International Joint Venture Strategy

Globalization has become a fashionable buzzword to signify the changes in the way life manifests for the human polity in an increasingly network-based, global society. Although globalization is one method of social discourse of the contemporary world it is sometimes an emotional discourse that has not yet developed scientific legitimacy. Globalization encompasses an interdisciplinary approach to studying the broad spectrum of cultural, economic, and political realities that exist today. Hence, globalization is a historical process with a set of social rationales that transforms the present social condition into a uniform global community with a single, relatively uniform, culture (Barger, 2007). International joint ventures and other strategic alliances between companies are furthering this effort.

Many definitions of "culture" can be identified. A few of the more common definitions of the term as it is used by social scientists and others include:

2: the act of developing the intellectual and moral faculties especially by education

3: expert care and training

4 a: enlightenment and excellence of taste acquired by intellectual and aesthetic training b: acquaintance with and taste in fine arts, humanities, and broad aspects of science as distinguished from vocational and technical skills

5 a: the integrated pattern of human knowledge, belief, and behavior that depend

pon joint ventures entered into by MNEs (most of which are located in "First World" or developed, industrialized and technologically advanced countries) and their partners (many of whom are located in Third World or less developed/developing countries) are issues related to political culture and the conflict between Western culture and that of the host countries in IJVs With the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War, Clapham (2002) suggests that many of the struggling states of what is variously known as the South or the Third World found themselves adrift, lacking in external sources of aid and support that bolstered their economies and strengthened the authority of their governments. A major goal of both the United States and its Western allies and the Soviet Union during the Cold War was to use economic, military, and political aid to gain friends among the developing countries who were struggling to adjust to independence from their former colonial overlords. Unfortunately, as both Clapham (2002) and Moore (2001) note, many of these new sovereign states lacked the political infrastructure and governmental systems that are needed for the transition to independence and stability. Moore (2001) specifi

Category: Business - I