Knowledge acquisition, cost savings, and strategic positioning: effects on Sino-American IJV performance

It has been argued that the establishment of international joint ventures (IJV) is driven by three broad motivational categories: knowledge acquisition, transaction costs savings, and strategic behavior. This research empirically investigated these categories in the Chinese context. This research further employs measures developed for these three motivational variables, plus three moderators of goal similarity, goal complementarity, and guanxi and examines IJV performance in the world's largest emerging economy, China. It was found that among the IJV managers in China, all three motivation variables and moderators were present, and the moderating variables significantly affect the relationship between the three predictors and the IJV performance. The implications of the findings for research and practice are discussed.