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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.

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 focus of human resource management has shifted from traditional topics to concepts such as globalization and international strategy. Management styles of Chinese‐Japanese and Chinese‐foreign joint ventures have been important areas of HRM research. Modern Chinese HRM practices and thinking are rooted in the cultural traditions of the country. Japanese cultural and geographical history has affected its business practices. Discusses Chinese and Japanese cultural characteristics in relation to business management and reviews the research literature. Presents the research study of Chinese‐Japanese joint venture management on which other articles by the same authors are based.

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.