Conflict Resolution Process in International Joint Ventures: A Theatre Metaphor Approach

Huu Le Nguyen, Ph D, Assistant Professor Department of Marketing

University of Vaasa Wolfintie 34, PL BOX 700, 65200 Vaasa

Finland Email: nghl@uva.fi

Jorma Larimo, Ph D Professor in International Marketing

Department of Marketing University of Vaasa

Wolfintie 34, PL BOX 700, 65200 Vaasa Finland

Email: jla@uva.fi

Abstract

Due to the reason that conflicts are the fact of life, they present in any organizations and

especially in hybrid organizations like international joint ventures (IJVs) where partners are

from different backgrounds, cultures, and having different motives in IJVs. In addition, it is

noticed in international business literatures that conflicts between partners are one of the

main reasons lead to lower IJV performance and even termination of IJV relationship.

Therefore, knowing how to manage conflicts between partners becomes crucial in IJV

relationship. In this paper, we build up a process model for managing conflicts between

partners in IJV relationship by employing theatre metaphor approach. In other words, we

discuss in details how conflict between partners can be resolved by going through each step

of the process. We conclude the paper by offering both theoretical and managerial

implications. also theorists, and by pointing out opportunities for further research. This paper

is believed to have significant contributions to IJV theory and conflict management

knowledge.

Keywords: Conflict management, theatre metaphor approach, international joint ventures

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Conflict Resolution Process in International Joint Ventures: A Theatre Metaphor Approach

1. Introduction

Firms often engage in international joint ventures (IJVs) with local firms when they expand

abroad (Dunning, 1995; Dinh, 1997; Li, 2003; Duan & Chuanmin, 2007; Meschi & Riccio,

2008). However, several studies show a high rate of IJV failure (Hennart, Kim & Zeng, 1998;

Bamford, Ernst & Gubini, 2004; Yeheskel, Newburry & Zeira, 2004). There are several

reasons for the failures. However, because firms often have different goals and ways of

operating, it is no wonder that inter-partner conflicts often arise (Fey & Beamish, 1999).

Thus, understanding conflict is crucial to organizations (Boonsathorn, 2007) since the

conflict resolution strategy of a parent firm will affect IJV performance (Fey & Beamish,

1999; Lu, 2006; Yavas, Eroglu & Eroglu, 1994). Parkhe (1993) pointed out that conflicts in

IJVs are one of the four key areas in IJV research besides partners’ motives, partner selection,

performance measurement. Recently, Ma, Lee and Yu (2008) note that conflict management

literature has still received little research attention. Ma et al. (2008) and Doucet et al. (2009)

suggest that further study is needed. Furthermore, researchers maintain that there lacks of

studies dealing with conflict management and resolution in IJV context (e.g. Lin and

Germain, 1998; Nguyen and Larimo, 2011).

On the other hand Sullivan and Daniel (2008) suggest that we need to be innovation and

novel in international business research. Palmer and Dunford (1996), Cornelissen (2004),

Schreyögg and Höpfl (2004), Vera and Crossan (2004), Mantere, Sillince, and Hamalainen

(2007) maintain that metaphor is an important approach for organizational research.

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Shepherd-Barr (2006) emphasizes of the role of theater metaphor on scientific research,

especially in the study of conflicts of interest. In conflict resolution, many times, it requires

new ways of imagining action and new language which is so rich in metaphors (Foster and

Docherty, 2013). This study applies theatre metaphor approach (Coopey, 1998; Elam, 1980;

Gardner, 1992; Graham-Hills and Grimes, 2001; Kerrshaw, 1992; Mangham and Overington,

1983, 1987; Rosen 1985; Shepherd-Barr, 2006) to manage conflicts between IJV partners.

This managing process is challenges because IJVs have two parent firms and firms are from

different countries with different cultures and often have different goals and ways of

operating. Therefore it is important to apply metaphor approach to understand and gain

insight the complex issues. This study is the first to apply metaphor approach in managing

IJVs. Thus, it aims to contribute to both joint venture theory and conflict management theory.

In the next section, we will first review conflict management research in international joint

ventures. Then we elaborate theatre metaphor approach in detail. After that we build model

for managing international joint venture conflicts using theater metaphor theory. Finally we

discuss the implications of this model in both theoretical and pragmatic perspectives as well

as point out future research opportunities.

2. Literature Review

2.1. Research of conflicts and conflict management in IJVs

Existence of conflicts is a common characteristic of every organization (De Dreu &

Weingart, 2003). It is often regarded as a negative force, a harmful element (Boonsathorn,

2007) leading to discomfort, misunderstanding, and disruption of relationships or even

collapse of organizations (Robbins, 2005). In contrast, Bolton (1986) has more positive view

on conflict as he regards conflict as opportunity. Fisher (1990) suggests that conflicts can

arise when partners perceive the differences in their needs, interests, views, values, or goals.

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Moore (1996) divides conflicts into five different categories as follows: Data conflicts arise

when information is lacking, differently interpreted or withheld. Interest conflicts occur when

there are actual or perceived scarce resources such as physical assets (money or other tangible

things), procedural issues (how decisions should be made) or psychological issues (who is in

the wrong emotionally). Value conflicts erupt when people have different ways of life, deeply

rooted goals or varying criteria on how to evaluate behaviors. Relationship conflicts prosper

in environments of strong emotions, stereotypes, poor communication and historic negative

patterns. Structural conflicts result from structural inequities in control, ownership, power,

authority or geographic separation.

Fey and Beamish (1999) noticed that most researchers have focused their studies on how

partners can avoid conflicts. However, they argue that conflict must be dealt with because it

is inherent in the relationship. Thus, it is important to understand different kinds of conflict

resolution approach in a partnership, so that firms will be able to resolve conflicts with their

partners.

Fundamentally, conflict management styles are based on concern for self-interest or the

interests of another. Based on two dimensions of assertiveness (satisfying one’s own

concerns) and cooperativeness (satisfying the concerns of another), Thomas (1976) constructs

five conflict handling strategies: competing, collaboration, compromising, accommodating,

and avoiding. According to Rahim and Bonoma (1979), conflict management strategies

include dominating, obliging, avoiding, compromising, and integrating. Lin and Germain

(1998) and Lu (2006) categorize conflict resolution strategies into four main strategies:

problem solving, compromising, forcing, and a legalistic strategy.

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After carefully reviewing articles published in leading journals in the field of international

business and international management (Journal of International Business Studies, Journal of

International Management, International Business Review, Management International

Review, International Journal of Conflict Management, Journal of International Marketing,

Table 1. Key studies focusing on conflict resolution strategy from 1994-2013

Study Focus of study Method of study (type of study, data collection, sample size, data analysis method)

Results

Yavas et al. (1994)

Examining severity of various conflicts in Saudi Arabia

Empirical study, Survey 60 executives in Saudi Arabia ANOVA

Dynamic approach (close monitoring, frequent updating of goals and continuous cultivation of relationship) should be used to resolve conflicts in Saudi-US JVs rather than static approach

Ding (1996)

Examining Chinese management style in conflict resolution

Empirical study, Interviews 6 US Chinese JVs Comparative case analysis

Chinese managers tend to adopt contingent, long term, contextual, and holistic approaches to resolve conflict

Lin & Germain (1998)

Establishing the link between IJV context and a partner’s conflict resolution strategy

Empirical study, Survey 94 IJV managers, of whom 35 are Americans, 59 are Chinese LISREL

Cultural similarity stimulates a problem solving approach; the more power they have, the more partners use a forcing strategy and the less relevant a compromising strategy becomes. The longer an IJV relationship exists, the more likely partners are to use more problem solving and less legalistic strategies

Morris et al. (1998)

Examining culture and conflict management style

Empirical study Survey with MBA students 132 US, 100 Chinese, 160 Indians, 62 Philippines ANOVA

Chinese managers rely more on an avoiding style because of their relatively high value on conformity and tradition. US managers rely more on a competing style because of their relatively high value on individual achievement.

Fey & Beamish (1999)

Formulating a strategy for managing conflict in Russian IJVs

Empirical study, Interviews 40 Russian IJVs Case analysis

Align partner’s objectives, ensure adequate communication, develop standard procedures for resolving conflict, consider gains for all parties, developing high tolerance and understanding for different cultures, discussing ways to avoid future conflict, ensuring all parties are committed to the IJV

Peng et al. (2000)

Examining conflict management style in Sino-US, Sino-French enterprises in China

Empirical study, Survey 374 Sino-American and Sino-French IJVs, and 150 from state-owned enterprises ANOVA

Chinese business tends to emphasize uncertainty avoidance more than western equivalents but both Chinese and Westerners tend to adopt compromising style

Lin & Wang (2002)

Examining association between the preference for conflict resolution strategy and relationship trust and commitment and relative power

Empirical study, Survey 106 Asians & 99 Chinese Factor Analysis and Structural equation modeling

Trust encourages partners to use a problem solving strategy. The more power partners have, the more likely they will use a legalistic strategy

Barden et al. (2005)

Developing organizational justice based on closer relating of parent control to parent conflict

Empirical study, Survey 75 Vietnamese IJVs Hierarchical and moderated regression

Level of conflicts in IJVs depends on the consistencies between control structure and parent’s contribution of proprietary resources, and between control structure and a partner’s ability to effectively monitor operations

Wang et al (2005)

Comparing cross-cultural differences in the preference of conflict handling style

Empirical study, Survey 463 IJV managers: 217 Chinese managers, 124 Asian expatriates, and 122 Western expatriates

Western managers tend to use forcing and problem solving more than Asian managers do. Asian managers tend to prefer compromising styles more than their western partners. Western managers tend to use legalistic approach more than Chinese partners

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MANOVA, ANOVA Lu (2006)

Examining the impact of conflict resolution strategies in IJV performance

Empirical study, Survey 76 Sino-Japanese JVs and 89 Sino-Taiwanese JVs Regression analysis

Compromising and legalistic strategies are positively related to IJV satisfaction in Sino-Japanese IJVs but not in Sino-Taiwanese IJVs

Onishi & Bliss (2006)

Exploring how managers from Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam differ in conflict management

Empirical study, Survey 1825 responses from Japanese, Thai, Vietnamese, and HongKong Chinese ANOVA, ANCOVA

Managers from Japan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Vietnam differ in their preferences for conflict resolution strategies

Boonsahorn (2007)

Analyzing the preferences for conflict management styles of Thais and Americans in multinationals in Thailand

Empirical study, Survey 250 Thais and 64 American ANOVA & Pearson´s correlation

Thais preferred avoiding and obligating strategies. There is a negative relationship between length of stay abroad for Thais and preference for a dominating conflict management style

Kim et al. (2007)

Examining how Chinese, Japanese, Koreans resolve interpersonal conflict with their supervisors and the influence of cultural factors on conflict management style

Empirical study, Survey 270 employees from Chinese, Japan, and South Korea Hierarchical regression analysis

Koreans more frequently used a compromising strategy than the Chinese and Japanese did. The Japanese used less dominant strategy but were more obligated to their supervisors

White et al. (2007)

Using transaction cost to explain how firms should formulate contractual governance to get better efficiency, lower costs, and minimize conflict with partners

Conceptual study Perceived transaction costs influence firms’ choice of contractual governance mechanisms and conflict resolution strategy in foreign ventures. Cultural distance, relative power, and interest alignment will play important roles in conflict resolution strategy

Komarraju et al. (2008)

Examining the role of horizontal and vertical individual-collectivism in explaining conflict management style

Empirical study Survey 640 undergraduate students (67%European American, 22% African American, 4% Latino American, other) Correlation and regression analysis

Individualists prefer dominating styles, collectivists prefer integrating styles.

Doucet et al. (2009)

Comparing conflict management behavior of Americans and Chinese

Empirical study, structure interview 62 American and 52 Chinese Inductive analysis

For Chinese, embarrassing the colleague, teaching moral lesson are important elements. For Americans, hostility and vengefulness are important elements

Speakman & Ryals (2010)

Examining conflict theory for management of multiple simultaneous conflict episodes

Conceptual study In dealing with multiple, simultaneous conflicts, managers need to consider the possible implication of chosen strategy along with the changing environment of their operation

Yuan (2010)

Examining how American and Chinese employees of multinational organizations deal with conflict between them

Empirical study In depth interviews 20 non Chinese American, 19 Chinese, 3 Chinese American from 28 MNCs in China Comparative case analysis

Both American and Chinese employees used various strategies to deal with conflict. American participants were more likely to confront a conflict than Chinese participants. Different motivations may lead to the exercise of a common conflict strategy

Bisseling & Sobral (2011)

To examine and compare the effects of emotional and task conflict on team performance and member satisfaction in two distinct

Empirical studies Survey with 366 team member Interviews with 20 team managers from the Netherlands and Brazil

Cultural differences between these two countries not only influence the way intragroup conflict is experienced, but also its impact on members’ satisfaction and group Performance

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cultures, Brazil and The Netherlands

Traavik (2011)

To investigate the similarities and differences between dyads and four-party groups in an integrative negotiation.

Data are collected from subjects experiment. A total of 182 participants completed a negotiation role play and questionnaire

For dyads the procedure used (considering more than one issue at a time) led to higher economic outcomes, and both procedure and problem solving were important for subjective outcomes. For four-party negotiations, problem solving was significantly related to higher outcomes. Problem solving was significantly more important for the groups than for dyads on economic outcomes.

Kern at al. (2012)

To investigate the limitation on the presumption that inter-cultural negotiation are doomed to generate low joint gains

Data collected from 45 bi-cultural Korean and 47 Americans

Inter-cultural dyads generate higher joint gain than Korean or US intra cultural dyads. Intercultural negotiators, one of whom is bi-cultural, who use language, especially the pronoun “you” to close social distance achieve higher joint gains than intra-cultural negotiators who do not

Nguyen & Yang (2012)

To conceptualize Chinese conflict management behaviors as contingent on the hierarchical relations of conflict parties in an organizational context and investigate individual characteristics as moderators in this contingency framework

Data collected from 704 employees across China. Multiple logistic analysis was used to analyze data

Chinese role-playing a supervisor in a conflict with their subordinate tended to use direct, assertive, strategies to resolve the conflict but the results depended on age, education, region, and work experience. As a subordinate in their conflict with their supervisor, Chinese chose indirect, harmony, preserving strategies. In a conflict with a peer, respondents used a broader spectrum of conflict management strategies, depending on their individual characteristics.

Kirk et al. (2013)

To test the impact of a self-regulatory strategy of goal pursuit on interactive bargaining task

Data collected from 132 German. Regression analysis used to analyze the data

The strategy of mental contrasting with implementation intentions led dyads to lead the largest joint agreement, compared to dyads that only use mental contrasting or if then plans. Participants who mentally contrast formed more cooperative implementation intentions than participants who mentally did not mentally contrast, mediating the effect of joint gain.

Gross et al. (2013)

To employ Weber´s analysis of conflict system, specifically the distinction between formal and substantive rationality to demonstrate that predominant method of analyzing of conflict management focuses too heavily on the managerial interests in administrative efficiency and productivity rather than on the needs of individuals and organizations

Conceptual paper Conflict management based on Weber´s theories of formal and substantive rationality will benefit organizations and society by promoting a more positive perception of corporate behavior

Academy of Management Review), we have identified the key studies on conflict

management strategies and have presented them in Table 1. The results in Table illustrate that

most previous studies either focus on analyzing the conflict management styles of parties in

one country (e.g. Ding, 1996; Fey & Beamish, 1999; Kirk et al., 2013; Nguyen & Yang,

2012) or on comparing those employed in two countries (e.g. Doucet et al., 2009;

Boonsathorn, 2007; Kern et al., 2012; Yavas et al., 1994; ) or in a number of countries (e.g.

Kim et al., 2007; Lu, 2006; Onishi & Bliss, 2006; Peng, He & Zhu, 2000). Some also

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compare the conflict management strategies of western versus Asian firms (Wang et al.,

2005; Peng et al., 2000). And, some researchers used one cultural dimension to analyze the

preference for conflict management strategy (e.g. Komarraju, Dollinger & Lovell, 2008).

In addition, previous studies also focus on providing strategies to avoid conflict (e.g. White

III, Joplin & Salama, 2007; Barden, Steensma & Lyles, 2005) or the effect of cultural

similarity, age of relationship, and the general relative power of partners (e.g. Lin &

Beamish, 1999) on the preference for certain conflict resolution strategies. In short, the past

studies on conflict resolution in IJVs are mostly tactics and lack of studies on the process of

conflict resolution. There is even more limited on conflict resolution studies in IJV context.

This study is therefore to fill this gap.

2.2. Metaphor approach

A metaphor gives directions of interrelationships that are normally nonexistent. A creative

metaphor builds a bridge between two different conceptual domains, which encourage new

visions, innovation and new product development (Cacciaguidi-Fahy and Cunningham,

2007). Metaphor can be used to simplify the complex description of organizations, to convey

information and ideas, ways of thinking using languages (Cacciaguidi-Fahy and

Cunningham, 2007), to highlight the evolution of strategic alliance (Hunt and Menon, 1995)

to understand organizational situations and problems (Palmer and Dunford, 1996).

According to Gibson and Zellmer-Bruhn (2002), metaphor can help firms to build

multicultural teams with common vision. Furthermore, Smith and Eisenberg (1987) view that

metaphors are important in organization as they help members to understand or have cues

from one context to another. In addition, conflict resolution is about change parties´

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behaviors. Thus, metaphor approach is important in the field because metaphors are used to

introduce changes (Palmer and Dunford, 1996). Through communication, metaphor enables

the connection of different cultures and bonds all stakeholders in joint venture regardless of

their national or organizational cultures (Cacciaguidi-Fahy and Cunningham, 2007).

Theatre metaphor and conflict resolution

Theatre metaphor approach has been widely applied in organizational research (Kendall,

Kendall, and Lee, 2005) since the use of theater as a metaphor to explain and structure a

neurological explanation of consciousness of decision makers (Melody, 2007), and to depict

conflict of interest (Shepherd-Barr, 2006). Furthermore, the theatre metaphor approach looks

at a pre-play period of communication between actors. This period is important as actors have

not decided which strategies to use to resolve conflicts. Therefore, this is a chance for actors

to position themselves and influence each other to have a common solution. According to

Smith and Eisenberg (1987) theater is highly structured, rules governed presentations in

which individuals play clearly defined roles designed to bring about an intended effect.

Another key point of using theatre metaphor approach in resolving conflicts is that the stand

point of actors can change via emotion and rationalizations. Actors in the scene will try to use

emotion and rational debate to influence their own and others´ beliefs and values. This is an

advanced technique since actors cannot simply choose rational moves in isolated

environment with them and with other´s emotions. Thus theatre metaphor approach suggests

that actors´ choices of moves are not only basing on instrumental rationality but also on their

beliefs about the opportunities they perceive, and on characteristic of the players and the

environment they are in. The outcome of attempting to resolve conflict according to theatre

metaphor approach is the result of the interactions related to the evolvement of emotions,

reasoning, exploring, debating, exchange of threats, and promises.

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The nature of theatre is to help the people to understand issues through metaphoric

communication and providing a communal experience. Using theatre metaphor in conflict

resolution in IJVs is a process of stimulating and sustaining participation of partners using the

world of the theatre to achieve real solutions to practical problems that occur in partnering

relationship affecting IJV operation. Employing theatre may help to transform the people

from being the object to the subject of development. Applying the theatre metaphor in

resolving conflict helps IJV partners to hold effective discussions, constructive dialogue,

understanding and trust toward partners and therefore work out strategies for dealing with

problems that affect them.

The logic of theatre works by creating a fictional narrative of special ongoing relationship

and conflicts which are subject to change by the playwrights and participants. In addition,

theatre work also explores all the aspects of situation, real life understanding, and

relationship. Furthermore, theatre also emphases on conflicts of personality, attitudes,

emotions, interests, and morals. The use of theatre metaphor approach is useful in conflict

management in IJVs as it may help to diagnose the nature of conflict as it re-enacts in a

fictional scene of the dynamics of human interaction and motivation which cause conflicts.

Furthermore, playing roles in theatre; partners have opportunities to understand the other

partners´ viewpoints as they play the antagonists or play third parties. Therefore, partners will

view the conflicted problems more objectively, leading more easily to resolve them.

3. Theatre metaphor in conflict resolution in IJVs

In conflict resolution process under theater metaphor approach, partners agree on the context

and the purpose the conflict resolution process. During the process IJV partners will attend

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warm-ups for building trust toward each other. Furthermore, they are trained to understand

partner´s skills and function so that they are willing to accept differences which come from

partners´ cultural background and their management styles. In addition, they should be able

to express their true feelings about the conflicts so that when the conflicts are solved, they are

gone and there are no hidden agenda.

Table 2: Actors in conflict resolution in IJVs

Actors in theatre Actors in IJVs

Playwright:

A person who create the fiction, invents the

situations and characters

Experts or specialists who are directly responsible for

solving conflicts

Director:

A person who manage context of event and the

fiction context

Foreign parent firms and local parent firms

Actors:

Persons who play out the characters in fiction

context

Managers/employees from both foreign and local

partners

Audience (also critic):

Persons who watch, observe, respond, and reflect

on the dramatic action

Representatives of different departments that are

involved in the conflicts.

The theatre process includes scriptwriting, initial reading, workshopping, rehearsals, and the

actual performance (Kendall, Kendall, & Lee, 2005). In scriptwriting stage, through

observation, discussion with involved parties to identify sources cause conflicts, how serious

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the problem is, and how IJV have been affected by conflicts and how urgently need to solve

conflicts by following IJV performance. As different type of conflicts have different natures

and therefore they require different type of players and their responsibility. A typology of

conflict is useful when the issues in a conflict are centralized in one of the five categories

discussed above.

When different conflicts occur, different responses to conflicts are required. For example, if

a conflict is primarily a data conflict, sharing information and being sure that each party is

interpreting the facts the same way is useful. However, if the conflict primarily is about

values, sharing factual data alone will not solve the problem. In this stage firms may have

initial plan for conflict resolution with its stand and strategies.

In initial reading stage, partners make a plan for different steps of conflict resolution. In this

stage they evaluate advantages and disadvantages when to select specific strategy to solve

conflicts. In initial stage, firms analyze their strategies and anticipate reaction of their partners. For

conflict to be resolved, it is important to know in terms of cultural aspects: not only know

what but know why and how the other partner behaves in such a way. The conflict resolution

process is the continuous development process. Partners need to recognize the forces or

sources causing conflicts. The point in this stage is to know why conflict occurs in IJV

relationship between partners.

In workshopping stage, the plan of partners for conflict resolution does not fix but it opens to

change. Under guiding by parent firms, conflict management teams or conflict negotiators are allowed

to act and try out different alternatives. Through workshopping stage, the players are able to learn

how to respond properly when the other have different moves. In rehearsal stage, negotiation

teams are practicing their negotiation steps, tactics and strategies to get partners to agree with

their proposed solutions. In addition, in this stage, different solutions and alternatives are

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rehearsed in case if the first priority alternative strategy fails to solve the conflicts, partners

will go on the second best one and so on. Before entering to negotiation table, partners have

to agree on the fundamental of theater that they will be willing to suspend of their disbelief

about the stereotype toward each other or their belief that there is only one solution for the

problem.

Table 3: Process of stages in conflict resolution applying theater metaphor approach

In the performing stage, conflict resolution team meets with their counter partners to negotiate for

conflict resolution. Partners then need to influence the other so that they do recognize the

Process stage in Theatre activities

Process stage in Conflict Management in IJVs

Actors Purposes

Scriptwriting - Problem identifications and evaluation

- Strategies formation

Representative of partners, parent firms

- To find out sources, types, and levels, and roles of conflicts

- To find out different approach and strategies to solve conflicts

Initial Reading

Initial walkthrough steps of conflict resolution plan

Representative of partners, parent firms

Evaluating advantages and disadvantages for different conflict resolution approach and strategies

Casting actors and actress

Conflict negotiation team formation

Representative of partners, parent firms, and conflict resolution teams

To select team that will performance successfully conflict resolution

Workshopping Brainstorm strategies to resolve conflict

Conflict resolution team

Conflict resolution team will test different approach and strategies to solve the conflicts to find out the different best options

Rehearsals Practicing of conflict transformation

Conflict resolution team

The team practice to negotiate with partners to agree with their solutions

The performance (The show)

Actual conflict resolution negotiation between partners

Representative of the other partner, and conflict resolution team

The conflict resolution team and the representative of other partners meet to negotiate for conflict resolution

Post Performance, (Critique, publicity)

Evaluating and trust rebuilding

Partner firms, IJV conflict management team, customers

To follow up conflict resolution stage

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strengths of cooperative behavior and thus encourage partners to create positive responses. It

is important in resolving conflicts that partners try to avoid direct negative comments. To

resolve conflicts in IJVs, partners need also to understand the other and also to make others to

understand their own points. These can be done only through open discussion. Through open

discussion about conflict areas, it is possible to change the ways the other partners perceive,

and therefore they act toward common goal as to maintain IJV performance and therefore

solve the common problems between partners.

The chance for partners to change comes from an active metaphorical dialogue about conflict,

transformation and resolution. Moreover, for conflicts to be solved, partners some time may

need to improvise the solutions as the situation development. They may also need to take off

their shoes and step into the other partners´ shoes to understand the other better. This

changing role helps partners to enter to change their mentality and nature of the negotiation

toward the common solution.

In post performing, parent firms are interested in the feedback and reviews from critics and

audiences such as board of IJVs, representatives of each related departments or even

customers of the IJVs. After conflicts have been resolved, it is important to monitor the short

term and long term effects of the conflict resolution (Nguyen, 2011). In addition, as in

theatre, it is important to have follow-up period to observe, to collect the feedback of the

partners to know if they are really satisfied with the solutions that are implemented.

Furthermore, the effect of the solutions to IJV performance should also be observed.

Depending on the conflicts types and level of conflicts, the length of this post-performance

will last. Mechanisms for follow-up are evaluating partner actions, behaviors, and

performance against what have been agreed upon during the resolution process (Nguyen,

2011). In addition, social exchange and personal relationships may help to regain trust and

neutral negative energies of the ventures and help to reaffirm commitment of partners into

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IJVs. Personal connections and relationships are not only crucial for conflicts resolution but

also for post conflict follow-up.

4. Conclusions

Metaphor approach has been proven as an important approach in management research (e.g.

Mantere et al., 2007) as it enables us to make sense of the complex and unfamiliar problem

(Foster & Docherty, 2013). We adopted theatre metaphor approach to analyze conflict

resolution between partners in IJVs. The theatre metaphor provides partners opportunity to

solve the conflicts by stepping out their current reality with current thought, constraints, and

viewpoints to allow them to try different solutions as well as to understand other partner´s

view point, logic and motives. This will allow partners with creative thinking and coming up

with problem solving solution.

Applying theatre metaphor approach can help partners to realize different cultural awareness,

and to have collective thought. In addition, theater metaphor can help partners to objectify

the various stands in understanding sources of conflicts between partners. Conflict resolution

leads to a higher level understanding of each other. By discovering the value of different

opinions, progress in conflict resolution becomes possible. Theatre metaphor approach helps

partners to step into others´ shoes and thus they can see the issues from the other partner´s

viewpoints. Thus, it helps to avoid deadlock in conflicts resolution since it allows the

viewpoints to be changed.

Since previous studies on conflicts resolution in IJVs are very tactics (see table 1), and

assuming that conflict resolution is one time transaction, this study offers the process model

that specify which actors, actions, and activities are needed in each step of conflicts

resolution. As the present study is the first to apply theater metaphor approach to the process

of conflicts resolutions in IJVs, it enriches IJV literature. Furthermore, the study benefits for

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managers of IJVs in such a way that managers know how to manage to resolve conflicts with

their partners through step by step of the process model proposed earlier.

Limitations and Future Research

This paper offers the process model of conflict resolution using theater metaphor approach. In

general the model could be applied for any conflict resolution in IJVs. However, the conflict

should be concerned to strategically important for partners really take time and go through all

stages of the process to ensure the success of problem solving. In addition, employing the

theatre metaphor in conflict resolution does not work if partners do not hold on to the

agreements and decisions reached in the process. Furthermore, this is only a theoretical

discussion; future studies can use empirical data to test our proposed model. As the model

proposed in this paper is a process model, longitudinal studies will have better chance to

capture the issues and therefore they are of interests for further research.

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