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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.

Numerous biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms have undergone considerable changes and adapted to the challenge of developing sustainable products and services. However, few studies have explored the factors that contribute to the success of external innovation and value co-creation strategies adopted by biotechnology and pharmaceutical firms. The purpose of this study is to examine how biotechnology and pharmaceutical industries use value co-creation strategies to obtain external resources.

This study developed a conceptual framework based on the relevant literature. The study applied a resource-based approach, dynamic capability theory and a qualitative multiple-case study design to investigate several research questions; semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives from 11 biotechnology/pharmaceutical firms in Taiwan, and the data extracted from the interview content were axially coded.

This study revealed that factors such as dynamic marketing capabilities and process optimization contributed to the success of the aforementioned strategies; several propositions were also developed on the basis of the literature review and coded data, thereby providing insights regarding the relative efficacy and propriety of various external innovation and value co-creation strategies and models in various situations and contexts. Firms and technology providers might enter a technology licensing agreement, establish a joint venture company; participate in a merger/acquisition depending on their size, research and development capabilities; or goals and time- and cost-related factors.

The main original contributions of this study are the proposed conceptual framework and the insights provided regarding the relative efficacy and propriety of different external innovation and value co-creation strategies and models in different situations and contexts.

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.

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.

The purpose of this study is to show how strategic planning can play multiple roles in the context of conflict between two controlling shareholders in a new joint venture.

This study conducted a five-year qualitative case study of a large financial services joint venture co-owned by a Latin American state bank and a European financial company.

The authors found that over time, budgeting and strategic planning had intertwining use to guide strategic decisions, but unexpectedly, strategic planning eventually developed three distinct roles beyond the merely functional, as it also contributed to complex symbolic and political functions.

This study provides guidance on considering different roles taken by strategic planning, as a utilitarian practice, as a symbolic narrative and as a conflict-mediating routine.

This study aims to investigate a mediation model in which generative learning positively affects marketing innovation and both organizational control and relationship openness mediate the relationship between learning intent and generative learning of international joint ventures (IJVs) in emerging markets. We also decipher the degree of necessity of these factors for generative learning and of generative learning for marketing innovation.

A sample of 181 marketing managers of IJVs in Vietnam, an emerging market, was surveyed to collect data. Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was employed to test the net effect, and necessary condition analysis (NCA) was used to decipher the degree of necessity.

The PLS-SEM results demonstrate that the effect of learning intent on generative learning is fully mediated by organizational control and relationship openness, which in turn leads to marketing innovation. The NCA findings reveal that all three factors, namely learning intent, organizational control and relationship openness, serve as necessary conditions for generative learning. However, generative learning does not play the role of a necessary condition for marketing innovation.

The study findings suggest that IJVs in emerging markets should pay attention not only to the net effects of those factors but also to their degrees of necessity for generative learning in order to achieve marketing innovation.

The study contributes to the literature by confirming the mediating roles of organizational control and relationship openness in the relationship between learning intent and generative learning. Furthermore, it is among the first to decipher the degrees of necessity of these factors for generative learning and of generative learning for the marketing innovation of IJVs in emerging markets.

This paper aims to explore the significance of resource sharing in business to capture new market opportunities and securing competitive advantages. Firms enter strategic alliances (SAs), especially for designing new products and to overcome challenges in today’s fast changing environment. Research projects have dealt with the creation of SAs, however without concrete referencing the impact on selected supply chain resources. Furthermore, academia rather focused on elaborating the advantages and disadvantages of SAs and how this affects structural changes in the organization than examining the effects on supply chain complexity and performance.

The authors collected and triangulated a multi-industry data set containing primary data coming from more than 200 experts in the field of supply chain management along and secondary data coming from Refinitiv’s joint ventures (JVs) and SA database and IR solutions’ database for annual reports. The data is evaluated in three empirical settings using binomial testing and structural equation modeling.

The results show that nonequity SAs and JVs have varying degrees of impact on supply chain resources due to differences in the scope of the partnership. This has a negative impact on the complexity of the supply chain, with the creation of a JV leading to greater complexity than the creation of a nonequity SA. Furthermore, the findings prove that complexity negatively impacts overall supply chain performance. In addition, this study elaborates that increased management capabilities are needed to exploit the potentials of SAs and sheds light on hurdles that must be overcome within the supply network when forming a partnership. Finally, the authors give practical implications on how organizations can cope with increasing complexity to lower the risk of poor supply chain performance.

This study investigates occurring challenges when establishing nonequity SAs or JVs and how this affects their supply chain by examining supply networks in terms of complexity and performance.

This study aims to explore the effects of responsible international investment in a least developed country (LDC) on ethics and corruption in the local industry. While investment growth in least developed countries (LDCs) is essential to meet the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, international investment in LDCs poses challenges, including corruption. The authors explore perspectives from relevant stakeholders on the influence, if any, on an LDC’s banking sector, of investment in the LDC by a multinational bank with an environmental, social and governance focus – using a case study of Standard Chartered Bank (SCB) in Nepal.

The authors conducted thematic analysis on: focus groups with current and former SCB Nepal management; semi-structured interviews with Nepal banking regulator representatives; senior staff from SCB global divisions; and management of other commercial banks in Nepal.

Knowledge transfer, organisational enablers and constructive international competition contributed to the dissemination of best practices within the Nepal banking sector, supporting the notion of beneficial spill-over effects of multinationals on LDC host countries.

Practical insights will aid LDC governments, international businesses, investment funds and donor organisations seeking to invest in/assist LDCs with economic development.

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this may be the first case study on ethics and anti-corruption practices of a multinational bank in a LDC. Through a practice-driven focus, the authors provide “on-the-ground” insights to better understand the complex nature of corruption.

Joint ventures (JVs) serve as a viable tool in mitigating some of the challenges posed to the effective delivery of construction projects. However, JVs are highly susceptible to failure in most developing countries. Therefore, this study seeks to unravel the critical factors influencing the failure of JVs in the South African construction industry.

A quantitative approach was adopted for the study using a well-structured questionnaire as the instrument for data collection. Respondents for the study were built environment professionals in Gauteng province in South Africa. Data elicited from respondents were analyzed using a four-pronged process which included descriptive statistics, one sample t-test, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis.

Resulting from the analysis conducted, four critical components emerged as the major factors influencing the failure of JVs in the South African construction industry, which are inefficient financial framework, divergent organizational culture, poor project governance and inadequacies from project stakeholders.

The outcome of this study presents a roadmap for stakeholders in the construction industry with the requisite knowledge of the critical factors leading to the failure of JVs, consequently providing a clear path for the successful delivery of JV mandates.

Evidence from literature suggests that several studies have been conducted on the various aspects of JVs in the South African construction industry; however, none has focused on the leading factors attributed to the failure of JVs. Also, the findings of this study cultivate a good theoretical platform for future studies on JVs.