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Joint ventures in property development can bring considerable benefits to the parties. For example, in a joint venture involving a local authority the authority will be able to play a positive role in urban regeneration while the developer will gain credibility and hopefully obtain a smoother planning process. Examines the strengths and weaknesses of the three classic joint venture arrangements: joint venture companies; partnerships; and “contractual” joint ventures.

Seeks to examine important characteristics that go hand‐in‐hand with successful public‐private partnerships.

A grounded theory approach is adopted involving interviews and group discussions with executives of the organisations involved. The rationale behind the reduction of the data collected was based on the commonalty of the words, themes and concepts being produced by the respondents through the written and oral research data.

A descriptive model is presented which identifies five key characteristics: good communication, openness, effective planning, ethos and direction. It is argued that all contribute to the success of a joint venture.

Further research might examine other examples of public‐private partnerships since the research reported here comprises only a single case study – the major limitation of this research. While utilising the findings of this research may improve the chances of a successful venture, they cannot of their own accord guarantee success since other factors are at play.

The paper presents a valuable insight for both academics and practitioners who are keen to appreciate executives' concerns that can arise in evolving a joint venture between a public and a private sector organisation.

Social and psychological factors such as self‐responsibility and collectivist value orientation are crucial to understanding the dynamics of joint venture management. Tests the hypothesis that structural factors influence the socio‐psychological orientation of managers in terms of self‐responsibility and collectivist values which, in turn, affects the performance of companies. Discusses the findings from interviews and questionnaires with 151 top and middle managers from 72 companies. Found that top managers have a higher internally determined self‐responsibility and a stronger group adaptation value orientation than middle managers. These factors are crucial indicators of managerial performance in joint ventures. Therefore the results support the hypothesis.

The purpose of this paper is to advance knowledge in the area of international joint ventures, more specifically in China.

The analysis considers events prior to 26 April 2006, when the joint venture was announced. Organizations involved are considered as units of analysis for the current study. Using Yin's methodology for exploratory theory development, this study builds on existing theories through a case study that explores the execution of international joint ventures. This study analyzes holistic data in relation to Hypor Canada, Sichuan South Hope Company Ltd, and Shangdong Liu He Group Ltd.

The findings suggest that strategic intents and resources need to be aligned between parties involved, and that foreign‐based North American firms should cultivate both the structural and social dimensions of a relationship with a Chinese‐based company.

The sample was limited to one case in swine genetics. The findings of this research may only be fully applicable for explaining joint venture operations in this particular area.

The Hypor and New Hope agreement shows that a project needs to address both structural and social dimensions at once. Managers and marketers need to be aware of this and to consider both dimensions when assessing situations that may lead to a new joint venture.

For various reasons, many joint ventures between North American and Chinese companies fail. On 26 April 2006, however, Hypor Canada, a leader in swine genetics headquartered in Regina, Saskatchewan, signed what would prove to be a successful joint venture with China‐based New Hope (Sichuan South Hope Company Ltd). The agreements with Sichuan South Hope Company Ltd (New Hope) and Shandong Liu He Group Company Ltd (Liu He) were at the production and distribution of breeding pigs in China.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse a series of engineering services partnerships to better understand requisites needed in building high value co-creation alliances – especially where innovation is the strategic goal.

Using a combination of quantitative surveys, qualitative “deep-dive” assessments and a small number of in-situ mini-case investigations this research sets out to analyse 99 joint-venture innovation partnerships. These ventures represent a variety of asymmetric and symmetric alliances within the engineering services sector. Particular emphasis is given to those where the prerequisites for co-creative innovation are either in place or could be built.

Partnering and progressing innovative ideas are important behaviours for organisations seeking higher levels of commercial success and competitive advantage. Navigating the partnering dynamic can also be harder than expected, potentially hindered by misunderstandings and differing expectations between enterprises. Particularly for symmetric endeavours, success often hinges upon not only having clarity in the degree of innovation sought but also alignment as to the depth and stage of the partnering dynamic itself. However, when such collaboration works customer satisfaction and associated contract retention can increase significantly.

Most inter-company innovation projects historically seem to occur where one firm is significantly larger than the other. In contrast, this study highlights issues encountered when innovation co-creation projects are undertaken by a mature (as opposed to maturing) organisation in collaboration with partners where the power balance is similar between the two enterprises. In such cases, customer satisfaction surveys can be useful tools for objectively navigating the innovation co-creation experience.

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.

This paper aims to examine a strategic alliance between a large shipper and a freight forwarder to provide an intermodal service to and from the port of Gothenburg. The supply chain literature discusses various models of supply chain collaboration and integration. When applied to logistics, each has been shown to exhibit different levels of success depending on particular factors.

The methodology is a single in-depth case paper based on action research, interviews and document analysis.

According to this innovative model, a new entity is not set up but an open-book basis is established, long-term contracts with other parties are signed, risks and profits are shared and the shipper makes several investments specific to the service. Thus, the benefits of a joint venture are obtained without needing to establish a new organisation, thereby sacrificing flexibility and independence.

A limitation of this study is that it is based on a single case of best practice; it may be difficult to replicate the high levels of trust in other situations. Nevertheless, the evident success of this “virtual joint venture” suggests that some elements are transferable to other cases, and the model may be refined through additional case analysis.

Results indicate several advantages of this “virtual joint venture” model, including risk sharing, knowledge development, long-term service stability and diversification of activities, which all contribute to facilitating the shift of a large customer from road haulage to intermodal transport. Potential challenges mainly relate to contractual complexity.

This paper identifies an innovative business model for logistics integration that can be used in future in other cases to make modal shift more attractive and successful, which is a key aim of government policy in many countries.

Public–private joint ventures (PPJVs) have a stronger partnership element than standard public–private partnerships (PPPs) but PPJVs are under-researched despite this important partnership element. This article derives knowledge of incentives and barriers to goal alignment in healthcare PPJVs.

An in-depth case study of the UK’s Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) model including three PPJVs and 34 individual projects was conducted.

The main economic incentives are future opportunities creating a strong shadow of the future. This is supplemented by social incentives such as the ability to have a social impact. Enlarging the shadow of the future can encourage both parties to think long-term, avoiding short-term opportunism.

PPJV is a promising model for partnership. However, complexity through fragmented public sector partners and the financial structure can create barriers for goal alignment.

This study challenges earlier research studies based on PPJV by providing evidence that the long-term nature of PPJV, especially the potential of new projects, enables the public sector to get more engagement from the private sector.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the accounting and governance of public private partnerships (PPPs) that are structured as joint venture partnerships. Drawing on Giddens’ structuration theory, the paper examines how human agents interact with these joint venture structures and analyses the effects on financial disclosures and public accountability for taxpayers’ investments.

The authors adopt a cross-case analysis to investigate two such PPP schemes, which form part of the UK’s programme of investment in primary healthcare, known as the Local Improvement Finance Trust (LIFT) policy. The authors employ a combination of interviews and analysis of financial statements and publicly available official documents.

The corporate structure of these LIFT schemes is very complicated so that the financial accounting is opaque. The implication is that the joint venture mechanism cannot be relied upon to deliver transparency of reporting. The paper argues that the LIFT structures are deliberately constructed by human agents to act as barriers to transparency about public expenditure.

The financial reporting undermines public accountability and transparency as both are necessarily restricted. Policy makers should pay attention to not only the private sector technologies but also the manner in which structures are used to reduce transparency and consequently undermine public accountability.

The paper provides detailed analysis from the perspective of structuration theory to show how human agents use structures to impact on financial reporting and public accountability.