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Paul M. Lane Department of Marketing, Haworth College of Business, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008, USA Carol Felker Kaufman School of Business, Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey 081 02, USA The perception and use of time is extremely complex and frequently necessitates changes and adjustments when doing business in cross- cultural contexts, such as joint ventures that range from contract manufacturing, manage- ment contracting, shared ownership, franch- ising and licensing to alliances. Time is one of the major resources available to corpora- tions. Furthermore, time permeates culture. The cultures of organizational units are nested within organizational cultures, which are nested within national cultures. Joint ventures must bridge these nested cultures. A common perception of time is essential for smoothly running joint ventures or alliances. The traditional definition of joint venture is that of two corporations together forming a third unit. Thus, a firm from North America and one from Europe might form a third firm in Hungary, or Czechoslovakia. In Eastern Europe, a new definition of joint ventures is evolving. It has been observed that many Eastern Europeans use the term joint venture to mean an investment by a foreign firm in a company or an individual. This might include an outside company making a direct investment in an existing Hungarian com- pany, in a company that is being privatized or in setting up an operation based on working with an individual in Hungary. Time in joint ventures his is an expanded version of a T paper delivered at Budapest, Hungary, in November 1990. This paper presents a review of four areas of time study, which could be very sig- nificant to those involved in human resource management across corporate cultures. The four areas for which there are currently taxonomies are: time approaches, time pro- cessing, activity levels, and time use and commitment. In addition, the concepts of time and time discrepancies will be discussed. The examination of these taxonomies can help to pinpoint differences for corporate management when time concepts differ, whether across corporate boundaries, hierarchical levels within the same corporation, or, most importantly, when crossing cultural boundaries. The topic of time in joint ventures is particularly relevant to the changing situation in Eastern Europe. Joint ventures will be confounded not only by corporate culture problems, but also by the fact that they will be operating in a turbulent and unpredictable environment. It Joint ventures will be operating in a turbulent and unpredictable environment

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Page 1: Time in joint ventures

Paul M. Lane Department of Marketing, Haworth College of Business, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan 49008, USA

Carol Felker Kaufman School of Business, Rutgers University, Camden, New Jersey 081 02, USA

The perception and use of time is extremely complex and frequently necessitates changes and adjustments when doing business in cross- cultural contexts, such as joint ventures that range from contract manufacturing, manage- ment contracting, shared ownership, franch- ising and licensing to alliances. Time is one of the major resources available to corpora- tions. Furthermore, time permeates culture. The cultures of organizational units are nested within organizational cultures, which are nested within national cultures. Joint ventures must bridge these nested cultures. A common perception of time is essential for smoothly running joint ventures or alliances.

The traditional definition of joint venture is that of two corporations together forming a third unit. Thus, a firm from North America and one from Europe might form a third firm in Hungary, or Czechoslovakia. In Eastern Europe, a new definition of joint ventures is evolving. It has been observed that many Eastern Europeans use the term joint venture to mean an investment by a foreign firm in a company or an individual. This might include an outside company making a direct investment in an existing Hungarian com- pany, in a company that is being privatized or in setting up an operation based on working with an individual in Hungary.

Time in joint ventures

his is an expanded version of a T paper delivered at Budapest, Hungary, in November 1990.

This paper presents a review of four areas of time study, which could be very sig- nificant to those involved in human resource management across corporate cultures. The four areas for which there are currently taxonomies are: time approaches, time pro- cessing, activity levels, and time use and commitment. In addition, the concepts of time and time discrepancies will be discussed.

The examination of these taxonomies can help to pinpoint differences for corporate management when time concepts differ, whether across corporate boundaries, hierarchical levels within the same corporation, or, most importantly, when crossing cultural boundaries. The topic of time in joint ventures is particularly relevant to the changing situation in Eastern Europe. Joint ventures will be confounded not only by corporate culture problems, but also by the fact that they will be operating in a turbulent and unpredictable environment. It

Joint ventures will be operating in a turbulent

and unpredictable environment

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260 P. M. Lane and C. F. Kaufman

is a culture of radical changes. Thi,s leads to chaos, which causes people to focus on the immediate present. There is a real plossibility of basic changes in time philosophy by the citizens of the countries of Eastern Europe as they move to a free-market economy. The same is true for other participants in the economy such as outside investors, whether they are individuals or firms. This change is in part a result of the conflicts that exist in periods of rapid change between personal needs, market needs and investment needs. People and corporations find themselves having to deal with time in new ways.

Traditional joint ventures and alliances will be influenced by the corporate cultures of the corporate parents that join forces to create the joint venture company. The parent corporate cultures are inff uenced by the societal factors of their home or national cultures. For example, in Western cultures, where time is saved, budgeted and spent carefully, societal time standards are driven by the concern for schedules and punc- tuality. These kinds of values necessarily affect business, transmitting hidden meanings through schedules and attention tlo clocks, communicating the unspoken language of time. In sum, in a traditional joint venture, there are likely to be at least five time

xhibit 1 . Time cultures.

In a traditional joint venture, there are likely to

be at least five time cultures to consider

cultures to consider (Exhibit 1): the time cultures of the two or more parent organiza- tions and the two or more national time cultures in which those organizations operate, the time culture of the joint venture organiza- tion and possibly the time culture of nation in which it will operate.

This problem is complex when an outside firm invests in Eastern Europe as a partner with a firm or an individual. The outside investor must be sure that he or she has a good understanding of time and how it is used in the Eastern European countries in which the new firm will be producing and selling its goods. The rapid changes here may make this difficult for outside managers to understand as they have a relatively stable time culture. This may not be true in Eastern Europe.

Time is a resource. It is also a constraint in managing joint ventures and alliances across cultures, as management is not always pre- pared for the differences in time perception.

Exhibit 2. Temporal perspectives.

Activity Level - monochronic or poiychronic

Business Times - cultural restrictlons, rellgous practlces

Consumer Time - does time equal money, value of time

Delivery Nmes - how often is delivery expected

Hidden Meanings - does time use communicate messages

Infrastructure - Impact of transportation, utilities, media

Orientatlon - is the focus on the past, present or future

Pace of Ltfe - Is the tempo fast, leisurely, relaxed

Postponement - do delays signify lack of importance

Processing - is processing linear, cyclical or procedural

Punctuality - how is lateness interpreted

Servicing - will consumers comply with servlclng instructions

Social Time - role of 'non-task sounding' In business

Time Idioms - longuoge conventions may affect meaning

Values of Time - are same uses of time more important

Journal of Strategic Change, October 1992

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Time in joint ventures 261

It is strange that a difference in money is expected, but that a difference in time conceptions is often not anticipated. Human resource personnel need to learn about time and how it can impact productivity and relationships across corporate units (Exhibit 2).

Understanding time

As organizations become more global, understanding differences in time perceptions will become increasingly meaningful. As organizations approach new cultures and new organizations to form joint ventures with various levels of involvement, management needs to be aware of different approaches to time. The following review of time theory is designed to help management look at some of the issues in time. Under- standing these concepts may help to avoid problems in the joint venture process across any culture:

(1) Differing corporate time cultures; (2) Differing national time cultures; (3) Differing corporate to national time

cultures.

Time concepts impact joint ventures in at least three major areas: human resources, customer markets and financial expectations. Human resource issues include helping all involved to understand time concept dif- ferences. Managers from Northern Europe will have to learn to understand the time concepts of the Southern Europeans or they will have trouble with the labour force. Managers from the West will find that

Managers from the Asian Pacific Rim may be

surprised at the apparent short-lived commitment to organizations in the West

Journal of Strategic Change, October 1992

their expectations of eastern managers and workers will seem strange to those who are not educated to think about time as money. Managers from the Asian Pacific Rim may be surprised at the apparent short-lived commit- ment to organizations in the West. These are all symptoms of the myriad of time concept differences to which human resource managers need to pay attention.

Time concept differences are also promi- nent in customer markets. These need to be examined and understood by out-of-country managers. One cannot safely assume that customers in two different markets, or even two different segments, approach a product or service with the same time concepts. As time is such a major resource, this is something that needs to be understood by the marketing managers. Similarly, it is important that all parties to a joint venture have a common understanding about the time concepts involved in finance. The expected horizon of return appears to vary significantly across the triad markets: Asian Pacific Rim countries tend to have the longest expectations, European companies are next and finally, the United States (US) with the shortest expectations. It is vital that joint venture partners have some common understanding of major time concept issues such as investment horizon.

Time approaches

Time approaches should be of interest in three major areas: human resources, product markets and financial planning. Five time approaches are currently considered. The authors believe that there are other time approaches that will be considered and recognized in the future. These five ap- proaches are: economic, socio-cultural, psychological, measurement and physio- logical. Each of these represents a method of perceiving and responding to the time experience. Those considering a joint venture would do well to study their potential partners’ time approaches from each of these perspectives.

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262 P. M. Lane and C. F. Kaufman

Economic approach

The economic approach to time characterizes time perception in the Western World. It has been one of a finite time that is limited to 24 hours a day (Becker, 1965; Baumol, 1973). Usually, this ‘time’ is considered to be segmented into units. In the economic approach, there is emphasis on the value of time. Those using this approach will frequently debate trade-offs betwelen work, leisure and home production time, often giving a disproportionate exchange value to work time. This affects both work and consumption decisions.

The economic approacb to time characterizes time

perception in the Western World

Business time in some cultures may receive an economic value greater than the time spent at home or in consumption activities. It puts the thrust of business ahead of social and traditional values. Where culture requires a prelude to business discussions, the impatient businessman may be con- sidered rude, insensitive or overly competitive. In a joint venture where one partner has an economic time approach and another has more of a socio-cultural emphasis, :it would be critical to reconcile these different approaches to time.

Socio-cultural approach

The time approach characterizes perceptions and ‘rules’ for using time, which are learnt from culture and social upbringing. It is the social process that establishes a time-reckoning fraimework (Zerubavel, 1982). Cultural norms determine appropriate tempos in work, pla-y, what constitutes punctuality and lateness, and in the meaning of now and later (Levine, 1988). Social time encompasses the collective changes in time concepts in national and

s o c i o - c u 1 t u r a1

international communities that occur as lifestyles and environmental conditions change (Rice, 1989).

Joint venture partners need to search for socio-cultural differences in time and should try to desensitize each organization to time discrepancies. Partner organizations that are very different in their cultural approach to time may have difficulty building the goodwill relationship that is essential to successful joint ventures.

For example, firms entering eastern Europe and the former Soviet Republics from more stable environments need to be appreciative of the impact that the changes are having on the societal perception of time. Where once there was a slow plodding, centrally planned effort that was relatively rigid, there is now rapid change. There are great expectations of what this change may lead to and how fast things will happen. There is almost certainly going to be a discrepancy between the ideal and the actual time for the society.

Psychological approach

A psychological approach describes the way in which people perceive time. This includes phenomena such as duration, succession, synchronization and the velocity of time (Piaget, 1954; Hirschman, 1987). Rice (1989) refers to this as ‘Noetic Time’, or the time sense created by the human brain. Once again, those considering joint ventures should carefully study and attempt to understand the psychological time under which some of the key players are functioning. If key people are dealing with very different psychological time approaches, this could lead the joint venture into some difficulty.

The term time orientation is used here to imply directions as suggested by Hornik (1990) and Gentry et al. (1991). They have used it to imply the direction that an

Some people enjoy or worry about things that

occur in the future

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Time in joint ventures 263

individual looks in time processing. The main question relates to the time orientation of the respondent. Some people apparently exist in the future. They enjoy or worry about things that occur in the future. Others are present oriented, while still others are past oriented. These kinds of orientations clearly impact planning and operations. Managers who are future oriented could have difficulty with other managers or employees who have a different kind of orientation.

This could play a big role in eastern Europe with the pace at which changes are occurring. Not only are the changes being felt at socio-cultural level, but each individual reacts differently to these changes. Many people may feel a sense of real urgency to obtain whatever benefits that they think their new entitlement may include. This may be impacted by the speed of change.

The chaos in the environment can upset people’s sense of synchronization. Changes are not happening in the orderly expected fashion, and therefore the whole of society may seem to be out of synchronization. Additionally, there are two time concept areas that would be expected to change substantially. These are time discrepancies and time horizons, which are discussed in subsequent sections.

Measurement approach A wide variety of standard ways are used to measure the process of time within the same cultural grouping (Zerubavel, 1982). The measurement approach uses such things as physical time, clock time and statements that use time to measure events. Measurement frequently represents codified time concepts that are legal, cultural or organizational norms. As with the other orientations, differences between partners on measure- ment issues of time should be examined carefully and understood as they can lead to more severe difficulties later.

Physio logical approach A physiological approach considers the natural rhythms of time experienced in

nature. Man has many time rhythms that occur in physical cycles within the body. Changes or alterations in these rhythms may impact an individual’s overall perception of time and health. As a result of the lack of knowledge about our body’s intricate cyclical activity, the physiological approach to time has not been seriously considered in joint operations.

Time approaches could provide a starting place for examining time issues in a joint venture. Many of the time issues in orientation are not only meaningful but also easily recognizable. Some of the other time issues, such as time processing, time activity, time commitment and use, time horizons and time discrepancies are more subtle. They can be harder to find and assess.

Time processing

There are at least three basic methods of time processing that should be considered and observed by joint venture partners. These three are quite different and include linear time, cyclical time and procedural time (Exhibit 3).

There are at least three basic methods of time

processing that should be considered

Linear time

Linear time has a past, present and future and a distinct direction. One form of linear time is linear separable time. Linear separable time is the time of most Western societies. This concept of time with its forward direction and division into units is most closely related to the economic approach and business approaches to time. Many US managers have been taught to conceptualize and use linear time. It is the time of business schools in most of the world and to which much of the world

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264 P. M. Lane and C. F. Kaufnzan ~ ~ ~

Exbibit 3. Time processing.

Linear I

adapts when dealing with others in the formal business structure. It is the time of scientific management or work study time- linear and divisible into separate steps from start to finish. Time is measured by the artificial but precise movements of thie clock, rather than the reoccurrence of natural events found in cyclical time.

Cyclical time

Cyclical or circular time is most c80mmon among human societies (Hayden, 1987). Time is viewed as a circle. The natural events used to measure time, such as birth and death, the movement of the sun, the phases of the moon, the tides and the seasonis of the year, all recur in predictable cycles, suggesting a circular pattern (Terpstra and David, 1985). Such an approach maly seem strange or inappropriate in a discussion about time in joint ventures. The reason is that most of those considering joint ventures are probably used to thinking in linear separable time.

Cyclical time appears to conflict with industrial time standards, where assembly lines are driven by punctuality, orderliness and clock-time regularity. The human resource

managers in an organization considering a joint venture need to understand what kind of time its management and plant employees will be using. Many organizations that think they cannot work with cyclical time may be surprised to find out how many cyclical-time people are already working for them. Some natural cycles have been replaced with pay cycles, work and free-time cycles and so forth.

One of the difficulties for the linear separable business person trying to work with a cyclical person is the lack of focus on the past or the future. The cyclical-time person focusses on the cycle, giving his or her attention to the present cycle. This implies that employees may need different rewards and benefits depending on how they process time. Cyclical-time people seem to adapt well to the establishment of segments within the cycle, whereas linear-time people may have more difficulty adapting to a cyclical framework.

Joint venture planners should also be cognizant of different kinds of time

in the retail market

Joint venture planners should also be cognizant of different kinds of time in the retail market. Products that sell well in one time frame may not sell well in other areas where time cultures are different. This has implications for product design, financing and communication in marketing. Different marketing techniques may be in order for different time concepts. For example, the cyclical person may be solely concerned with payment per cycle, while the linear separable person is concerned with total cost, length of payments and so forth.

Joint venture planners in Eastern Europe should be concerned about the changes in time concept or practice. Eastern European nations striving to become part of the West naturally attempt to standardize to Western

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265 Time in joint ventures

time. The process of standardizing an existing time culture to linear separable time is likely to induce stress and can create mismatches or ‘time discrepancies’ among the participants. Learning a new set of time expectations and behaviours may require adjustments and patience until a workable or acceptable system is developed. Managers and planners can use this information to help with education and training programmes built around time concepts.

Procedural time

Procedural time processing is used by those whose primary emphasis is task completion rather than allocated segments of time. That is to say, the activity determines how much time is spent. In procedural cultures, business meetings will carry on until finished, regardless of other informally ‘scheduled’ appointments kept waiting through the process. This is in direct contrast to Western business cultures, in which the agenda must be accomplished within a fixed allotment of time, such as 1 hour.

These three methods of processing time, linear, cyclical and procedural, have been cited since Hall’s (1959) anthropological analysis of time. They provide a basis for thinking about time in joint-venture situa- tions, but they do not allow for enough detail as to the complexity of time relationships that one may expect to encounter. The next major area to be considered is that of time activity.

Time activity

People participating in joint ventures with those from other cultures need to be aware

I t is often considered impolite or inefficient to do multiple activities at

one time

of differences in activity levels. Western business time has tended to focus on monochronic activity, or doing one thing at a time. It is often considered impolite or inefficient to do multiple activities at one time, which has been called polychronic time. Most business people from the West, whether North America or northern Europe, would only schedule one business appoint- ment in a given block of clock time. If that was a meeting of several people, it would generally be accepted that one person at a time would talk. On the other hand, in many cultures there is nothing wrong with having multiple appointments at the same time, or everyone in a meeting talking simultaneously. In some cultures, handling a number of things at one time is the norm.

Technology has changed, to some degree, polychronic versus monochronic time outside of business. Most Westerners today, listen to some kind of device, speaker phone, radio, television, voice tape or video cassette recorder (vcr), at least for a portion of the work day while doing other things. Many drive cars while talking on the phone, there are advertisements for hand-free mobility phone sets that allow you to move around your office while talking and so forth. The major human resource problem here is determining and identifying the fit of such polychronic behaviours within the cultural norms in a business situation. This is particularly true in businesses where the standard is monochronic time use.

When staffing a joint venture, or when working with a local firm, organizations should be concerned about trying to create synergistic matches between people and organizations based on their normal activity levels. It is also consequential for managers to realize that these time issues may get more complex when the activity level is con- sidered, along with the processing level and the approach to time.

Time commitment and use

Time commitment and use is another way of thinking about time. In this framework it is

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266

A B C D E F G

P. M. Lane and C. F. Kaufman

H

Exhibit 4. Monochroniclpolychronic.

A G N Poly chronic

I

A I Poly chronic

possible to see how people experience or perceive work, leisure, family commitments, household production and so forth. For example, some people look at their job as time spent within specific clock hours and when the clock hours are over the work is done. Others think about time as income producing but not obligated to a specific clock time. Their job is something to be done but is not confined to a specific time period.

Some people look at thleir job as time spent within

speczyic clock hours

This kind of thinking is vital in joint ventures for two reasons. First, within the workplace it is significant that employees, managers and owners have a similar commit- ment to work and work-related activities, or at least understand each others commitment to these activities. One of the problems that has been expressed by Westerners doing business in Eastern Block countries has been the lack of a connection, or a relationship, between work time and money. There may be a lack of common understanding of the commitment and obligation related to income production time. This may require human resource managers to approach development and staffing plans differently. Employers may need help in education and training to

Employers may need help in education and training to understand and adjust

their time use and commitment

- ~~

understand and adjust their time use and commitment. People’s experience of time may be a critical link in tying pay to performance.

This is even more noticeable when considering production workers who have never been measured by their output, having always been paid for the time spent, whether or not there was work for them to do. This seems to be a particular problem in the former centrally planned economies.

Second, the way that people perceive their time and their activities can influence the types of products and services that might be demanded by the marketplace. In many Western countries, there has been a reduction in leisure time (unplanned not obligated time), causing a shift in market demands. In areas with less time-oriented economic development, product demands often start with time saving and communication devices and they do not move into the leisure market until sufficient leisure time availability has been created. As the political, economic and other systems change, customers may expect to undergo shifts in the amount of clock time devoted to activities and changes in the types of activities across the categories from income producing to committed and un- committed time.

Those considering joint ventures need to look at time allocation within the targeted market area. How much time is allocated to work, play, social-cultural activities and household chores? How does time use relate to quality of life in the community? To do this, a number of time-use classifications, which could be helpful for those considering joint ventures in other cultural areas, have been derived from the original Lane and Lindquist model (1989).

_ _ _ _ _ ~ _ _ _

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Time in joint ventures 267

These classifications provide an oppor- tunity to distinguish between income- producing time and disposable time, time spent on activities that must be done (commitment), time used in activities per- formed on a specified schedule (obligated), and time spent on planned activities and time spent spontaneously.

Perceptual time use model

Income-producing time use is time use, within a clock block, for the purpose of production of monetary earnings or its equivalent (i.e. production for sale or barter).

Non-income producing time use is all time use, within a clock block, that is not directly for the purpose of production of monetary earnings or its equivalent. This includes time use on activities that may be indirectly related to the income producing activity such as driving to work, required community services, etc., as well as personal, devotional, societal responsibility, etc.

Committed time use is time used for something that has to be done such as a duty or responsibility.

Committed obligated time use is com- mitted time use that has been assigned, scheduled and allocated to a specific clock block.

Committed non-obligated time use is a committed time use that has not been assigned, scheduled and allocated to a specific clock block.

Uncommitted time use is time used, whether intended or spontaneous, for some- thing that does not have to be done.

Uncommitted planned time use is un- committed time use that has not been assigned, scheduled and allocated to a specific clock block but is intended to be done.

Uncommitted unplanned time use is uncommitted time use that has not been assigned, scheduled and allocated to a specific clock block but is done spontaneously.

Time horizons

Time horizons are critical components in joint venture formation, planning and strategy. Is the horizon the current cyclical period (sometimes 3 months, often 12 months), or does it stretch to long-range goals. In different countries, there are different horizons for planning and investing. In the US, planning tends to have a short horizon due in part to the dependence on the financial

Time horizons are critical components in joint venture formation,

planning and strategy ~

markets for borrowing availability and in part to the extensive use of short-term profits as a basis for management pay determination. By contrast, Japanese companies, in part as a result of their financial arrangements and in part because of individual and corporate phil- osophy, seem to have a much broader market horizon. Sharing a common distance in time horizons can be of great importance in the planning and operating of a joint venture. Partners need to share a common horizon for product market and financial market success, or there is likely to be difficulty.

If a joint venture is going to look at a long- range plan, there may be a willingness to invest heavily up front in order to attain the market share, the idea being that profits will come later. The Japanese have been very successful with this strategy; it has been followed by many other Pacific Rim countries and many privately controlled companies. However, if the joint venture must start to contribute to the profits of one or more of the parent companies in the near future, then it must have more of a near term profit maxi- mization strategy. This can put immediate

Journal of Strategic Change, October 1992

Page 10: Time in joint ventures

pressure on the organization to generate profits. The environments of companies with these two different approaches are substan- tially different. The problem may be that Eastern Europeans may want short-term solutions but that their market position may require long-term commitment. Many of the existing enterprises are not competitive in freer regional and global markets ( K V , 1990).

Time discrepancies

Time discrepancies occur when individuals or organizations either have, or think they have, a time shortage or scarcity (Gross, 1987) or time surplus. Time discrepancies

~~~~ ~

Time discrepancies ojten lead to feelings of

discomfort and may cause stress within an organization

often lead to feelings of discomfort and may cause stress within an organization. In a joint venture with managers and workers from different corporate cultures or different nations, there may be time discrepancy problems that need to be resolved. It is possible to see some of these time discrepancies in advance when looking at the organizations that are considerinig a joint venture. In Eastern Europe, such time discrepancies can be quickly discovered by managers and workers addressing what they hope for in the way of immediate clhange and success. The reality for many privatized companies is that a long-term programme will be needed for them to be successful. A joint venture partner would be well advised to consider the built-in discrepancy.

268 P. M. Lane and C. F. Kaufman

-

Time discrepancies qrer potentially profitable

market opportunities for joint ventures

Time discrepancies also offer potentially profitable market opportunities for joint ventures. There is likely to be a great desire to reduce the time discrepancy. Products or services that either occupy time for those with time surpluses or those that can ‘save’, transfer or allow for polychronic time use are often in demand by those who are time deficient or feel that time is scarce. For example, in the world of information transmission, the portable phone surmounts the lack of infrastructure in the form of wires. There is also the fax, which helps greatly with the printed word. More recently, there is tele-conferencing which allows a conference to take place in two or more places at once. Other innovations that might help with time discrepancies include E-mail and the ability to transfer whole files by wire.

Products, such as computers, photocopiers and microwaves, that save time reduce the total amount of time required to do a task. Products, such as voice mail, electronic mail and VCRs, that transfer time allow movement of the tasks from one clock time location to another. In the US, there are many people who transfer time by recording the national news for their review when they get home from work or play. They are literally transferring the news to another time location. Products or services that allow for polychronic time use permit a person to do more than one thing at a time. For example, the car phone allows a person to drive and communicate by phone, or automation of production allows the operation of multiple machines or tasks simultaneously by the same worker. Time concepts can impact the construction, management, labour force and the results of joint ventures in both the product and financial markets.

Implications

The chances of success of organizations considering joint ventures at any level, from an alliance to a formal legal joint investment to create a third entity, would be enhanced if some attention was paid to time elements.

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Time in joint ventures 269

~ ~~

In each of our environ- ments, there is a belief

that everyone else views time in the same way

In each of our environments, there is a tendency to think about time as a given, and a belief that everyone else views time in the same way. It is critical to understand time differences, as well as language and other cultural differences, in the management of the joint venture, the workers and the marketplace.

In Eastern Europe, the need to think about time in terms of joint ventures may be extremely important. Time is one of the largest resources that Eastern Europeans have to offer to those interested in a joint venture. Partners need to be aware of the current sense of time that may exist. One of the problems that joint ventures may face among workers is the lack of connection between work time and money or profits. While this may seem obvious to those people coming from free-market economies, it is not necessarily a fact. In many centrally planned economies, workers are used to being paid for their time at factories, whether or not the organization is profitable. The traditional linkage between pay and performance that one might expect from employees in other economies does not exist. Further, in order

Many factories have employed more people

than they may have needed, creating artijicial or synthetic employment

to achieve almost full employment, many factories have employed more people than they may have needed, creating artificial or synthetic employment. Thus, people in the Eastern European workplace may have a very

different sense of time than the economic approach expected by most Westerners.

One meaningful way of using information about time is to think about it in terms of the business being considered. Several specific areas that are consequential for those considering joint ventures in Eastern Europe should be contemplated in such plans. Four specific areas are summarized here: joint ventures in general, joint ventures in Eastern Europe, joint ventures in privatized firms, and management and worker relationships in joint ventures.

Joint ventures in general

In any joint venture, it is vital to consider a number of different time areas. The issue of horizons of the ownership is a major one. Do all parties have a common expectation about the length of time that it will take for the joint venture to become successful in the marketplace? Further, is there a common understanding about the reality of needed in- vestments and future distributions of income. Complications could occur if the co-operating firms are coming from different regions of the world with different time horizons.

The issues of the time culture of the co- operating organizations and the time culture in which the joint venture will be operating are also serious. Time differences in approaches, processing, activity, commit- ment and use, and so forth among partners can lead to difficulties for the new joint venture. There are many stories of the difficulties that managers from one country have had in trying to get management teams or workers to perform in another country. For example, with the progression toward Europe 1992, many European companies have formed joint ventures with companies from other countries, the Europeans are having to learn how to work out time

The Europeans are having to learn how to work out

time differences

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2 70 P. M. Lane and C. F. Kaufman

differences. An example would be the difference in activity level at a meeting where Italian managers are in control compared to the activity level at a meeting where English managers are in control. The Italians tend to be comfortable with multiple conversations, while the English prefer one thing a.t a time.

Approaching any joint venture should be done with care. Understanding the impact of time can help organizations entering into joint ventures to avoid some of thle pitfalls of this process.

Joint ventures in Eastern Europe

The case of joint ventures in Eastern Europe is even more compfex. Here, it is critical that the partners carefully think through a number of areas. First, time, labour, skill and some facilities may be the only assets that an Eastern European company has to offer as part of a joint venture. It is imperative that joint venture partners are sure that they have a common understanding of the issue of time to avoid problems in production.

Management needs to be realistic :about the time horizon necessary to estabdish and ensure markets within the European region and then perhaps global markets for the Eastern European firm. The issue of horizons is likely to be prominent. One should expect that many Eastern Europeans will want to see a rapid change, which may not always be practical or possible.

In terms of processing, many Eastern Europeans are not used to functioning on Western business time. They have not had to do so in centrally planned economies. They may need education and help in this area. Similarly, they do not have the technology in many cases, which allows for multiple activities, or the polychromic use of

time that can be achieved in the West. The lack of infrastructure not only impacts getting products to the market, but it also directly impacts the potential for manage- ment performance. Limits on technical infra- structure can inhibit marketing efforts, such as telemarketing, intensive distribution, couponing and so forth. These can also limit production and management information necessary for Western-style management.

It is anticipated that there will be tremendous shifts in time commitment and use as the economies continue to go through radical change. Such changes provide opportunities in the marketplace, but may also mean additional complexities in management and the labour force. People may feel differently about how much time they perceive as obligated or committed to dedicate to different areas of their lives. These changes could impact the ability of joint ventures to accomplish what they hope to achieve. Time is a valuable and under- utilized resource in Eastern Europe.

Joint ventures in privatized firms

In recently privatized firms, there are some special areas of time concern that need to be addressed. First, most workers and management probably have high hopes for immediate success. In reality, many of the firms that are being privatized may not have much hope once the monopoly position that they have enjoyed is changed by opening up the market. Second, most of these firms need large amounts of marketing investment to build them for the future. This is a major discrepancy from the foreign owners’ rush to get into Eastern Europe in the hope of quickly cashing in on this larger market.

In their rush to privatize, the governments are thinking about process and not potential

~~

The lack of infrastructure directly impacts the

potential for management performance

In their rush to privatize, the governments are

thinking about process and not potential success

Journal of Strategic Change, October 1992

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2 71 Time in joint ventures

success. The focus is on bringing outside dollars into the country by selling a portion or all of the assets of the centrally owned and controlled economy. Owners may quickly find themselves with a number of time discrepancy problems. First, there are the dashed hopes of workers who expected immediate improvement instead of layoffs. Second, there is the under estimation of the time that it takes to build a strong market position. Third, there is the demand for more time by government and other Eastern European firms that may be investing.

Management and worker relationships in joint ventures

Workers are a key to the successful production of quality products for an or- ganization. Many workers in Eastern Europe are tired of waiting. They want to participate in the dream now. The problem is that many of them are not used to the idea of pay for performance. Under the centrally planned economy, there was little association between work time and money received. Workers have entirely different time concepts than those that might be found in more free- market economies. There will probably need to be substantial layoffs to get rid of ‘artificial employment’ (Lane and Kaufman, 1991).

I t will be necessary to bring a westernized way of thinking about time

and money to the labour force

The challenge for management will be to provide motivation, understanding, education and training to the workers. It will be necessary to bring a westernized way of thinking about time and money to the labour force. This is perhaps the greatest challenge of all. If this is not successful, then it will be extremely difficult to achieve market and financial goals.

In both the management of joint ventures and in the marketplace, changes in time concepts may be occurring relatively rapidly. It will be meaningful to track and understand these changes. They may provide real market opportunities for joint ventures operating in Eastern Europe. It might be anticipated that as the changes in the quality of life occur, more workers will begin to adapt to some kind of linear separable time, while many in planning and management will move to a more procedural approach. There may be major shifts in activity patterns, including the desire or need to become more polychronic in time use.

Understanding the time perceptions of all involved in a joint venture can enhance the workability of the project. Where there are significant differences, organizations may first wish to try an alliance. In an alliance, two organizations can work together in- formally. As they learn to work with one another and with their different approaches to time and other cultural factors, they can then look to closer relationships.

Time then is a significant concept in management, production and markets. For those considering a joint venture, differences in time perceptions should not be over- looked. This is particularly true in the case of Eastern Europe, where time may be one of the primary resources that one of the joint venture partners has to offer.

References

Baumol, William J . (1 97 3). Income and substitution effects in the Linder theorem, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 87,

Becker, Gary W. (1965). A theory of the allocation of time, The Economic Journal, 7 5 ,

Gentry, James W., KO, Gary and Stoltman, Jeffrey (1991). Measures of personal time orientations. In: Time and Consumer Behavior, Chebat and Venkatesan (eds), Proceedings of the VIIth John-Labatt Marketing Research Seminar, Universite du Quebec a Montreal.

629-633.

493-517.

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2 72 P. M. Lane and C. F. Kaufman

Gross, Barbara (1987). Time scarcity: inter- disciplinary perspectives and implica.tions for consumer behavior. In: Research in Consumer Behavior, 2, Sheth, Jagdish N. and Hirschman, Elizabeth C. (eds), Greenwich, Connecticut, JAI Press, Inc., pp. 1-54.

Hall, Edward T. (1959). The Silent Language, Doubleday, Garden City, New York:.

Hayden, Gregory (1987). The evolution of time constructs and their impact on socio-economic planning, Journal of Economic Issues, X X I (Sept.), 1282- 13 12.

Hirschman, Elizabeth (1987). Theoretical perspectives of time use: implications for consumer behavior research. In: Research in Consumer Behavior, 2 , JAI Press, pp. 55-81.

Lane, Paul M. and Kaufman, Carol Felker (1991). Opportunity time. Working Paper.

Lane, Paul M. and Lindquist, Jay D. (1988). Definitions for the Fourth Dimension: a proposed time classification system. In: Developments in Marketing Science, X I , Bahn, Kenneth D. (ed.), pp. 38-46.

Lane, Paul M. and Lindquist, Jay D. (1989). What is time: an empirical exploratory investigation. Academy of Marketing Science Proceedings, In press.

Levine, Robert V. (1988). Waiting is a power game, Psychology Today, Apri l , 24-33.

Piaget, Jean (1954). The Construction of Reality in the Child. Basic Books, New York.

Rice, Paul (1989). Time Source. Tenspeed Press, Berkley, California.

Terpstra, Vern and David, Kenneth (li985). The Cultural Environment of International Busi- ness. South-Western Publishing Co., Cincinnati, Ohio.

Weiner, Steve (1990). On the road to Eastern Europe, Forbes, December 10, 193-200.

Zerubavel, Eviatar (1982). The standandization of time: a sociohistorical perspective, The American Journal of Sociology, 8,6, 1-23.

Authors’ topical bibliography

Human resources

Kaufman, Carol Felker, Lane, Paul M. and Lindquist, Jay D. (1991). Time congruity in the organization: a proposed quality-of-life framework, Journal of Business Psychology, Vol. 6 , No. 1 (Fall).

Time as money

Lane, Paul M. and Kaufman, Carol F. (1990). Dimensions of time and money. In: Advanced Research in Marketing, Proceedings of the 19th annual conference of the European Marketing Academy, Mulbache and Jocum (eds), 99- 117.

Types of time

Lane, Paul M. and Kaufman, Carol J. More than 24 Hours A Day.

Kaufman, Carol J. and Lane, Paul M. (1991). The experience of time pressure. In: Marketing Thought Around the World, Bradley, F . (ed.), University College, Dublin: Michael Smurfit School of Business, Vol. 2, 276-289.

Kaufman, Carol Felker, Lane, Paul M. and Lindquist, Jay D. (1991). Exploring more than 24 hours a day: a preliminary investigation of polychronic time use, Journal of Consumer Research, December 199 1.

Lane, Paul M. and Kaufman, Carol J. (1991). Time waves: mental and physical intensity over clock time. In: Marketing Thought Around the World, Bradley, F. (ed.), University College, Dublin: Michael Smurfit School of Business, Vol. 2, 319-350.

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Journal of Strategic Change, October 1992