On measurement of joint ventures performance: a comparative approach

Joint venture performance measurement is a recurrent and unsatisfactorily resolved question in the specialised literature. This paper discusses different performance approaches. We establish specific hypotheses relating objective and subjective joint venture performance measures and analyse the suitability of these measures. The proposed hypotheses have been tested on a sample of 83 Spanish exporting joint ventures. This study contributes to the research on joint venture performance in three distinct ways. Firstly, it provides evidence that subjective (partner goal achievement) and objective (duration and survival) indicators are not substitutable measures; more specifically, these measures are related positively in a cause-and-effect relationship. Secondly, the findings of the paper suggest that the different subjective indicators used in the literature actually measure different phenomena and, consequently, are affected in different ways by variables used as determinants of the joint venture performance. Thirdly, the findings also suggest that partners cannot use subjective assessment of the joint venture performance by joint venture management to substitute the assessment of performance.