which produces heavy machinery entered China with a JV (with Chinese State Corporation) to gain access to Chinese market. But the JV is suffering from slow start up. There is a difference between Chinese and American management philosophies. Also, there exists a language barrier and absence of strong leadership which resulted in ineffective change management. The critical success factors required for this JV are integration of Chinese and American best management philosophies, building network of customers in china, effective use of American technology and Chinese labor, trust in partnership and acceptance of change necessary for JV, cost effective and timely delivery of parts for domestic and export market, production under specified specification and quality. The SWOT analysis gives us an idea about the weakness (sales below and cost above projections, language and cultural differences, 2.5 years for negotiation, Technology at Hangzhou different from GM's technology, initial financial projections unrealistically optimistic) and the threats (non-cooperation & communication between Chinese & American managers; among Chinese managers, lack of designed responsibility, direction, structure & trust, lack of strong leadership for implementing change).
Issues found were evaluated on a 1/0 scale to finally arrive at the recommendations and action plan for this JV. We propose formation of a Joint committee with William Stevenson, GM Jack Bartlett and both assistant GM of china JV as its members which will define objective business plan with the help of Balance Scorecard to implement the business goals aligned to the CSF of the JV; and also establish responsibility and accountability for process owners of the business plan.
