|
Benefits highlighted and myths dispelled
LONDON, ON, February 19, 2009 –
There's a saying that two heads are
better than one and that sentiment is
also prompting a growing number of
companies to merge knowledge, markets
and profits via a joint venture to give
them a competitive edge.
And with an increasing number of
emerging economies on the horizon,
there's even more reason for companies
to consider joint venturing to enter new
markets and expand their geographic
presence.
At an upcoming Ivey Idea Forum on
February 25, Paul W. Beamish, Professor
of International Business, Richard Ivey
School of Business, and a joint venture
facilitator to Fortune 500 and other
corporations, will explain how stable
joint ventures can be established and
the processes that lead to joint venture
success. The event is slated for 8 a.m.
at Ivey's ING Leadership Centre in
Toronto.
He'll be joined by Larry Innanen, a
business adviser to the public and
private sector and past–president of
Cerbuco Brewing Inc., a subsidiary of
Labatt Brewing Co. Ltd. In 1997, Innanen
negotiated Cerveceria Bucanero SA,
Labatt's joint venture in Cuba with
representatives of the Cuban government
corporation, Coralsa.
Beamish will focus on best practices for
joint ventures, based on his new book
"Joint Venturing" that outlines
straightforward steps geared to improve
the performance and duration of joint
ventures. His presentation will cover
four areas: testing the strategic logic,
partnership and fit, shape and design,
and operating the joint venture.
He'll also dispel some common myths
about joint venturing.
"There have been many false assumptions
about joint ventures in terms of their
profitability, longevity, ease of
management and security. There's an
impression that they all just become
wholly owned by one of the partners,"
said Beamish. "In fact, these
partnerships can work very well. The
fact that they place less emphasis on
central, top-down control often results
in a better outcome and a stronger
business."
There are many examples of successful
joint ventures, including Cerveceria
Bucanero SA in Cuba, which helped to
bolster economic growth in Cuba.
Innanen will discuss some of the issues,
challenges and realities that business
owners face when they move their
businesses from the relative safety of
domestic markets into the unknown
territory of foreign markets.
"There were challenges in Cuba, where
ideological differences between
socialism and capitalism make finding
common ground on initiatives more
difficult," he said. "But we saw the
vast untapped tourism potential to fuel
the company's future growth so we worked
hard to make it work. Our success came
from choosing partners with a long-term
view of the joint venture and having
sensitivity for the market, the
customers and the people and government
of Cuba."
The event is part of the Ivey Idea
Forum: A Cross-Enterprise Leadership
Series, which provides executives, Ivey
alumni, business students and
prospective students with guest speakers
and events to develop cross-enterprise
leadership thinking on key business
issues.
Paul W. Beamish is the co-author of 46
books, more than 90 refereed articles,
and numerous contributed chapters and
non-refereed articles in the areas of
International Management, Strategic
Management and Joint Ventures and
Alliances. He also holds the inaugural
Donald L. Triggs Chair in International
Business and is director of Ivey
Business School's Asian Management
Institute.
Event: Paul W. Beamish, author of
"Joint Venturing", and Larry Innanen,
past –president, Cerbuco Brewing Inc.
Date: Wednesday, February 25,
2009
Time: 8-9:30 a.m. (Breakfast at
7:30 a.m.)
Location: Ivey ING Leadership
Centre, The Exchange Tower, 130 King
Street West, Toronto, Ontario
To purchase tickets, please contact
Ashleigh Nimigan at 519-850-2999,
animigan@ivey.uwo.ca or click
here:
Purchase tickets
For more information please visit:
The Ivey Idea Forum website
Media interested in attending, please
contact Dawn Milne at 519-850-2536,
dmilne@ivey.uwo.ca
About the Richard Ivey School of
Business, The University of Western
Ontario
The Richard Ivey School of Business at
The University of Western Ontario (www.ivey.ca)
offers undergraduate (HBA)
and graduate degree programs (MBA,
Executive MBA and
PhD) in addition to non-degree
Executive Development programs. Ivey has
campuses in London (Ontario),
Toronto, and Hong Kong. Ivey
recently redesigned its curriculum to
focus on
Cross-Enterprise Leadership – a
holistic issues-based approach to
management education that meets the
demands of today's complex global
business world.
-30-
Dawn Milne, Communications Specialist,
Richard Ivey School of Business:
519-850-2536,
dmilne@ivey.ca |
