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Despite the numerous benefits of adopting international construction joint ventures (ICJVs), effective operation of the joint ventures in Saudi Arabia is impeded by various limitations. Thus, this paper is aimed at determining, analyzing, and prioritizing these major limitations and to propose a strategy that can provide guidance on how best to promote the achievement of efficient joint ventures in international construction in Saudi Arabian construction industry.

Content analysis was augmented by the expert-based assessment process to identify the critical limitations while the interpretive structural modeling (ISM) technique was utilized to analyze and determine the hierarchical structure of the limitations. This is important in order to comprehend and describe the complex relationship between the limitations.

The results identified “selecting unsuitable partner”, “divergent organizational cultures, policies and procedures”, and “poor knowledge of local regulations by foreign partners” as the most critical limitations affecting the efficiency of joint ventures in international construction in Saudi Arabia.

The inclusion of many variables (limitations) increases the complexity of the ISM technique, which compels the researchers to consider reduced number of variables in establishing the ISM structural hierarchy. Other variables that were perceived to be less critical were not included in the development of the ISM structural hierarchy. On the other hand, the structural hierarchy was not validated statistically, and this requires the use of other linear structural relationship techniques like the Structural Equation Modeling to test the validity of the hypothetical ISM structural hierarchy. The proposed strategy to mitigate the limitations presented in this study was not validated, and this requires further study to verify the accuracy of the strategy.

The implications inferred in this study are better performing ICJVs in the execution of mega infrastructure projects in Saudi Arabia. The findings and managerial implications of the study are expected to further provide an invaluable guide that can support policymakers and all key stakeholders to establish efficient strategies and suitable measures that can enhance the successful implementation of ICJVs.

The findings of this study provide comprehensive understanding of the limitations affecting the efficiency of ICJVs in Saudi Arabia. This can assist in mitigating the potential impacts of these limitations and to advocate for the achievement of efficient joint ventures in international construction in Saudi Arabia. Meanwhile, there is a need to further develop a framework that can elucidate on the proposed strategy to promote better performing ICJVs in Saudi Arabia. Also, the further study will seek to investigate the influence of project duration, value, location, or ownership on the performance of the joint ventures in order to generalize the findings to all forms of ICJVs.

This paper aims at extending the debate on family firm internationalization by identifying cycles and waves of their internationalization processes with a specific focus on de-internationalization and re-internationalization.

Building on the Uppsala model and the resource-based view, this study analyzes the cycles and waves of internationalization of 26 German family firms in the Chinese market. Semi-structured interviews with top managers of the selected case firms were conducted, and secondary sources were used to triangulate the collected data.

The findings highlight the heterogeneity of family firm internationalization processes. Indeed, some family firms follow the sequential approach of the Uppsala model, while others choose to de-internationalize and then re-internationalize their activities. Their cycles and waves of internationalization can be explained by internal and external triggers.

This article contributes to the family firm internationalization literature by investigating how family firm characteristics and environmental factors shape internationalization, de-internationalization and re-internationalization paths. The novel findings enrich theoretical assumptions on family firm internationalization and highlight their varying internationalization processes, which can be explained by firm-specific characteristics, notably their unique family resources and socioemotional wealth, and contextual factors.

Performance has been a significant concern of the international joint ventures (IJVs) literature. This paper aims to empirically capture the impact of firm-level factors on IJVs performance in India. The authors investigate the mediating effects of ambidexterity between the factors and IJVs performance. Additionally, environmental dynamism as a moderator between ambidexterity and IJVs performance is examined.

This study performs structural equation modeling using the data of 501 IJVs between India and G7 nations from 2010 to 2020.

The result reveals the ambidexterity's mediation effects in the relationships between factors (technology transfer and flexibility) and IJVs performance. Furthermore, the findings indicate that a highly dynamic environment moderates the relationship between ambidexterity and the performance of IJVs.

This study has investigated the nexus between technology transfer, flexibility, ambidexterity and IJVs performance in the context of Indian IJVs. It has highlighted the importance of firm-level factors in cross-cultural joint ventures in achieving performance.

The study establishes the impact of firm-level antecedents on IJVs performance in India. The study highlights the importance of ambidexterity and environmental dynamism in order to achieve IJVs performance.

Most developing countries, such as Sri Lanka (SL), are now looking for the support of foreign construction companies for large-scale infrastructure projects in return for expertise and resources. Thus, foreign companies may enter into agreements with local contractors through joint ventures (JVs). However, the priorities of construction project stakeholders may differ, which may ultimately end up in conflicts. Therefore, this research aims to investigate the most suitable conflict management strategies for international construction JVs (ICJVs) considering the SL context.

The mixed method was used for the research choice by selecting a questionnaire survey and expert interviews. Completed questionnaires (n = 78) were analysed using statistical techniques. The expert interviews with six industry practitioners were piloted to increase the validity and credibility of survey findings through a triangulation process where the collected data was analysed through content analysis.

The findings confirm that JV parties should first seek collaborative solutions in a conflict and seek legal redress only when those efforts are unsuccessful. Collaborating and compromising were recommended as the most appropriate tactics if an informal approach to conflict management was chosen. Alternative dispute resolution and litigation were identified as formal conflict management strategies.

This study, to the best of the authors’ knowledge, will be the first of its kind in SL, which will lead to a better understanding of conflict management in IJCVs and will encourage other researchers to extend this study through further work.

International construction joint ventures (ICJVs) implementation is plagued with several barriers, full understanding of which is still lacking due to a lack of an in-depth exploration of them, particularly in developing countries. To fill this knowledge gap, this study aims to investigate the critical barriers to the success of ICJVs hosted in developing countries by examining the Ghanaian case.

This study builds on a previous study that identified 37 barriers factors to ICJVs success via a systematic literature review. Through expert interviews, 34 potential barriers were identified, and a two-round survey was conducted with 84 ICJVs practitioners in Ghana. The data collected was analyzed using the combination of a multidimensional fuzzy logic method and confirmatory factor analysis.

Results showed that 22 barriers were critical. The top five most critical barriers were “lack of preparedness to accept company philosophy,” “competing objectives,” “opportunistic behavior of parties,” “conflicts” and “lack of management control.” Furthermore, the results uncovered and confirmed five significant underlying components for the 22 critical barriers, namely, organizational-related, cultural-related, knowledge-related, individual-related and logistics-related barriers.

The findings could be useful to ICJVs practitioners and policymakers in developing suitable strategies for the successful implementation of ICJVs. Further, foreign firms aiming to execute and promote ICJVs in Ghana could have prior knowledge of the critical barriers and prepare for them.

This study empirically analyzed the individual levels of barriers criticalities in ICJVs context and from a specific-country perspective – the developing country of Ghana – rather than in the context of construction joint ventures and from a cross-country perspective in extant studies.

The study aims to identify, analyse and develop a model for measuring the inter-relationship and interaction among the inter-partner factors. International joint ventures (IJVs) literature has scantly studied the interactions and inter-relationships among the inter-partner factors of IJVs performance. To address this gap, this research creates a hierarchical relationship framework among the inter-partner factors of IJVs performance.

The comprehensive literature review is used to identify the factors and possible relationships between the factors and IJVs performance. M-TISM (modified total interpretive structural modelling) methodology is used to examine the relationship among the factors of IJVs performance.

This study highlights 12 inter-partner factors that affect IJVs performance. The results suggest that size asymmetry, commitment, goal incongruency, competitive overlap, trust, control, the interdependency of resources, cooperation, economic distance, cultural distance, geographical distance and administrative distance significantly impact IJVs performance. Commitment is found to be a linkage variable as it has high dependence and driving power. Goal incongruency and competitive overlap have high driving power.

This study gives a proposed list of critical inter-partner factors for policymakers and practitioners to consider when developing rules or recommendations to improve IJVs performance. The focus of policymakers should be on economic and geographical distance, followed by cultural distance, competitive overlap, goal incongruency, size asymmetry and administrative distance to improve inter-relationship among the partners in IJVs. The work contributes to the academician by presenting a modified TISM model that highlights the significance of ambidexterity in driving the performance of IJVs.

This study fills a gap in the literature by analysing the interactions among the inter-partner parameters that influence the performance of IJVs. It offers insights into the variables, such as driver dependence and the relationships between the variables.

Legal remedies are incorporated into international construction joint ventures (ICJVs) to mitigate contractual breaches. The effectiveness of remedies is predicated on two conditions; the comprehensiveness of the contract and its enforceability within the jurisdiction of interpretation. Relational-related weaknesses contribute to contracting parties placing a premium on the contract's capacity for mediating the relationship. However, contracts are not always enforceable. This study aims to examine means by which joint venture relational governance can be maintained under conditions of minimal legal recourse.

A relational contracting (RC) theory was used as the theoretical underpinning of the paper. Data were collected and analyzed following a multiple-case study approach from case projects in which ICJVs' was used.

The findings reveal (1) 17 relational and contractual governance problems; the main six being contractual flexibility, contractual joint venture system, contract reviewing, project conflict, national culture and leader–follower transgressions; (2) relational and contractual governance problems are managed differently, depending on financing sources and partners' national culture; and (3) that a developed RC-based framework comprising four stages is able to facilitate relational and contractual governance in ICJVs.

This study is novel in providing a guided approach to developing non-legal remedies for the mitigation of contractual breaches in ICJVs, grounded in theory and contextualized for the construction sector.

While previous studies have focused on identifying management control (MC) mechanisms in international construction joint ventures (ICJVs), the impacts of such MC mechanisms on the performance of ICJVs remain largely unknown. This study aims to investigate the impacts of MC mechanisms on the performance of ICJVs hosted in the developing country of Ghana.

Through a comprehensive review of the literature, a theoretical model was developed, and data were collected through a questionnaire survey with 190 project managers composed of Ghanaians/locals and their foreign partners of ICJVs. The data were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling.

Results showed that both personnel and support and training control mechanisms have a positive and significant impact on project and company/partner performance. Surprisingly, insignificant and negative impacts exist between both mechanisms and socioenvironmental and company/partner performance from the local partners' view, respectively; the reverse is rather true from the foreign partners' perspective.

This study contributes to the ICJV body of knowledge by analyzing the impacts of MC mechanisms on the ICJVs’ performance, enabling ICJVs frontliners (i.e. top managers) and project managers to better enhance their control structures and the ICJVs’ performance.

This is arguably the first study to take the bipartite perspective rather than the unilateral view of studying the impacts of MC mechanisms on the performance of ICJVs.

Here we consider the various ways in which airlines integrate their business activities. The thin markets, long distances, poor infrastructure, and challenging terrain over which many airlines based in developing countries operate can make it difficult to reap the economies of scale, scope, and density that carriers in more developed nations enjoy. There also remain institutional barriers to cross border trade in airline services. As a response to this, airlines from developing regions “cooperate” in a number of ways. This may involve multinational ownership, code sharing, or joint ventures. The rationale for these actions, together with discussion of the outcomes of some of them, is considered here.

Even the greatest developed countries have capitulated to the destructions imposed on the global supply systems, as the COVID-19 pandemic has revealed. The purpose of this study is to explore human resource sourcing strategies for managing supply chain performance during the COVID-19 outbreak. There are six human resource sourcing strategies such as outsourcing, near sourcing, integration, the requirement of suppliers, joint ventures and virtual enterprise that are considered to measure supply chain performance.

Based on collecting data from the potential respondents of Indian manufacturing companies, the elevation of human resource sourcing strategies to supply chain performance is measured considering the multiple regression analysis techniques.

The results of the study revealed that four of the six hypotheses have a significant and positive relationship with supply chain performance during the COVID-19 outbreak while two hypotheses are partially supported that lent good support to this study.

In this critical situation, this study will enable managers and practitioners to support the business in giving customers the best services on time.

The novelty of this study is to identify the key human resource sourcing strategies by using multiple regression analysis methods, considering the case of Indian manufacturing companies to measure their supply chain performance during the COVID-19 outbreak era.