-IJV knowledge transfer to the IJV’s ultimate performance. The findings reveal that 1) the IJV’s absorptive capacity and market turbulence strengthen the link of foreign parent-IJV knowledge transfer and the establishment of the IJV’s distribution capability; and 2) distribution capability mediates two complementary effects (knowledge transfer and absorptive capacity, and knowledge transfer and market turbulence) on superior IJV performance in emerging markets. The plausible explanation for the unsupported hypothesis 1 is the majority of the knowledge transferred by foreign parent is related to product development, organizational management and operational processes, rather than market knowledge. Hence, because distribution capability is an ability closely related to market, the true impact of the knowledge transferred on distribution capability may be blurred and even concealed if IJVs lack sufficient absorptive capacity or are currently operating in stable markets. In summary, this study makes an original contribution to extant IJV literature by unpacking the black box of the knowledge transfer-IJV performance relationship and reveals that the IJV’s distribution capability plays as an underlying mediation mechanism. It also identifies the moderating roles of the IJV’s absorptive capacity and market turbulence on the knowledge transfer-distribution capability relationship, and makes important empirical contribution to extant dynamic capabilities literature by substantiating the theoretical claim that dynamic capabilities have an indirect effect on firm performance, and that the existence and use of dynamic capabilities are more effective under rapidly changing environments. Keywords: Knowledge Transfer; Distribution Capability; Absorptive Capacity; International Joint Ventures; China

Purpose – The paper aims to study the impact of cultural differences on the ownership structure of international joint ventures in China. It is reasoned that foreign investors, when faced with larger culture-related investment uncertainties, may have the incentive to acquire more control rights to contain the risks by acquiring more equity shares in the joint ventures. Design/methodology/approach – Data on international joint ventures in China were used to test the theory. The data contain 941 observations from Beijing, Shanghai, Shenzhen and Tianjing, covering a 13-year time span. Pooled ordinary least square is used in the model estimation. Findings – Cultural distance between China and foreign countries was found to increase the foreign equity share in the joint ventures, a finding contrary to traditional view. In addition, it was found that cultural distance in different dimensions does not play an equal role in affecting foreign equity shares. Last, there is significant evidence that the allocation of ownership between foreign and domestic investors in the joint ventures is influenced by the investor’s relative importance in supplying different types of resources. Originality/value – The paper introduces a new perspective into the study of culture and international joint venture. Foreign investors may be able to reduce investment risk by increasing equity shares, which gives them more internal control, in international joint ventures. In contrast, the traditional view is that larger cultural distance tends to discourage foreign equity ownership.

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This thesis project was carried out within the cooperation between theIndustrial Ecology Department at Royal Institute of Technology (KTH),Stockholm, Sweden and Center for Space Thermal Science of ShandongUniversity, Jinan, China. The aim of this thesis report is to investigate Environmental ManagementSystem (EMS) and its support system, give a general view of theenvironmental work in companies in China, and make recommendation forSwedish joint ventures how they should work with environmental issues inChina. The conclusions, drawn from the thesis investigation, are that the Chineseway of working with environmental issues is similar to the Swedishapproach. There is a comprehensive support system in forms oflegalization, other demands and standards. The main differences arecompulsory EMS and Cleaner Production Law. It is not always voluntarilyto work with an EMS in a company; some companies, which are perceivedto be hazardous for the environment, are forced to work with compulsoryEMS. However, there is also voluntarily EMS such as ISO 14001. Thesecond differences are that China has, as the only country in the world,Cleaner Production as a law. The company visits to Qingqi, General, Shandong Huangtai Thermal PowerPlant and Huawo showed that Chinese companies work active onenvironmental issues and use the existing support system. The recommendations for joint ventures between Chinese and Swedishcompanies that were drawn from this thesis report are; compile withChina’s environmental laws, criterion, standards and demands; be a partof China’s environmental management system, both compulsory andvoluntarily; make the environmental work in the organisations transparentand infiltrated it in all levels; educate all employees and assure that theEMS has full support from the top manager; combine EMS with safety,health and quality management systems; work with high quality EducationCenters and Certification Bodies; and finally, take a moral responsibility. / www.ima.kth.se

As German organisations expand their businesses into China, the potential risks associated with a lack of fit in management styles among International Joint Venture (IJV) partner-firms have become increasingly obvious to academic researchers, human resource professionals and partner-firm managers themselves. The general consensus among researchers and practitioners is that cultural differences in management styles are a major deterrent to the success of IJVs. Limited research has been undertaken to specifically examine and identify how partner-firm managers can overcome this barrier in Sino-German IJVs.

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