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Sino‐foreign joint ventures have been the major form of foreign direct investment in China since the economic reform in late 1978. Among the many problems faced by the foreign partner of a joint venture, human resource management (HRM) is one of the most often cited. Offers a comprehensive review of the major HRM problems, namely recruitment, dismissal, remuneration, labour discipline, managerial skills, training and trade unions. In order to understand the nature of the problems better, an effort is made to trace the origin of these problems back to the former centrally planned economy and the Chinese culture. The discussion covers the entire Chinese workforce consisting of both workers and managers. Cites survey results and real life cases for illustration. In addition to analysing the problems, offers some practical solutions.

HRM and decision‐making patterns can affect the overall effectiveness of joint ventures. Discusses the results of case studies of Chinese‐Japanese and wholly Japanese ventures in China. Proposes that the Japanese managerial strategies may be more suited to building the new management norms in the initial phases of the joint venture while the Chinese managerial style ensures continued progress, within the Chinese cultural context, in the more advanced stages of the joint venture.

This research aims to demonstrate that most of the current Sino‐foreign joint ventures are exogamic partnerships and to analyze the resources pooled by allies in Sino‐foreign joint ventures, the objectives pursued by each ally and how this mix has evolved since the first days of the open door policy.

The paper is based on an extensive literature review and data collection into 67 Sino‐foreign joint ventures. Data were collected into joint ventures employing more than 100 employees and primarily based around Shanghai. A semi‐structured questionnaire was administered mostly with Chinese managers. A set of 21 different resources and 15 different objectives were examined.

Three main conclusions emerge: partners of Sino‐foreign joint ventures contribute with differentiated sets of idiosyncratic and non‐substitutable resources that are distinctively under the control of each partner with Chinese bringing locally rooted resources and country‐specific knowledge and foreigners bringing technology, managerial abilities, brand image and financial resources, there is a symmetrical relationship between the objectives of one partner and the resources brought into the alliance by the other with each one trying to gain access to what the other pools into the joint venture, and finally, the more recent the partnership, the less the partners contribute with their idiosyncratic resources.

The profile of Chinese partners might favor a Shanghainese point of view. More data from other areas such as Beijing and Guangzhou would be needed to test in future research whether cultural differences between different Chinese provinces might create some discrepancies relative to the issues raised. In the same vein, the limited number of foreign managers who answered the questionnaire did not allow for a comparison to be made with Chinese managers. A systematic comparison would offer some interesting areas for future research.

This paper suggests that Sino‐foreign joint ventures will increasingly be transformed into endogamic partnerships in the future. Because of the combination of differentiated resources in Sino‐foreign joint ventures, each partner learns from its counterpart and tends to fill the knowledge gap. Once the learning process is completed, partners' profiles tend to be closer. Partners become able to accumulate similar resources. This produces size or scale advantages – which is precisely the benefit of endogamies.

This is one of the first empirical research studies to use the endogamy/exogamy dichotomy in the field of business. These two archetypes offer new perspectives for the study of joint ventures, and especially for the analysis of Sino‐foreign joint ventures. This research is also probably amongst the first studies to analyze these issues using data collected primarily from Chinese managers. And technology is not treated globally but is analyzed along different lines.

Reports the results of an interview and field survey study on management issues in 25 Sino‐foreign joint‐venture companies. Joint ventures are shown to have three special characteristics: transformation, system and management. Compatibility issues, in terms of values, motives, leadership styles, are cultural, social and structural. Proposes three managerial psychology strategies to improve management of joint ventures further. Suggests some useful predictors and criteria for the assessment and evaluation of joint‐venture effectiveness.

The Chinese government has liberalized the foreign investment environment considerably in order to encourage inward investment, primarily through joint ventures. Reviews the changes in the regulatory environment and presents new data from UK partners engaged in Chinese joint ventures. The findings indicate that the main force motivating UK firms to form joint ventures is to gain faster entry to the Chinese market. The joint ventures allow UK firms access to largely intangible inputs that they would otherwise have difficulty acquiring. While choice of Chinese partners appears to be highly constrained, on the whole the UK partners analysed the joint venture decision thoroughly and generally concluded that they had joined forces with the “right” partner.

Currently, learning in international joint ventures between developing and developed countries tends to be viewed as a one‐way process, with Western partners assuming superiority in both technology and management. Learning is often dominated by the rational drive to achieve organisational effectiveness without sufficient attention to cultural differences, which has created problems of mutual understanding. In this paper we examine learning processes in Chinese‐Western joint ventures as well as the cultural context where learning is taking place. We argue that improved management of joint ventures lies in the process of collective learning of joint venture partners. To achieve this, it is important for partners from diverse cultures and socio‐economic backgrounds to understand the different modes of managing and organising. We illustrate this with examples from our study of Chinese‐Western joint ventures.

This paper centers on the exploration of Chinese conflict management styles in the context of international joint ventures in the People's Republic of China (PRC). Based on interviews conducted with directing managers in U.S.‐Chinese joint ventures and seminars held in China on conflict management in such ventures, major characteristics of Chinese conflict management styles are discussed. Influenced by the traditional Chinese values, norms, and philosophies, Chinese managers in joint ventures tend to adopt contingent, long‐term, contextual, and holistic approaches to conflict resolution.

A change in leadership styles is a key characteristic of joint ventures. Overseas managers often use an adaptation of their home culture. Discusses the findings of the survey presented in the previous article in terms of leadership styles and their resulting organizational effectiveness in joint ventures with different structural features. Presents four functional dimensions of leadership style: expectancy; sentiment; informativeness; and trustworthiness. Indicates these are particularly crucial for international joint ventures where cultural and managerial compatibility is most important in achieving organizational success.

Illustrates the growth of foreign investment in China, which is most often dealt with through Chinese‐foreign equity joint ventures and discusses the business issues involved. Traces the development of the Chinese accounting system, which is now largely in line with international standards, and identifies four accounting issues for foreign partners in joint ventures. Warns that the evaluation of a proposition must take into account the different accounting standards applied to previous accounts, the time needed to get an investment running effectively and possible legal problems in the home country from personal favour. Points out that the consolidation of joint venture accounts is not straightforward and recommends that the accounting rules which apply to contracts should be specified.

Guanxi has been well documented as being an essential part of doing business in China. Yet, as China continues with market liberalisation, there are indications that its strategic importance is set to decline. From a joint venture perspective, this study seeks to examine the strategic importance of guanxi when doing business in China.

First, the researchers reviewed articles on guanxi and established that although guanxi is still widely considered important, some experts are arguing that this importance is diminishing. Second, qualitative research was used to create a holistic picture of the importance attached to guanxi in UK‐Chinese joint ventures. This involved 25 semi‐structured interviews with those involved in establishing or managing such a joint venture.

Although guanxi remains important when doing business in China, a number of factors indicate that this importance may begin to decline. These include China's market liberalisation, outward investment, “guanxi learning” on the part of foreign companies and online intermediaries.

Since the paper is based on a review of existing research and 25 qualitative interviews, the findings are largely exploratory. Future research might focus on a larger sample, different industries or possibly Chinese firms engaged in outward investment.

The findings suggest that to simply describe guanxi as being “important” is too simplistic. Hence, by identifying issues that are likely to affect the strategic importance of guanxi we can help both parent company managers and those engaged in Chinese business practice.

Both the review of existing papers and empirical findings help academics to understand a “contemporary view” of guanxi. While managers that have an interest in China can gain a clear understanding of guanxi and its significance in modern day China.