The study explores the relationship between the strategic objectives of foreign \ud
firms entering international joint ventures, foreign parent control, and joint venture \ud
performance in the context of Sino-European IJVs. Using an integrative approach, \ud
this study incorporates market power, transaction costs, and organisational learning \ud
theories which provide a more comprehensive understanding of IJV strategic \ud
objectives. The findings reveal that foreign partners consider market-developing and \ud
knowledge-acquiring objectives as important and IJV performance in relation to these \ud
objectives as satisfactory.\ud
This study found different categories of objectives perform differently in IJVs. \ud
The relationship between parent control and IJV overall performance received strong \ud
support. Direct and indirect relationships between strategic objectives and IJV overall \ud
performance are found. The empirical evidence confirms the significant moderating \ud
effects of parent control on attainment of strategic objectives. The moderating effects \ud
of parent control do not merely intensify or weaken the relationship between strategic \ud
objectives and satisfaction in relation to these objectives, but also parent control has \ud
different moderating effects in relation to different strategic objectives.\ud
Research in international joint ventures is often associated with financial \ud
problems because of geographical constraints. This study concentrated initially on a \ud
web-based survey, using a mail survey to increase response rate as needed. The\ud
majority of respondents (87%) completed the questionnaire online. This provides excellent evidence for researchers to make use of web-based surveys in future \ud
international marketing studies.\ud
Finally, China, as the biggest recipient of foreign direct investment in \ud
developing countries, seems the logical choice for the analytical context. This \ud
research thus contributes to the IJV literature on the Chinese experience