Joint Venture Partners Research Articles

Timor-Leste

Timor-Leste Michael Leach (bio) On 30 August 2019, Timor-Leste hosted a major celebration of the twentieth anniversary of the 1999 popular consultation that saw it secure its independence from Indonesia. This significant date was also chosen for the exchange of notes between the East Timorese and Australian prime ministers, bringing the 2018 Australia–Timor-Leste maritime boundary treaty into effect. Meanwhile, Timor-Leste’s first experience of semi-presidential “cohabitation” saw the political impasse over the president’s refusal to appoint ministers continue throughout the year. The year 2018 had ended with a presidential veto of changes to the Law on Petroleum Activities, which was designed to lift the legislated 20 percent limit on state ownership and allow the East Timorese government to become a major joint venture partner. President “Lu Olo” Guterres—a senior figure of the opposition Revolutionary Front for an Independent East Timor (fretilin) party—expressed concerns over the financial sustainability of the nation’s now us$17.7 billion petroleum fund (La‘o Hamutuk 2020b). For their part, some local nongovernmental organizations argued that changes to the law were actually aimed at preventing Timor-Leste’s Audit Court from reviewing large contracts—an accusation the government denied (La‘o Hamutuk 2018). Parliament successfully reversed the presidential veto on 10 January 2019, as the fretilin opposition staged a parliamentary walkout, allowing the government a rare opportunity to assemble the two-thirds supermajority required to reverse the veto. President Guterres then vetoed the 2019 budget on 23 January, arguing that it was gravely unsustainable and drew too heavily on the principal reserves of Timor-Leste’s sovereign wealth fund. This action placed the Greater Sunrise joint-venture payment in jeopardy, as the fretilin opposition has twenty-three seats— enough in normal circumstances to deny the government a parliamentary reversal of the veto. However, this tension was soon resolved on 31 January, when Parliament revised the 2019 budget to us$1.4 billion by removing the us$650 million joint-venture payment. The government was confident it could use the petroleum fund itself as the source of the payment, having altered the fund’s investment rules in the Law of Petroleum Activities amendments. Though opposition members of Parliament referred the legislation to the Court of Appeal, the changes were soon found to be constitutional, and the us$650 million was paid to Conoco Philips and Shell on 16 April (La‘o Hamutuk 2018–2020), making the government of Timor-Leste a 56 percent stakeholder in the Greater Sunrise joint venture. The revised 2019 budget was promulgated by the president on 7 February 2019, to the relief of business groups concerned about the economic impact of a possible return [End Page 605] to the reserve “duodecimal” budget system, which issues monthly installments of one-twelfth of the previous year’s budget and was widely blamed for economic contraction in 2017 and 2018. This particular fear would recur eleven months later as the year turned to 2020. Wider problems beset the Alliance for Change and Progress (amp) government throughout 2019 and came to a head spectacularly early in 2020. These tensions started in mid-2018, with President Lu Olo’s refusal to install nine ministerial nominees from the largest party in the alliance, the National Congress of the Timorese Reconstruction (cnrt), citing judicial inquiries into misconduct or “poor moral standing” (Leach 2018). The president’s stance produced a political standoff that persisted throughout 2019 and was in its eighteenth month as the year closed. This resulted in an executive government dominated by ministers from the two smaller amp parties, Popular Liberation Party (plp) and Kmanek Haburas Unidade Nacional Timor Oan (khunto), despite cnrt being the largest party of the parliamentary coalition. cnrt was frustrated by its lack of access to ministries and had not been satisfied that Prime Minister Taur Matan Ruak—the leader of plp—had adequately pursued this issue with the president. The disjunction between cnrt’s dominance of the parliamentary alliance and its limited presence in executive government was made worse by other tensions internal to amp itself: most notably the general absence from government decision-making of cnrt chairman and former independence movement leader Xanana...

The Optimal Decisions for Formation International Joint Ventures under Uncertainty

This paper develops a model in which the two parties to an international joint venture (IJV) determine the optimal cost ratio and profit share and exercise the jointly held option to enter into an IJV in uncertain situations. In our setting, the two partners make their decisions sequentially under a two-stage Stackelberg game framework, where the risk-neutral multinational company as the leader first designs the cost and equity allocation, and then the risk-averse local firm follows by choosing the optimal timing at which to exercise the joint venture option. The Stackelberg equilibrium solutions to the model are obtained by using a mix of game theory and real options. The results of the numerical analysis show that despite the multinational company's dominant position in the IJV, its equity share is not always higher than that of the local company and is closely related to the expected growth rate, risk aversion level and market volatility. The cost ratio of the foreign partner will increase correspondingly with its equity ratio unless it faces much more uncertainty in the environment. In addition, an increase in risk aversion leads to the local company sharing a higher proportion of the equity and costs of the joint venture partnership. The findings of the study can provide scientific guidance and suggestions on the transnational joint venture for overseas investment, especially in the “One Belt and One Road” initiative.

Software System Enables Effective Flow-Assurance Management

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 191951, “A Smart Software System for Flow-Assurance Management,” by Akanksha Jain, SPE, Nilay Patel, SPE, Paul Hammonds, and Shirish Pandey, Cairn Oil and Gas, prepared for the 2018 SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Brisbane, Australia, 23–25 October. The paper has not been peer reviewed. Access to real-time production and injection data is of great benefit to the production optimization engineer. This paper describes a smart management system used for retrieving and evaluating all flow-assurance-related data for more than 700 of the operator’s onshore and offshore wells. The paper discusses system architecture, interface details, design, functionality, visualization, application, and benefits. Introduction Cairn Oil and Gas is the operator of three major blocks currently producing in India: Block RJ-ON-90/1 (Rajas-than), CB/OS-2 (Cambay Basin), and PKGM-1 (Ravva) constituting more than 700 wells, operated on behalf of its joint venture partners. These wells are either self-flowing or use a variety of•• artificial-lift systems. Waterflooding provides pressure maintenance in most fields. Injectivity of water injectors is, therefore, critical in maintaining levels of water injection required to achieve the stipulated recovery factor. Formation fluids have physical and chemical properties that have posed several flow-assurance challenges over time with regard to outflow performance and processing in surface facilities. These flow-assurance issues include inorganic scaling, organic scaling, corrosion, sand production, injectivity decline, and injector conformance, all of which can affect productivity and injectivity of the fields and thus lead to relatively inefficient waterflood. The Challenge Various software products are currently in use for management of operations requiring production- and injection-enhancement treatments in different fields. To ensure that wells are operating optimally, an integrated approach combining robust monitoring and data analysis of parameters affecting well performance is ideal. This was previously achieved through the cumbersome process of data retrieval from different sources, which was then compiled in different Excel spreadsheets. This time-consuming process delayed analysis and permitted errors in data input. As the importance of improving the quality of data management and analysis became clear, the need arose for automation of flow-assurance management across all assets. The platform described in this paper was intended to help design, evaluate, and monitor all chemical-intervention jobs, and monitor corrosion levels and scale-inhibitor squeeze performance by incorporating data from various sources within the production system. The analysis of the data enabled by this fully automated Web-based software helps in the execution of cost-effective treatments and well-production optimization. The same software system is also being used for well-integrity management for•all assets.

What farmer types are most likely to adopt joint venture farm business structures?

Joint venture (JV) farm structures have the potential to increase the productivity and profitability of traditional family farms. However, such structures are not widely adopted within the farm business community. Furthermore, knowledge on the relative attractiveness of different JV models to farmers is limited. We use a choice experiment to explore what JV structures are preferred by Australian farmers, and how farmers’ socio‐demographic and attitudinal characteristics influence the type of JV structure preferred. A latent class analysis revealed significant unobserved preference heterogeneity amongst the population. We identify four latent classes that differ in their preferences regarding the number of JV partners, access to new machinery, and/or the opportunity for additional annual leave. All classes of farmers displayed positive preferences for operational decision‐making with other JV partners, although they varied in their preferences towards final operational responsibility. The diversity in preferences shows that there is no ‘one size fits all’ JV design, leaving opportunities for a range of JV decision models. Such flexibility in JV design is likely to have advantages when seeking JV partners, with a significant proportion of the sampled population open to collaborative decision‐making models.

A Novel, Synergistic Model in Total Joint Arthroplasty: A Report of 2 Specialty Hospitals With Joint Ownership Between Physicians and Healthcare Systems

BackgroundIn 2010, the Affordable Care Act introduced new restrictions on the expansion of physician-owned hospitals (POHs) due to concerns over financial incentives and increased costs. The purpose of this study is to determine whether joint ventures between tertiary care and specialty hospitals (SHs) allowing physician ownership (POHs) have improved outcomes and lower cost following THA and TKA. MethodsAfter institutional review board approval, a retrospective review of consecutive series of primary THA and TKA patients from 2015 to 2016 across a single institution comprised of 14 full-service hospitals and 2 SHs owned as a joint venture between physicians and their health system partners. Ninety-day episode-of-care claims cost data from Medicare and a single private insurer were reviewed with the collection of the same demographic data, medical comorbidities, and readmission rates for both the SHs and non-SHs. A multivariate regression analysis was performed to determine the independent effect of the SHs on episode-of-care costs. ResultsOf the 6537 patients in the study, 1936 patients underwent a total joint arthroplasty at an SH (29.6%). Patients undergoing a procedure at an SH had shorter lengths of stay (1.29 days vs 2.23 days for Medicare, 1.15 vs 1.86 for private payer, both P < .001), were less likely to be readmitted (4% vs 7% for Medicare, P = .001), and had lower mean 90-day episode-of-care costs ($16,661 vs $20,579 for Medicare, $26,166 vs $35,222 for private payers, both P < .001). When controlling for the medical comorbidities and demographic variables, undergoing THA or TKA at an SH was associated with a decrease in overall episode costs ($3266 for Medicare, $13,132 for private payer, both P < .001). ConclusionEven after adjusting for a healthier patient population, the joint venture partnership with health systems and physician-owned SHs demonstrated lower 90-day episode-of-care costs than non-SHs following THA and TKA. Policymakers and practices should consider these data when considering the current care pathways.

The Uses of Reconstructing Heritage in China: Tourism, Heritage Authorization, and Spatial Transformation of the Shaolin Temple

Recently, debates on authenticity in the West and China have attracted attention of critical heritage studies. This paper aims to better understand how Western Authorized Heritage Discourse (AHD) influences local heritage practice in China. This paper employs observation, semi-structured interviews and textual analysis to examine how authenticity criteria in Western AHD has shaped perceptions on the spatial consequences of what is “authentic” by different agents in regards to the cultural heritage of the Shaolin Temple. It is argued that the implementation of authenticity criteria found in Western AHD influences Shaolin heritage practice both in hegemonic and negotiated ways, in which a Chinese AHD is formed through the creation of a Western AHD with Chinese characteristics. The understandings on authenticity criteria derived from Western AHD by Chinese heritage experts dominates Shaolin heritage practice, whilst the perceptions on “authentic” Shaolin Temple cultural heritage attached closely to their emotions and experiences by local residents are neglected and excluded. The religiously based authenticity claims of the Shaolin monks which competes with those of the heritage experts and local residents are also considered. Furthermore, the managerial structure was changed in 2010 from a government-directed institution to a joint-venture partnership. The impacts of these managerial changes are also considered. The final outcome of these competing heritage claims was that local residents were relocated far from their original community. Without the residential community in situ, and in conjunction with the further commercialization of local culture, the Shaolin Temple heritage site takes on the features of a pseudo-classic theme park.

The evaluation of negotiation between shipping companies and port authorities under the application of the JVN-Box

In this article, we introduce the Joint-Venture Negotiation Box (JVN-Box), a new methodological approach to evaluate the negotiation between two players in a joint-venture partnership. The JVN-Box primarily calculates a suitable point of balance between two players and hence, generates harmony in a joint venture partnership. Since the division between players always depends on the opportunity cost and incentives in the process of negotiation, the study proposes the need for players to diligently engage in formal discussions to find the most suitable point of balance to consolidate a joint venture partnership. The JVN-Box helps to find that suitable balance point and hinges the success of any joint venture negotiation between shipping companies and port authorities on the effort of hard work by the weak player to step up and sacrifice welfare to step down from the stronger player.

Nurturing a talent pipeline

Vet nurse Rachel Smith, who is a joint venture partner with Vets4Pets, has created a talent pipeline to develop her practices’ staff and help with long‐term recruitment.

Cooper Basin Deep Coal - the New Unconventional Paradigm: Deepest Producing Coals in Australia

Up to four years of gas production from Permian coals in the South Australian (SA) sector of the Cooper Basin illustrates their potential value as a sustainable unconventional gas resource. The success of this play is a result of many years of research, laboratory measurements and field trials designed to de-risk the play, following a well-defined road map. Since 2012, production variability has been tested in over 50 wells across the SA Cooper Basin. As an add-on frac stage in conventional gas development wells, coal targets regularly yield incremental reserve that provides an uplift in production and the opportunity to access a new tranche of gas. Production from the coal reservoirs is now accepted as “base business” for the Cooper Basin Joint Venture partners. The key to progressing the play from its earliest inception as a candidate Source Rock Reservoir to a productive reservoir, lies in in a focussed approach to de-risking each economic barrier. These risk factors include frac containment, formation water production, gas composition, permeability, deliverability, completion design and cost. The next steps are to improve the economic viability of deep coal as a stand-alone development. In these first projects, planned for late 2017 - early 2018, both vertical and horizontal well- completions specifically targeting deep coal will be tested for commercial flow rates in an existing productive field

The Market Price of Managerial Indiscretions

To what extent should investors be concerned about the personal behavior of the top managers of the companies they invest in? In a study published recently in the Journal of Financial Economics, the authors shed light on this question by examining the market responses to revelations of over 300 cases of personal misconduct by senior executives and directors, including episodes of domestic violence, DUIs, extramarital affairs, and public dishonesty. In so doing, they provide suggestive evidence of how “tone at the top” can affect corporate policy by way of its culture and how a manager's reputation spills over to that of the firm.The authors' findings show that the companies employing these executives experienced meaningful financial and product market penalties following the disclosure of their unethical behavior. Following the revelation of an indiscretion, investors suffered immediate losses in shareholder wealth—on the order of 4% in cases involving CEOs—and the company's stock continued to underperform during the ensuing year, with total losses amounting to 12 %–14% of firm value. Such companies also tended to lose joint venture partnerships and major customers following these scandals, thereby forcing them into lower‐margin lines of business. The authors also find that such companies were more likely later to commit fraud and be targeted in shareholder class‐action lawsuits.The offending managers themselves were disciplined by the labor market for their missteps in that they faced a higher likelihood of dismissal, and those who were retained earned around $400,000 less pay following the indiscretion. Nevertheless, it is notable that a majority of these executives were not fired, implying that their supervising boards felt they contributed more value to the firm than the damage they caused through their off‐the‐job behavior. Interestingly, the board members supervising these executives were also held accountable for managerial indiscretions in that they received less shareholder support in director elections following the scandals.

Post termination interaction in international joint ventures (IJV)

PurposeThis paper aims to explore dynamics of post termination interaction between international joint venture (IJV) partners and empirically examines IJV level and dyad level factors that influence the choice of post IJV termination interaction as supplier, complement or competitor.Design/methodology/approachIn-depth literature review is undertaken to identify IJV and dyad level that could influence the choice of post termination interaction between terminated IJV partners. Hypotheses are empirically validated using multinomial logistic regression on data collected on terminated IJV headquartered in India.FindingsThe results denote that the choice of post-IJV termination interaction between IJV partners as supplier, complement or competitor is influenced by interdependence, bargaining power, foreign partner’s purpose of IJV, complementarity and type of IJV termination.Research limitations/implicationsThis paper explores an under researched area in extant IJV literature that could be taken up for study by academicians. The paper upholds and strengthens the dynamic capabilities view of strategic management in IJV context.Practical implicationsThis paper examines a practice adopted by businesses in emerging markets and determines important factors that influence the choice of interaction post IJV termination between partners. Practitioners will be encouraged to understand and plan post termination dynamics with their terminated IJV partner.Originality/valueThe paper undertakes examination of a practical business phenomena, i.e. interaction post termination between terminated IJV partners.

Creating an award‐winning practice

Jonathan Grey and Gloria De Palma are joint venture partners at Vets4Pets. Here, they explain how they opened a practice together and won a national award within 12 months of treating their first patient.

Analisis Strategi Pemasaran Mengunakan Metode Quantitative Strategic Planning Matrik (QSPM) Studi Kasus : Borneo Project

&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Borneo Project is a new business in the field of ordering services of various types of clothing. In doing its marketing strategy Borneo Project relies on marketing through friendship, word of mouth from one to another one and using social media as a marketing tool. This has not had a much positive effect on sales in Borneo Project. Therefore it is necessary to analyze the marketing strategy that can be applied in Borneo Project.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Determining the strategy carried out in three stages: an input stage, matching stage, and the stage of the decision. The input stage is done by using Internal Factor Evaluation Matrix (IFE) and External Factor Evaluation Matrix (EFE). In the IFE matrix, obtained a total score of 2.407, while the EFE Matrix obtained score of 2.831. Based on internal and external factor analysis then matching phase with IE Matrix method and SWOT Matrix. The final stage was the decision stage used QSPM method. QSPM is used to evaluate alternative strategies obtained in the SWOT Matrix, then rank them. The first rank is the strategy of applying for credit funds, seeking investors or business joint venture partners and seeking financial assistance from corporate CSR with the acquisition of power score Pull of 5,824. Alternative strategies are prioritized to be applied is to ask a credit fund, seek a joint venture partner and investor or business and are looking for financial aid CSR.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;em&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;&lt;em&gt;Keywords: Marketing Strategy, Borneo Project, QSPM&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;

A new way to look at an old problem: International joint venture partner selection via constrained systematic search

Although international joint ventures (IJVs) provide many benefits to multinational enterprises (MNEs), IJVs continue experiencing high dissolution rates; there is a pressing need to re-evaluate the partner selection process for IJVs. In this article, I utilize constrained systematic search (CSS) as the proposed process by which to improve the partner selection process and reduce IJV dissolution rates. CSS is a process MNEs can utilize to gain private information about potential IJV partners. The implementation of CSS can improve the success rates for an MNE entering an IJV in two ways: MNEs can more effectively identify (1) information withholding/misleading behavior of potential partners and (2) complementary resources in potential partners.

Impacts of classic transaction cost-related factors on partner’s cooperative and opportunistic behaviour in joint ventures

PurposeThis study aims to investigate impacts of classic transaction cost-related factors (i.e. partner selection cost, specific asset investment and extorting rent cost) on joint venture (JV) partner’s cooperative and opportunistic behaviour, from the perspective of transaction cost economics.Design/methodology/approachItem measurements, based on which the questionnaire was developed, were derived according to a thorough search and review of related literature. In all, 226 valid responses from manufacturing enterprises in China were collected. A structural equation modelling approach was used to analyse the data and examine the fitness of the proposed model.FindingsThis study shows that partner selection cost, specific asset investment and extorting rent cost are positively related to a JV partner’s cooperative behaviour. Specific asset investment exerts the most significant influence on partner’s cooperative behaviour. The results also reveal that partner’s opportunistic behaviour is not significantly affected by specific asset investment but is negatively influenced by extorting rent cost. Both partner selection cost and extorting rent cost show positive impacts on specific asset investment.Research limitations/implicationsThe investigation focused on only manufacturing enterprises in one country. Future research could be directed to investigating other countries to increase the generalizability of the findings.Practical implicationsThe findings suggest that increasing the extorting rent cost to promote the probability of specific asset investment is a core element to enhance JV partner cooperation.Originality/valueThe study not only empirically investigates the relative importance of classic transaction cost-related factors on JV partner opportunism and cooperation, but also enables a deeper understanding of the interrelationship among the classic transaction cost-related factors and their influences on partner cooperation and opportunism.

Why the General Data Protection Regulation is likely to disrupt core digital marketing channels in Europe

This paper discusses the impact the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) will have on digital marketing for businesses within the European Union. It discusses the direct risks to e-mail marketing and using affiliates, brokers and joint-venture partners for new business acquisition. It argues that GDPR will have an indirect impact on all marketing channels as the reduction in new business, through the likes of e-mail marketing and affiliates, will lead to companies moving their marketing spend into other activities. This will increase competition among advertisers, pushing up costs in areas such as pay-per-click advertising. Finally, this paper offers two potential strategies to deal with the disruption that GDPR may cause, and help businesses get ahead of competitors, who are being reactive.

The conflict over the proposed LNG hub in Western Australia’s Kimberley region and the politics of time

In 2013, the Australian oil and gas company, Woodside Petroleum, and its multinational joint venture partners announced that they would not be proceeding with a $40 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing facility on the coast of the Kimberley, north-western Australia. The corporations’ decision was made after a five-year campaign against the gas hub by Indigenous, community and environmental groups. The limited academic literature on this case has focused on particular sets of actors and stages of the conflict. This paper applies a broader perspective by examining the positions of a range of actors over a longer time period. It argues that i) the concept of the politics of time provides a useful lens for understanding the dynamics of the conflict ii) the state attempted to exercise control over the development using temporal strategies, but this facilitated alliances between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people and iii) the state also exercised control over corporate actors, but was ultimately unable to compel investment in an increasingly globalized market featuring new floating LNG technology (FLNG).

Lanxess to complete rubber business exit

Lanxess has agreed to sell its 50% stake in rubber maker Arlanxeo to joint venture partner Saudi Aramco for $3.4 billion. The business employs 3,800 and generates annual sales of about $3.6 billion. Lanxess sold the first half of the business to Aramco in 2016. It had planned to hold onto the other half until 2021. Moving the sale forward should allow Lanxess to improve its focus on midsize specialty chemical markets, says Chairman Matthias Zachert.

Using and Disposing of Joint Venture Partners to Reap the Benefits of Multinationality

The lifetime of international joint ventures is often limited. Research suggests that MNCs abandon their local partners when the reasons for partnering have become obsolete. This paper shows that the obsolescence of these reasons may not only occur but be part of a two-phase strategy: as MNCs gain competitive advantage from levering resources across borders, they will at first benefit from joint venturing with local partners to better embed their subsidiaries in the host country environment and access local resources. Later they will benefit from disposing of these partners to better embed their subsidiaries in the parent organization and transfer the acquired resources to different locations. Moderated-mediation regressions provide evidence of such practice in the empirical context of capital resources. The strategy seems to work out. Panel regressions show that partnering with local firms is associated with appropriating resources from host countries, and that later abandoning the partners is associated...

Disseminative capacity and knowledge acquisition from foreign partners in international joint ventures

We developed a theoretical model that examines the impacts of a foreign parent’s disseminative capacity on knowledge transfer to International Joint Ventures (IJVs). We tested our model with data from 199 IJVs in South Korea. We found empirical support for our arguments that the foreign parent firm’s codification and articulation ability, willingness to share knowledge, and frequent and effective use of communication channels determined the extent of knowledge acquisition by the local IJV partners.