Same bed, different dreams: working relationships in Sino--American joint ventures

Despite the fact that tens of thousands of international joint ventures, involving billions of dollars of foreign investment, have been established in China since the reform movement began in 1979, little is known about how the local and foreign managers view each other and work together in these ventures. This omission is particularly glaring since so much of the prescriptive advice for doing business in China asserts that a trusting and cooperative relationship is a key to success. We interviewed a variety of managers in established Sino--American joint ventures to shed light on how these managers understand their relationships. The results are somewhat disconcerting. The views that the American and Chinese managers have of each other are not particularly positive. We chronicle these views and then discuss how these results can both set the stage for subsequent research and also serve as a stimulus for managers in China today to examine their relationships and perhaps intervene to improve them.