Rumy Husan

Learning to manage international joint ventures

This paper identifies the key lessons of managing international joint ventures (IJVs) from the perspectives of IJV experienced partners and managers. The study adopts a multi-method personal interview and self-administered questionnaire approach to identify the major management lessons. Broadly, the response categories are grouped into three distinct areas of learning: (1) the management of the IJV formation process; (2) management of the boundary relationship between partners; and (3) the management of the operation of the IJV. The paper elucidates the lessons regarding these three areas of IJV management and provides a set of propositions for future research.

International joint ventures: an examination of the core dimensions

Increasingly, competitive advantage depends both on a firms capabilities and its collaborative relationships with other firms, with inter-firm collaboration having a significant effect on practising managers. This article examines the core dimensions of international joint ventures (IJVs) which are identified as: strategic motives for IJV formation, partner selection criteria, management control and IJV performance. The findings are based on personal interviews and self-administered questionnaires. Data was obtained from senior managers in all the elements of the IJV: UK parent, European parent and IJV management. Each data source supports the findings of the other, providing confidence in the reliability of the evidence reported.

The continuing importance of economies of scale in the automotive industry

The considerable attention given to flexible methods of production and work organization as a fundamental determinant of achieving international levels of competitiveness in the manufacturing industry (and of late, in service industries also) in the wake of Japanese dominance over the past two decades has, as a corollary, seen a tendency to neglect the importance of economies of scale (EOS). Despite the indubitable importance of flexibility, argues that EOS remain an essential determinant for cost‐efficient production, and that without sufficient EOS, high levels of flexibility cannot alone translate into world competitive production. Summarizes the reasons for the continued importance of EOS, and provides a discussion on the levels of EOS (in particular, “minimum efficient scale”) that are necessary for efficient automotive manufacturing. It is assumed that EOS are optimal only when a plant is operating at high capacity utilization levels, and that where this is not the case penalties are severe.

WHETHER BY VISIBLE OR INVISIBLE HAND: THE INTRACTABLE PROBLEM OF RUSSIAN AND EAST EUROPEAN CATCH UP

Can a strong convergence process be set in motion which will give hope that transition countries begin to catch up with the Western world? The collapse of Soviet control in Eastern Europe in 1989, and the subsequent disintegration of the Soviet Union in 1991, led everywhere to a re-evaluation of the past and a more optimistic appreciation of the pre-1945 potential of this part of the European economy. Specifically, what has been suggested is that before 1945 the countries of Central and Eastern Europe were already well into the process of modern economic growth and towards convergence with the advanced West, and that the subsequent imposition of centralised planning did long term harm to the regions prospects. Envious comparisons have been made with near neighbours such as Austria or more distant examples such as Spain and Italy. This historical revisionism has been used to support the view that, once they were freed from state control in the 1990s, these new market economies would have bright prospects. Nowhere, however, have these high hopes been borne out. This paper argues that a precondition for the explanation of this failure has to be a recognition that this optimistic view of the past is false, and that these economies have been and continue to be the victims of much longer run inequalities in the world economy.