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This paper sets out to address the influence of relational variables, such as trust and commitment, on international joint venture (IJV) performance, in the empirical context of UK/Chinese joint ventures.

The paper starts with a discussion of the importance of inter‐firm relationships in China and how there currently exists relatively little research in this area. Qualitative research was chosen to create a holistic picture of the possible impact of relational factors on IJV performance.

Trust appears to be the most important of the relational factors on IJV performance, followed by commitment, cooperation and satisfaction. Chinese cultural values, such as guanxi, also need to be taken into account as an important factor of IJV relationships.

When researching inter‐firm relationships, ideally data would be gathered from both parties. This was not possible owing to difficulties encountered in gaining access to the Chinese parent organisations. Nevertheless, the findings are of interest to British firms interested in the Chinese market.

Joint ventures in China continue to experience high failure rates. Failure to nurture relationships with joint venture partners is one reason for failure. Despite the limitations noted above, the findings make a useful contribution to the management literature on China.

Whereas many researchers have studied financial and non‐financial measures of joint venture performance, little has been written on relational factors and performance.

In this study, the authors aim to investigate the impact of workplace guanxi on employees' commitment to supervisor in relation to other critical HRM outcome variables in Chinese international joint ventures (IJVs).

The dataset used in this study consists of 255 employees and their 86 direct supervisors in two IJVs in China. The authors adopted LISREL to test a proposed model and investigate the following relationships: subordinate‐supervisor guanxi as an antecedent of commitment to supervisor and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB), job security as an antecedent of affective commitment, and their impact on employee turnover intention.

The empirical results show that subordinate‐supervisor workplace guanxi has positive and significant effect on commitment to supervisor, whereas commitment to supervisor has positive and significant effect on affective commitment and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) of employees. Such relationships further lead to reduced employee turnover intention.

This study reveals the significance of workplace guanxi and commitment to supervisor and their impact on other important HRM outcome variables in Chinese IJV employees. It contributes to the literature by offering insight on how Chinese guanxi culture interacts with other HRM variables in IJVs and informs future research in relation to leader‐member exchange in the Chinese context.

By establishing a healthy workplace guanxi with employees, supervisors can play a critical role in achieving desired organization outcomes such as improving affective commitment and reducing turnover.

Existing research shows that guanxi is a multi‐dimensional construct and critical for Chinese HRM research. This study examines the dimension of workplace guanxi and investigates the impact of subordinate‐supervisor guanxi on commitment to supervisor and other HRM outcome variables in IJVs.

This paper aims to investigate the complexity of collaborations in supply chain networks, particularly the influence of horizontal collaborations (e.g. international joint ventures) on vertical collaborations (e.g. supplier–manufacturer partnering relationships).

A multiple case study including four horizontal collaborations and five vertical collaborations within a supply chain network is presented in the context of the Chinese automotive industry. Data interpretation from interviews is structured by key collaborative activities and collaborative behaviors.

The analysis highlights a variety of collaborative behaviors under different types of collaboration and their interaction. The complexity of collaboration is revealed in a range of dimensions including culture diversity, drivers/facilitators, competitive/collaborative advantages and the engagement of all. Collaboration evolves as the structure of the supply chain changes; the key is to appreciate the existence of cooperation, competition and culture conflicts and to manage the trade-offs.

A window of opportunity is presented for future research to investigate the complexity of supply chain collaboration in a wider industrial or geographical context, including statistical validation and comparative analysis.

A contingent view on supply chain collaboration is promoted to practitioners (e.g. international supply chain managers), where collaborative activities should be aligned with the motive and type of business relationships which may change as collaboration develops.

A rare empirical study captures the complexity of supply chain collaboration including the interaction between different forms. A dynamic collaboration approach recognizes the changing process, varying cooperation behaviors as well as characteristics of partners which have not been sufficiently reflected in the literature.

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. The purpose of this paper is to build 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.

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.

This phenomenological study provides empirical evidence of critical linkages of these to intrinsically Chinese notions of guanxi, mianzi and renqing – it 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.

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 Sino-foreign context; moreover, it contributes empirical evidence substantiating the proposed conceptual linkage.

International business – sell-off and joint venture.

This case is suitable for graduation and post graduation (BBA, MBA) and other management programs. The courses include multinational business environment and strategic management

A significant increase in the Asian electronics business has created a global platform for international vendors and customers. Indeed, Chinese and Korean firms have become the foremost manufacturing and fabrication nucleus for electronic supplies in the world economy. In fact, it is an example of success from Asian emerging markets. This case presents the strategies of Asian rivals in the electronics business that shows both Bolipps and Canssonic redesigning and restructuring global tactics for long-term sustainable success in the given market. It also discusses the reasons behind their current mode of business and post-deal issues.

The case describes a way to impart managerial and leadership strategies from regular business operations happening in and around the world. Solely it focuses on designing inorganic choices such as sell-offs, joint ventures, shuffle and merging strategies through theory to application.

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The purpose of this study is to attempt to fill a research gap by proposing an integrative model for studying employees’ turnover intention in Chinese joint ventures (JVs). The authors also examine the antecedents of turnover intention and its impact on employees’ performance.

A data set consisting of 247 employees in 3 JVs in the Peoples’ Republic of China is used to test the hypotheses.

The LISREL results support all hypotheses. The model examines how the contextual experiences of perceived organizational support and affective commitment might affect the turnover intention. It is proposed that employees’ perceived distributive justice, trust in management and job security are related to the organizational experience of perceived organizational support and affective commitment, which will affect turnover intention and, in turn, to job performance. The empirical results show that turnover intention has a significant and negative impact on employees’ performance, and both perceived organisational support (POS) and affective commitment have partial mediation effects between trust in management and employees’ turnover intention.

The Western POS scale was used in this study. It may not fully capture the meaning of POS in the Chinese setting. Future research may develop indigenous POS measurement. Additionally, the scale on turnover intention only showed employees’ intention to leave, it did not reveal their subsequent actual turnover. Future research should use a longitudinal design to study the actual employee turnover. It contributes to the literature by offering insights on how Chinese human resource management practices in JVs affect employees’ turnover intention and the impact of turnover intention on employees’ performance in Chinese JVs.

This study enhances the authors' understanding of the relationship among POS, affective commitment and turnover intention of Chinese JV employees.

This study aims to investigate and compare the relationships of affective commitment, loyalty to supervisor and guanxi among Chinese workers in joint ventures (JVs) and state-owned enterprises (SOEs).

In the proposed model, job security is considered as an antecedent of affective commitment, and subordinate–supervisor guanxi is viewed as an antecedent of loyalty to supervisor. The model further suggests that affective commitment will affect employees’ turnover intention and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB) and that loyalty to supervisor will affect employees’ OCB. A data set consisting of 255 employees in three JVs and 253 employees in three SOEs in China is used to test the hypotheses empirically.

The LISREL results support the hypotheses and show the major differences of employees’ attitudes and behaviour in JVs and SOEs today.

This study shows the differences of effects of commitment on OCB in JVs and SOEs and also clarifies the mixed and inconsistent findings of the effects of affective commitment and commitment to supervisor on OCB in the previous literature.

Given that the effects of affective commitment and loyalty to supervisor on OCB are different in JVs and SOEs, different policies should be adopted to enhance the OCB in these two types of organisations.

The research results show the major differences of employees’ attitudes and behaviour in JVs and SOEs today. The comparison of the results has implications to the extant literature.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the key elements in the strategy of leading Chinese private firms in order to identify the key factors that are associated with the success of these firms.

Secondary data source from the self report of 30 of the top 50 private enterprises of 2004 in China as the basis for analysis. In analysing these self reports, a table was compiled that records the name of each case study firm, nature of its businesses, its ranking in the top 50 in 2004, background of the owner entrepreneur/CEO, history of the firm, and key elements of strategies.

The paper identifies that the key success factors of these firms appear to be associated with firm growth through business diversification, development of international market, strong emphasis on product innovation and quality enhancement, strategic marketing, product and corporate branding, and importantly, entrepreneurship of owner managers/CEOs and reform of corporate governance. Also revealed that top‐performing Chinese private firms tend to adopt a high‐commitment model of human resource management which emphasizes training and development, promotion by competence, extensive employee welfare provision, and enterprise culture development and management.

The secondary data came from company self reports with potential bias of self reporting. They were snap shots and anecdotal instead of longitudinal studies. They also contained top management's views only, which are not necessarily representative of the wider organisation. These methodological drawbacks mean that the data needs to be treated with caution and that more in‐depth empirical research is needed to shed more light on the subject that is of growing importance in understanding Chinese business and management.

This paper fills the gap in existing literature by revealing changes that have taken place in the privately owned businesses in China, key challenges they face and what strategic response they have adopted. The understanding of the business and management strategies of these firms is beneficial not only to scholars and students who are interested in China but also to organisational managers who wish to develop businesses with China.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the changes in Chinese workers’ values by comparing the work-related values of the One-Child Generation (OCG), the Social Reform Generation and the Cultural Revolution Generation.

A survey was conducted with 918 Chinese employees, the vast majority of them working for Chinese domestic firms in Guangzhou, Shaoguan and Harbin. The collected data were analysed mainly using ANOVA, Tukey’s pairwise comparison and Kruskall–Wallis tests.

The OCG was found to place less importance on income and job security, while possessing higher tolerance towards the practice of nepotism, than the older two generations. The authors found no significant differences in the levels of intrinsic values and altruism among the three generations. Additionally, the results indicate overall low altruistic values and high extrinsic values across all three generations of Chinese workers.

China’s unprecedented generation of only-children as workers is an unknown factor. It is only now, over a decade after the OCG first entered the job market, that a comparative study between their work values and those of previous generations has become possible. This study exploits the momentum and is one of the first studies to include the OCG in the investigation of work value changes in Chinese society.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse investment strategies and performance of Finnish firms in their international joint ventures (IJVs) established in Baltic States.

The paper analyse performance of IJVs in Baltic States based on the IJV theory, international business literature, and foreign direct investments in Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) literature. The analysed factors include firm, investment, and inter-partner relationship-specific factors. To examine the propositions the paper used ten IJVs established by Finnish firms in various Baltic States between the period 1991 and 2005.

The results show that the level of uncertainties in the countries and the differences between partners are not related to firms’ commitments and the entry mode choice. Several Finnish firms preferred cost leadership to compete with other firms in the local markets. In most cases there was a positive relationship between the level of partners’ equity share, commitment to the IJV, and the level of trust between partners. The results indicated differences in the IJV performance depending on parent firms’ objectives, their competitive strategies, mode of entry, age of IJVs, control strategies, level of trust, and commitment between partners, as well as depending on the performance measures used.

This study suggests four observations that managers may need to take into consideration to improve IJV performance in the Baltic States. First, cost leadership strategy help to increase IJV performance in terms of sales. Second, social control mechanisms and narrow control leaded to better performance than formal and wide control. Third, minority ownership by Finnish firms in IJVs leaded to better performance based on sales, productivity and total performance whereas majority ownership had leaded to better performance in terms of total costs. Finally, the results confirmed that commitment to the IJV operation and trust on the other partner are very essential factors to IJV performance.

The study is the first one to analyse in more detail based on several cases the IJV strategies and performance of Finnish firms in the Baltic States. The analysed factors include several such factors which have not been analysed related to IJV operations in Baltic States (some also limitedly in the CEE context).