Factors influencing international joint ventures’ performance an investigation into the telecommunication industry in laos (sum)

Factors influencing IJVs’ Performance in Telecommunication Industry in Laos Many scholars and practitioners have conducted research about what factors affecting the performance of IJVs

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION

LAOS NATIONAL UNIVERSITY

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING NATIONAL ECONOMICS UNIVERSITY

Thansamay KOMMASITH

FACTORS INFLUENCING INTERNATIONAL JOINT VENTURES’

PERFORMANCE: AN INVESTIGATION INTO THE

TELECOMMUNICATON INDUSTRY IN LAOS

(Business Administration) Code: 62.34.01.02

A dissertation summary submitted to the National Economics University

in fulfillment of requirements for the degree of

Doctor of Philosophy in Economics

Hanoi, 2014

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Research Motivation

Lao People Democratic Republic (Lao PDR) is a developing country that is located in the central part of the Indochina peninsula The telecommunication industry plays a significant role in the national economic development of Laos In 2008, the telecommunications sector accounted for approximately 1.6 percent of the total GDP and is considered one of the fastest growing sectors in Laos

There are some communication policy studies undertaken by scholars and media and political organization, but research on International Joint Ventures (IJVs) in Telecommunication industry in Laos has been limited Especially, it seems that very modest attention has been given to investigate IJVs’ performance and factors influencing it in the industry in Laos Thus, these issues are the focus of this dissertation

Factors influencing IJVs’ Performance in Telecommunication Industry

in Laos

Many scholars and practitioners have conducted research about what factors affecting the performance of IJVs However, their research has mainly conducted in the context of the developed countries (Ren et al., 2009) Many previous studies (e.g., Hoang & Rothaermel, 2005; Isobe, Makino, & Montgomery, 2000; Luo, 2001; and Tong et al., 2008) have examined IJVs performance, which enhanced human beings’ knowledge about this attractive topic However, the conceptualization of IJV performance and factors influencing it remains an often-debated issue in IJV research (Reus & Ritchie, 2004)

In recent years, more research attention has been given to study IJVs performance and factors influencing IJVs performance in the context of developing countries (e.g Phan & Ngo, 2009; Phan et al., 2006; Cao, 2012) but it seems that very modest research attention has been given to investigate the impact of these factors in the context of Laos, especially no

In other words, this attractive topic has not been investigated adequately in

the context of Laos, especially in the telecommunication sector

For facilitating the sustainable development and ensure the success

of IJVs in the important fields like the telecommunication industry in Laos,

it is very essential to have better understanding of the current status of the

IJVs’ performance and investigate the determinants of the IJVs’ success or

failure

Research objectives and questions

While focusing on the main objective of investigating the impact of

several factors on performance of the IJVs in telecommunication industry

in Laos, this study aims to answer the following questions:

1 What is the overall picture of business performance of IJVs in

Lao’s telecommunication industry regarding different aspects of

performance based on the theoretical framework?

2 What are the key factors influencing the performance of the

IJVs in the telecommunication industry in Laos and what are the impacts of

these factors on the IJVs’ performance?

In terms of the research scope, the data collected for this study

mainly from the three IJVs in the telecommunication industry in Laos.In

terms of timing, the collected data mainly cover recent three years (from

2010 to date) The analyses focus on several aspects of IJV’s performance

and the factors influencing it The primary data mainly focus on the

perspective from Lao’s partners in the IJVs

1.2 Theoretical background

This study employs the theoretical background regarding IJVs

performance and factors influencing their performance (e.g., Cao, 2012,

Ren et al., 2009, Bener & Glaister, 2010) On the basis of literature review,

performance of IJVs has been assessed through some measurement

variables, such as: survival, financial output, overall satisfaction,

Many previous studies have identified that IJVs performance has been influenced by many factors These factors include control of parent firms, trust, autonomy, national culture differences, corporate culture differences (Bener & Glaister, 2010; cf., Ren et al., 2009), commitment, bargaining power, justice, conflict, effectiveness of conflict resolution, cooperation, and goal compatibility (cf., Ren et al., 2009)

1.3 Research methodology

This study employed the case study method Both secondary data and primary data were collected to develop the three case studies in order

to reflect IJVs’ performance and the factors influencing their performance during the time of the research As this study mainly aims to analyze factors influencing FDI companies’ performance in the selected cases, multiple data collection methods were used to increase credibility and validity

Specific data collection methods used in this study include desk research (for collecting secondary data), observation, interviews (both face-to-face and by telephone), and survey (for collecting primary data)

1.4 Contribution of the Study

This study aims to examine several dimensions of the IJVs’ performance and to explore the impact of the key factors on the IJVs’ performance in the context of Lao’s telecommunication industry

The topic of this study is important and interesting that have attracted much attention from previous studies.This study contributes to the literature pertaining to IJVs’ performance and factors influencing them

in the context of Laos, a developing country that has received very modest research attention up to date

The findings of this study help to enrich the knowledge about this important topic by investigating simultaneously the key dimensions of IJV performance Specifically, all five performance dimensions were examined

in the context of the telecommunication industry in Laos, including

Survival and Longevity of the IJV, Financial Performance/financial output

measures, Overall Satisfaction, IJV’s Goal Achievement, and Learning

This study also explored the main factors influencing IJV performance

and empirically tested the impact of these factors in four regression

models In addition, with the case study method used in this study, multiple

data sources were employed including secondary data (i.e., data collected

from internet, company reports, etc.) and primary data sources (i.e., data

collected from observation, in-depth interviews, and survey) This method

was useful and necessary to obtain better understanding the research issues

Some managerial implications are drawn from the findings of this

study Specifically, the findings provide IJVs’ managers with knowledge

and insight that would help better understand and manage the determinants

of IJV performance, and therefore help improve performance of IJVs

This study is expected to provide some implications for policy makers

in an attempt to create a better business environment and to ensure the

favorable conditions for IJVs to achieve better performance in Laos For

the benefit of Lao’s economy and society at large, the local government

may want to work together with investors (both local and foreign partners)

to jointly develop successful IJVs

1.5 Organization of the Study

This dissertation includes five main chapters as follows

Chapter 1: Introduction

Chapter 2: Literature review and conceptual framework

Chapter 3: Research methodology

Chapter 4: Research findings

Chapter 5: Conclusions and discussion

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW AND CONCEPTUAL

FRAMEWORK

This chapter reviews the literature on IJVs’ performance and the factors influencing it In the first section of the chapter, the literature on the five common measures of IJV performance were reviewed, followed by the review of the key determinants of IJV performance Finally, the proposed conceptual framework is presented

2.1 Literature review on International Joint Ventures’ Performance

Cao (2012, p.72) noted that although the term IJV has many different meanings, the most common definition of IJV is “a separately legal business venture that involves two or more entities with differentnationalities working together to achieve mutually agreed on business objectives” (Fogler & Reichert, 2002)

IJV performance has been known as broad constructs with different dimensions Ren et al (2009) reviewed many previous studies on IJV performance and suggested five common IJV performance measures that have been employed in the literature, including Survival, Financial Output Measures, Overall Satisfaction, IJV’s goal achievement, and Learning The five main measures of IJVs performance are used in this study and are presented in details in the dissertation

Survival and Longevity: refers to the number of years that partners

have been working together in the IJV In literature, many previous studies have used Survival or Longevity as one indicator of IJV performance (e.g., Dhanaraj & Beamish, 2004; Gaur & Lu, 2007; Lu & Xu, 2006; Meschi & Riccio, 2008; Steensma & Lyles, 2000) The reason for using this indicator

of IJV performance is that the longer the IJV survives, the more successful

it is In this study, Survival or Longevity are used together with other measures to evaluate the IJVs’performance

Financial Output Measures: Among many indicators of IJVs’

performance, in the literature the researchers’ interest in employing

financial output measures such as profitability measures (e.g., ROI, ROA)

and market performance measures (e.g., market share) have been

increasing (e.g., Lu & Xu, 2006; Luo, 2002a, 2002b, 2005, 2007a, 2008;

Robins et al., 2002; Zhang et al., 2007; see Ren et al as well) In this study,

the author decided to employ both objective and subjective measures of IJV

performance

Overall Satisfaction: Many previous studies have used managers’

subjective evaluations of the IJV’s overall performance (e.g., Boateng &

Glaigster, 2002; Cao, 2012) Since overall satisfaction is a subjective

measure, some previous studies have employed also other objective

measures of performance such as financial outcomes (e.g., Cao, 2012)

Goal Achievement: Achievement of individual and/or joint goals of

an IJV has been used as a measure of the IJV performance (e.g., Phan et al.,

2006; Lyles & Salk, 1996)

Learning: Learning from partners in IJVs has received significant

attention and has been considered as an important indicator for the success

of an IJV (Phan et al., 2006; Lyles & Salk, 1996)

2.2 Literature Review on Factors Influencing IJVs’ Performance

In the literature on IJVs, investigation into factors contributing to IJV

performance have been received much interest from the scholars and

practitioners (Cao, 2012; Rod, 2009) After reviewing past research in the

field, Rod (2009) has summarized the factors that are treated as

independent variables influencing IJV’s performance, and classified them

into two main groups, each factor of which may have direct of indirect

impact on joint venture performance These factor groups refer to ‘partner

compatibility’ (e.g., organizational culture, management/leadership style,

strategic match, communication styles, trust, commitment, and propensity

to cooperate), and ‘Socio-Economic factors’ (e.g., opportunity costs, relative bargaining power, governance/control over JV, and perceived opportunism)

In the context of developed countries, it has been suggested that the success of IJVs may be a function of a number of factors Bener & Glaister (2010) suggested five main factors influencing IJV performance that have been given significant attention in the literature as determinants of joint venture performance These factors include parent control (Killing, 1983;

Lu & Hebert, 2005), JV autonomy (Hill & Hellriegel, 1994; Lyles & Reger, 1993; Newburry & Zeira, 1999; Zeira & Parker, 1995), trust between partners (Madhok, 1995), national culture differences (Brown et al., 1989; Hennart & Zeng, 2002; Shenkar & Zeira, 1992), and corporate culture differences (Pothukuchi et al., 2002; Sirmon & Lane, 2004; Weber

et al., 1996)

Besides, based on the review of 54 previous studies in IJV literature, Ren et al (2009) showed the model of 10 determinants which affect IJVs performance in almost cases of developed and developing countries Despite being investigated by numerous scholars with different approaches and models, in this study, the author is interested inexploring the impact of five main factors that have been consistently identified as being important determinants to IJV performance and they are also relevant to the context of Laos, namely Control of the IJV, Trust, Cooperation and Commitment, Culture differences, and Goal compatibility Each factor are discussed in details in the dissertation

2.3 Conceptual Framework

On the basis of literature review and suggestions from the interviews with IJVs’ managers, five measures/dimensions of IJV

performance and five factors are employed in the research model

Figure 1: A Conceptual Model for Studying Factors influencing

International Joint Ventures’ Performance

Cooperation & committment

Trust

Cultural differences

Control

Goal compatibility

IJV Performance

Survival/longevity

Financial performance

Overall satisfaction

IJV goal achievement

Learning

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The overall research objectives of this dissertation are to evaluate the current status of IJVs’ performance and to understand the factors and their impact on performance of the IJVs in the telecommunication industry in Laos In order to achieve the set objectives, the case study method was employed This research used both secondary data and primary data sources Multiple data collection methods were employed, including interviews, field observation, and survey

In this study, three cases – three IJVs are investigated This is the main source of information providing insight in Laos telecommunication industry’s IJVsperformance dimensions and the key factors influencing their performance In this research, primary data for the case studies included both qualitative and quantitative data For collecting qualitative data, observation and in-depth interviews methods were employed to explore the overall picture of the IJVs performance, especially from the IJVs managers’ perceptions In addition, several key factors that may influence the IJVs performance were explored The qualitative findings also help to confirm the theoretical framework that was tested using the survey data

Qualitative data collection

Observation

For each IJV in this study, the author visited the IJV’s office in Vientiane at least 3 to 4 times per year as business visits In addition, sometimes the author visited selling stores of the IJVs in provinces in Laos For LTC, the author attended the meetings with the IJV’s top and middle managers every 3 month For Unitel and Beeline IJVs, the meetings were less frequent During the visits and meetings, the author, based on observation, collected data including content of the observed activities and emotional reactions such as the sense of comfort, frustration, stress, or

happiness (Nguyen, 2005) The focus of the observation was on the cultural

differences between the partners, trust between the partners, and

cooperation The expression of satisfaction of each partner in the IJVs was

also observed

In- depth interviews

For the interviews, all three IJVs operating in Telecom industry in

Laos were selected for investigation The author used one-to-one

interviews, both face-to-face and telephone interview The interviews were

carried out in Laotian Total of 10 interviews from three IJVs were

conducted: 6 with LTC’s managers, 3with Unitel’s managers, and 1 with

Beeline’s manager Each interview average lasted for 30 minutesfor

face-to-face interview and lasted for 10-15 minutes for interview via phone

Survey data collection

In order to test the hypothesized relationships in the research model

we employed the survey data collected from 03 IJVs in the

telecommunication industry in Laos

Measures and questionnaire development

In the survey, the author employed the scales measuring IJV

performance and the factors influencing it These measures were adopted

and modified from past research while taking into account the suggestions

from the qualitative study

IJV performance: In addition to the question ‘How long have your

IJVs been established?’ to measure longevity/survival dimension of

performance, the scale items developed by Lyles and Salk (1996) and an

item from Cao (2012) were adopted and modified to measure ‘financial

performance’, ‘overall satisfaction’, ‘goal achievement’, and ‘learnings’

Factors influencing IJV’s performance:

• Trust: four items were adopted from Nguyen (2005);

• Cooperation and commitment: four items were developed based on suggestions from past research and the qualitative study;

• Control mechanism:four items were adapted from Cao (2012);

• Cultural differences: four items were adapted from Simonin (1999);

• Goal compatibility: two items were adapted from Ren et al (2009)

Sample

A survey was conducted in three IJVs in the telecommunication industry in Laos Total of more than 200 questionnaires were sent to top managers, middle managers and senior staff at three IJVs, and 87 completed and usable questionnaire were used for final analyses: 31 were from LTC IJV, 30 were from Beeline, and 26 were from Unitel

Data Analysis

For the survey data, in order to test the proposed relationships in the research model, several multiple regression analyses were employed Dependent variables were different dimensions of IJV performance, including financial performance, overall satisfaction, goal achievement, and learning The independent variables in all these regression analyses were the five factors that were proposed to have impact on performance Before testing the hypothesized relationships, we performed exploratory factor analyses (EFA) and assessed the internal reliability of the scales used in this study, using coefficient alpha While the focus of this study is to test the impact of several factors on IJVs’ performance, some descriptive analyses and comparisons among the three IJVs were also conducted

CHAPTER 4: RESEARCH FINDINGS

4.1 The Current Status of IJVs’ Performance in the Telecommunication

Industry in Laos

4.1.1 The Telecommunication Industry in Laos

According to report of MPT (2011), Laos has five key providers

namely: Lao Telecommunications Corporation (LTC), Enterprise of

Telecommunications Lao (LTL), Beeline (Vimpelcom), Unitel (Star Telecom)

and Sky Telecom (Laosky) BMI (2013) has projected that the performance of

Telecom sector in Laos will increase slightly until 2017

4.1.2 Performance of the IJVs in the Telecoms Industry in Laos

Currently there are five telecoms service providers in Laos, of which

there are three IJVs In the following section, performance of the IJVs are

presented following some key performance dimensions

4.1.2.1 Performance of LTC

LTC was established in 1996 as an IJV with 51% share of Laos’

governmentand 49% of Thai investor LTC is the IJV which has the longest

operation time in the telecoms industry in Laos (nearly 20 years) LTC has

been always the market leader, even in the highly competitive environment

over the recent years

In terms of market share, LTC accounted for 44.2% of the mobile

service market in 2012 In the fixed-line market, LTC has also accounted for

the largest market share over the last few years In the broadband internet

market, LTC together with ETL are the two biggest service providers

In terms of turnover/revenue, LTC achieved more than 600bn LAK in

2011, more than 700bn in 2012, and more than 800bn in 2013 The annual growth rate was more than 15% in the period 2011-2013

From the perception of LTC’s managers and senior staff, the findings from the survey show relatively high level of performance in all dimensions (i.e financial performance, overall satisfaction, goal achievement, and learning) The mean values ranged from 3.75 (for learning) to 4.35 (for goal achievement

4.1.2.2 Performance of Star Telecom (Unitel) The IJV Star Telecom or Unitel was established in 2007 with 51% share

of Laos’ governmentand 49% of Viettel Global from Vietnam Together with LTC, Unitel currently are leaders in the telecoms market in terms of revenue and the number of subscribers Unitel has more than 6 years of operation in the telecoms industry in Laos Although it is still a relatively young IJV, Unitel has obtained significant achievements over the past few years and has set a solid foothold in Laos’ telecoms market

In the mobile phone market, only 3 months after officially launching the service, Unitel achieved market share of 19%, holding the 3rd position in Laos’ market According to LTC’s data, Unitel accounted for 36.1% of the mobilephone market at the end 2012

In the fixed-line market, Unitel officially launched Unihome service in December 2009 and at first its market share was 4% However, ony 7 months later Unitel’s market share was 14%, holding the 2nd position in the market

In April 2010, Unitel also officially launched internet service in Laos and accounted for 14% of the market share, holding the 2nd position in the market (after LTC) On 15 October 2010, Unitel launched 3G service in 17/17 provinces (Nguyen, 2012)

In terms of turnover/revenue, Unitel achieved more than 400bn LAK in

2010, sharply increased to more than 800bn in 2011, and significantly

increaded to more than 1tn in 2012 and 2013 The average annual growth rate

was impressive especially in the period 2010- 2012 with great amount of net

profit (almost twice every year in this period of time)

Contrary to the data from the financial reports of Unitel, the perceptions

of Unitel’s managers and senior staff (the findings from the survey) show

relatively low level of performance in all dimensions The mean values ranged

from 3.11 (for Financial performance) to 3.92 (for Learning) The survey

findings are discussed in the discussion part of the dissertation

4.1.2.3 Performance of Beeline

In 2003, Millicom (Tigo) together with Laos’government established an

IJV with 78% of share belongs to Millicom and 22% of share belongs to

Laos’government In Septemebr 2011,VimpelCom Ltd (Beeline), a leading

telecoms service provider in Russia officially announced to buy Millicom

Laos Co., Ltd VimpleCom currently holds 78% of share and Laos’

government holds 22% of share The brand Beeline replaced the brand Tigo

Therefore, Beeline seems to be young in terms of number of operation years in

Laos market

Beeline have been facing with difficulties in the competitive market

The number of mobile service subscribers had continuously reduced through

out the year 2012 In the mobile phone sector, Beeline held 8.7% market share

in October 2011 However, one year later in 11/2012 Beeline only held 5%

market share

Regarding the performance dimension of learning, similar to the other

two cases the qualitative findings confirmed that both partners in the IJV

could learn from each other

With regard to the perceptions of managers and senior staff on the IJV’s performance on several criteria, the survey findings seem to be more positive than the real status All the mean values are a bit higher than the average score (mean values around 3.5) These findings are also discussed in the

dissertation

With regard to general evaluation of the performance of all three IJVs in Lao’s Telecommunication Industry, the survey findings showed that all performance dimensions were perceived to achieve at a bit higher than average level The mean values ranged from 3.56 for financial performance to 3.78 for goal achievement

4.2 Factors Influencing IJVs’ Performance in the Telecommunication Industry in Laos

4.2.1 Identification of Factors Influencing IJVs’Performance

In this summary of dissertation, the author mainly reports the findings from the survey of 3 IJVs in telecommunication industry in Laos

Dominant Control of the IJV

When examining the current situation of the control mechanism at the three IJVs, the survey findings showed that the control mechanism at LTC was highly evaluated (mean = 4.06), followed by Unitel (mean = 3.43) and Beeline (mean = 3.37) ANOVA analyses provided empirical evidence for significantly more appropriate control mechanism at LTC compared with it

at Unitel and Beeline (p < 01)

Trust, Commitment and Cooperation

The survey findings showed that although the level of Trust at Unitel was relatively high (mean = 3.96, the highest score among the three IJVs) the

Cooperation and Commitment between the partners at Unitel was only at the

modest level (mean = 3.33) There may be some reasons for this fact and this

are discussed in the discussion section

At Beeline IJV, both Trust and Cooperation and Commitment were

perceived at the average levels (mean = 3.56 and 3.42, respectively) The

results of ANOVA analyses showed thatthere was no significant difference

among three IJVs regarding the levels of Trust (p > 05) However, the level

of Cooperation and Commitment at LTC was found to besignificantly

higherthan it at Beeline and Unitel (p < 05) There was no significant

difference between Unitel and Beeline in terms of level of Cooperation and

Commitment (p > 05)

Goal Compatibility

The survey findings showed that both Unitel and LTC were perveived

to have high levels of compatibility of goals (mean = 4.10 and 3.92,

respectively) Beeline was perceived to have just a bit above average score of

goal compatibility (mean = 3.45) The results of ANOVA analyses showed

that there was no significant difference between Unitel and LTC in terms of

goal compatibility (p > 05) However, both Unitel and LTC showed

significantly higher level of goal compatibility compared with Beeline’s (p <

.05)

Cultural Differences

The survey findings showed that the Cultural Differences seemed to be

no problem at LTC (mean = 2.47) For Unitel and Beeline, Cultural Distance

was perceived at average level (mean = 3.41 and 3.34, respectively) The

results of ANOVA analyses showed that Cultural Distance was significantly

larger at Unitel and Beeline compared with it at LTC (p < 01) There was no significant difference between Unitel and Beeline with regard to Cultural Distance (p > 05)

4.2.2 The Impact of Several Factors on IJVs’ Performance - Regression Findings

4.2.2.1 Measurement Properties Measures of IJV’s performance (dependent variables)

The multiple-item scales measuring different dimesions of IJV’s performance were first subjected to EFA (PCA using Varimax rotation with a criterion of eigenvalue greater than 1.0) to test the construct’ underlying dimensions and to look for a more parsimonious set of variables for subsequent analysis The reliability of each scale was assessed using Cronbach coefficient alpha The results confirmed the reliability and initial validity of

performance measures

Measures of factors influencing IJV’s performance (independent variables)

To assess the perperties of the scales measuring IDVs, the author again used Cronbach coefficient alpha and conducting EFA First, all the items measuring five factors were subjected to EFA and five factors were extracted

as expected The five-factor solution explained 75.59% of the total variance of which Factor 1 (Control Mechanism) items accounted for 20.1%, Factor 2 (Trust) items accounted for 19.4%, Factor 3 (Cooperation and Commitment) items accounted for 12.7%, Factor 4 (Cultural differences) items accounted for 12.7%, and Factor 5 (Goal Compatibility) items accounted for 10.7% All the alpha have the values ≥ 70 that confirm the reliability of the scales

4.2.2.2 Regression Results

To test the impact of the proposed factors on the IJVs’ performance, the

author ran four multiple regression models, in which dependent variables in

the four models were four dimensions of IJV performance

The results of multiple regression analysis with Financial Performance

as dependent variable showed that IJV’s performance was explained

significantly by the factors The regression model was found to be significant

(F = 15.37, p < 01), accounting for 46% of the variance in the data

Specifically, the regression results confirmed the significant impact of

Cultural Differences, Control Mechanism, and Cooperation & Commitment

on IJV’s performance: β= -.26, p < 01; β= 31, p < 05; and β = 29, p < 05,

respectively However, Goal Compatibility and Trust were not found to be

significant predictors of Financial Performance

The regression results with Overall Satisfaction as dependent variable

showed that the regression model was found to be significant (F = 5.9, p <

.01), accounting for 23% of the variance in the data Among five factors, only

Cultural Differences had significant negative impact on IJV’s performance: β=

-.41, p < 01 Other factorswere notfound to be significant realted to Overall

Satisfaction

The regression model with Goal Achievement as dependent variable

was found to be significant (F = 15.05, p < 01), accounting for 45% of the

variance in the data Three out of five factors(i.e Control Mechanism,

Cultural Differences, and Cooperation & Commitment) were found to be

significantlyrelated tothe performance dimension of Goal Achievement:

β=.50, p < 01; β= -.23, p < 05; and β = 22, p < 10, respectively

The regression model with Learnings as dependent variable was also found to be significant (F = 13.77, p < 01), accounting for 43% of the variance in the data In this model, the significant impacts of Trust, Cultural Differences, and Cooperation & Commitment on Learnings wereconfirmed: β=.49, p < 01; β= -.19, p < 05; and β = 27, p < 05, respectively The data did not support the relationships between Control Mechanism and Goal Compatibility with Learnings (p > 05)

Briefly, in all four regression models Cultural Differences consistently showed significant negative impact on IJV’s performance dimensions as expected, while Goal Compatibility was not found to be significant predictor

in all the models The significant positive impact of Cooperation & Commitment was found in three models, while the Control Mechanism showed its significant contribution in two models and Trust in only one model