Joint venture

Joint Ventures

Joint Ventures can be with a company of same industry or can be of some other industry, but with a combination of both, they will generate a competitive advantage over other players in the market.

In short, when two or more organizations join hands together for creating synergy and gain a mutual competitive advantage, the new entity is called a Joint Venture. It can be a private company, public company or even a foreign company.

In India, many companies underwent joint venture with various foreign companies, which were either technologically more advanced or geographically more scattered. The major joint ventures in India were done in sectors like Insurance, Banking, Commercial Transport vehicle, etc.

Possibilities in a Joint Venture

A joint venture can be very flexible which can be in context to the requirements of the organization. The agreement between the companies should have detailed terms and conditions with respect to the activities that will be carried by them. This aids in clarification and don’t allow any ambiguity between the stakeholders. The agreement also helps to designate the actual scope of work which either of parties has to conduct.

Two organizations of different countries can also undergo a Joint Venture to conduct a business. In this case, the directives issued by the respective governments have to be followed before entering into any kind of Joint Venture. These norms help the governments to keep a check on the activities of the organizations and ensure a legal activity is conducted by the organizations in Joint Venture.

Characteristics of a Joint Venture

1. Creates Synergy

A joint venture is entered between two or more parties to extract the qualities of each other. One company may possess a special characteristic which another company might lack with. Similarly, the other company has some advantage which another company cannot achieve. These two companies can enter into a joint venture to generate synergies between them for a greater good. These companies can work on economies of large scale to give cost advantage.

2. Risk and Rewards can be Shared

In a typical joint venture agreement between two or more organization, may be of the same country or different countries, there are many diversifications in culture, technology, geographical advantage and disadvantage, target audience and many more factors to overcome. So the risks and rewards pertaining to the activity for which the joint venture is agreed upon can be shared between the parties as decided and entered into the legal agreement.

3. No Separate Laws

As for joint venture, there is no separate governing body which regulates the activities of the joint venture. Once they are into a corporate structure, then the Ministry of Corporate Affairs in association with Registrar of Companies keep a check on companies. Apart from that, there is no separate law for governing joint ventures

Advantages of Joint Venture

1. Economies of Scale

Joint Venture helps the organizations to scale up with their limited capacity. The strength of one organization can be utilized by the other. This gives the competitive advantage to both the organizations to generate economies of scalability.

2. Access to New Markets and Distribution Networks

When one organization enters into joint venture with another organization, it opens a vast market which has a potential to grow and develop. For example, when an organization of United States of America enters into a joint venture with another organization based at India, then the company of United States has an advantage of accessing vast Indian markets with various variants of paying capacity and diversification of choice.

At the same time, the Indian company has the advantage to access the markets of the United States which is geographically scattered and has good paying capacity where the quality of the product is not compromised. Unique Indian products have big markets across the globe.

3. Innovation

Joint ventures give an added advantage to upgrading the products and services with respect to technology. Marketing can be done with various innovative platforms and technological up gradation helps in making good products at efficient cost. International companies can come up with new ideas and technology to reduce cost and provide better quality products.

4. Low Cost of Production

When two or more companies join hands together, the main motive is to provide the products at a most efficient price. And this can be done when the cost of production can be reduced or cost of services can be managed. A genuine joint venture aims at this only to provide best products and services to its consumers.
5. Brand Name

A separate brand name can be created for the Joint Venture. This helps in giving a distinctive look and recognition to the brand. When two parties enter into a joint venture, then goodwill of one company which is already established in the market can be utilized by another organization for gaining a competitive advantage over other players in the market.

For example, a big brand of Europe enters into a joint venture with an Indian company will give a synergic advantage as the brand is already established across the globe.

6. Access to Technology

Technology is an attractive reason for organizations to enter into a joint venture. Advanced technology with one organization to produce superior quality of products saves a lot of time, energy, and resources. Without the further investment of huge amount again to create a technology which is already in existence, the access to same technology can be done only when companies enter into joint venture and give a competitive advantage.