Trust Between International Joint Venture Partners: Effects of Home Countries

Trust is an important factor in interorganizational relations. Interorganizational trust in cross-border relationships is likely to be influenced by the home countries of both partners. Using data on 165 international joint ventures (IJVs), we show that the perceived trustworthiness of an IJV partner is influenced by the general propensity to trust in the trustor's home country. Moreover, the trustworthiness perceived by a focal parent firm is also affected by the home country of the other IJV partner. This second effect is mitigated by experience between the partners

Revisiting the trustworthiness-performance-governance nexus in international joint ventures

This paper contributes to the research on international joint ventures (IJV) in the following ways: (1) by identifying different patterns of governance that partners in the post-formation period exercise and examining how contrasting patterns relate to variations in perceived partner’s trustworthiness, as well as to IJV performance; (2) by empirically testing the extent to which partners emphasize or even renegotiate and change different elements of governance; and (3) by complementing existing studies that have examined only unidirectional links among trustworthiness, performance and governance by considering possible simultaneous relationships that may exist among these variables. The findings from a survey and follow-up interviews with international joint ventures located in Taiwan reveal that levels of partners’ trustworthiness and performance satisfaction each, by itself, may lead to the deployment of different governance measures. However, it is the combinations of extreme (high or low) variants on both partners’ trustworthiness and performance satisfaction that seem to generate clearer patterns of governance. Low satisfaction and partners’ trustworthiness seem to encourage intensification of control or the deployment of more aggressive governance measures. In contrast, high performance satisfaction and partners’ trustworthiness may foster a combination of soft and routine forms of control

Human molecular cytogenetics: from cells to nucleotides

The field of cytogenetics has focused on studying the number, structure, function and origin of chromosomal abnormalities and the evolution of chromosomes. The development of fluorescent molecules that either directly or via an intermediate molecule bind to DNA has led to the development of fluorescent in situ hybridization (FISH), a technology linking cytogenetics to molecular genetics. This technique has a wide range of applications that increased the dimension of chromosome analysis. The field of cytogenetics is particularly important for medical diagnostics and research as well as for gene ordering and mapping. Furthermore, the increased application of molecular biology techniques, such as array-based technologies, has led to improved resolution, extending the recognized range of microdeletion/microduplication syndromes and genomic disorders. In adopting these newly expanded methods, cytogeneticists have used a range of technologies to study the association between visible chromosome rearrangements and defects at the single nucleotide level. Overall, molecular cytogenetic techniques offer a remarkable number of potential applications, ranging from physical mapping to clinical and evolutionary studies, making a powerful and informative complement to other molecular and genomic approaches. This manuscript does not present a detailed history of the development of molecular cytogenetics; however, references to historical reviews and experiments have been provided whenever possible. Herein, the basic principles of molecular cytogenetics, the technologies used to identify chromosomal rearrangements and copy number changes, and the applications for cytogenetics in biomedical diagnosis and research are presented and discussed