The Impact of European Union and Middle East Partnership: Agreements on Developing the Level of Environmentalism in Jordan

A great many Japanese companies have established business operations in China since the 1980s, and particularly since 1992. According to several surveys, however, the performance of these enterprises is not satisfactory. After a brief review of the above points, this chapter will focus on joint ventures and examine the relationship between performance, control and trust. It will conduct an empirical study on the control pattern employed by Japanese headquarters for joint ventures in China and its relationship to the achievement of joint-venture objectives, using 14 joint-venture decision-making categories: profit disposal, upper management positioning, strategic priority setting, product pricing, training and development policies, reward and incentive policies, financial control, reinvestment policy, purchasing policies, production planning, sales and distribution, technology innovation, quality control, and recruitment policies. The effect of mutual trust on performance will also be examined. Data were collected from a questionnaire survey conducted in February/March 2001 that involved 215 respondents from 1,015 Japanese companies with joint ventures in the manufacturing industry in China.1 Japanese firms have established a vast number of businesses in China since the introduction of the open-door policy in 1979 that allowed FDI. Three investment booms involving Japanese firms in China (see Table 9.1) have occurred up to now.