In China, you get the curious juxtaposition of the world's finest, largest, and most sophisticated companies competing in one of the world's most difficult, and on a per capita basis, poorest economies.
Amongst these blue chips, the theory goes, if you're not in a JV in China you're nothing, Sure, many companies have started using the WOFEs, wholly foreign-owned joint ventures, but in China's most lucrative telecom, insurance, banking and finance sectors, the only way into the market is through a JV, with the level of permissible foreign ownership rising at regular intervals.
But rarely has the inherently flawed nature of JVs been discussed. They are accepted as a fact of life, and...
