Management controls in automotive international joint ventures involving Chinese parent companies

Key findings:
• Flexibility in international joint ventures (JVS) is important and a shared but split
control style is recommended.
• Chinese partners used to have learning as their main objective in an IJV but this
has been replaced by profit, growth and market share.
• The most significant shifts in control between partners involve human resource
management and research and development.
• When foreign partners insist on adherence to their own management philosophy,
culture clashes occur.
• Negotiation is a part of daily life in the IJVs, and it occurs at both executive and
managerial levels, depending upon the significance of the item.