Modelling Critical Success Factors of International Joint Ventures in Real Estate Development: Perspective of a Capital Investor

The aim of this dissertation, undertaken between 2012 and 2017, is to contribute towards the improvement of international joint venture (“IJV”) management in real estate development projects by analysing performance and factors, critical for the success of real estate IJVs. The assumption is that a real estate capital investor acts as the international partner of the IJV-construct, while local developers, operators and/or real estate professionals represent the local partner. The thesis focuses on the perspective of the real estate capital investor as a key actor in an IJV. The thesis adopts a systems approach in identifying and discussing the critical success factors of IJVs in the literature review, followed by the development of an integrated, theory-based framework that offers a theoretical conceptualisation of the research problem and key research questions. The methodology and research design were compiled using quantitative (questionnaire survey) and qualitative (focus group and semi-structured interviews) approaches. Data were collected from international capital providers investing as IJV-partners in real estate development using a mixed method approach, the thesis proposes and elaborates on a performance model for IJVs in real estate development, with an aim to ensure empirically valid performance measurement. The focus was to identify and justify determinants and their relationships. The empirical investigation in the thesis supports the notion that the investment process and the selection of the partner are particularly important for a project’s success in real estate development IJVs. In addition, aspects related to the structural and organisational dimension are relevant to the overall IJV performance. Moreover, the model has shown significant relationships between the (1) structural, organisational and investment dimensions on the one hand, and the (2) external, organisational and investment dimensions, on the other hand, for the overall success in the formation-stage. With respect to the post-formation stage, relationships between (1) partner and organisational dimension, (2) partner and investment dimension and (3) investment and organisational dimensions have been proven relevant to improve IJV performance in the context of real estate development IJVs

Dynamic aspects and behaviors of complex systems in performance and reliability assessment

Reliability and performance evaluation are important, often mandatory, steps in designing and analyzing (critical) systems. In such cases, accurate models are required to adequately take into account interference or dependent behaviors affecting the system, its parts and the external environment, especially if the system experiences high complexity. The techniques and tools to adopt in the evaluation have to adequately fit the problem considered. The main goal of this paper is to identify the dynamic-dependent aspects that can affect the reliability and performance of a system. Starting from the concept of dependence at the basis of system decomposition, an analytic framework and some of the most important dynamic-dependent aspects and behaviors are characterized in terms of both dynamic reliability and performance.</jats:p