Performance Issues in U.S.–China Joint Ventures

Based on an in-depth study of U.S.-China joint ventures, this article offers some insights into the performance of such international business relationships. While the conventional literature treats government as an amorphous aspea of the political-legal environment, in this case government is an active participant and influence in the performance of international joint ventures (UVs). It has both a constraining and enabling effect on LJV structure, strategy, and performance. For example, limits can be placed on ownership shares of joint ventures and on prices of the output. At the same time, government can cooperate with LJVs and foreign parent companies by creating partners for foreign parent companies, acting as major customers, and improving financial performance by lowering taxes

Framework of new landfill GHG policy in developing countries: Case study of Serbia

This paper deals with greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions originating from changes in the waste sector in developing and transitional economies. Using a Serbian case study, the effects of different waste disposal techniques on GHG emissions were analyzed in three scenarios: the current one, the worst one, and the best one. According to the Serbian national-waste management strategy, a large number of dumpsites and unsanitary landfills should be merged into several regional sanitary landfills. Results obtained from the SWM-GHG Calculator have shown potentially higher emissions from modern regional landfills than from dumpsites. Related environmental policy should therefore be analyzed in detail and applied. Environmental policy options are analyzed using the SWOT technique. The policy option to be implemented depends on country-specific circumstances, such as the adequate functioning of institutions, the effectiveness of the judicial system, the established legal framework, and the general level of competence in the waste management sector. If all of these conditions are in place, the polluter pays' option is the superior one. However, if the level of knowledge and capacity in waste sector is low, and if there are no adequate institutions, or if the judicial system is inefficient, the first option appears to be the right one

HARD OR SOFT? INSTITUTIONAL REFORMS AND INFRASTRUCTURE SPENDING AS DETERMINANTS OF FOREIGN DIRECT INVESTMENT IN CHINA

We examine whether hard infrastructure in the form of more highways and railroads or soft infrastructure in the form of more transparent institutions and deeper reforms lead to more foreign direct investment (FDI). We use data on FDI from the United States, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwanese and Korea to various regions of China from 1990 to 2002. We control for the standard determinants of FDI - regional market sizes, wage rates, human capital and tax policies. Then we add indices of hard and soft infrastructures. We found that empirically soft infrastructure consistently outperforms hard infrastructure as a determinant of FDI. © Japanese Economic Association 2005.preprin