Observational fieldwork and interviewing have been supplemented by the gathering and analysis of documentary material generated by the research projects on subjects such as regulations, contracts, correspond- ence, memoranda and routine records on samples. These kinds of company documents are a useful source of information from which to understand each international strategic alliance’s business activities and its development processes in China. In addition, these documents provide valuable information that may not be accessible by other means. A major advantage of the access to a firm’s documentation is the information that is generated contemporaneously with the events they refer to. Hence, a firm’s introduction brochure is less likely to be subject to information distortion in comparison with data obtained only from an interview.
Published company brochures are also consulted. Economic data of a secondary nature is collected from local commercial bureaus and libraries. This is used to identify the context for the research. Particular attention is paid to relevant regulations and provisions on international strategic alliances. Some secondary data is also collected from the China Statistical Year Book, the Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, the Foreign Investment Journal, the People’s Daily, the Economic Daily and the Beijing Review. To identify those strategic alliances within the population chosen, a list of strategic alliances within the chosen sectors was generated by reference to telephone directories, newspapers, journals, the 40,000 International Joint Ventures Directory published by the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Economic Relations and Trade, and publications from chambers of commerce, embassies and government departments in China.
An international strategic alliance in China that operates in a specific industrial sector may have some special features. Each interview requires adaptation of the methodology to the needs and environment of each manager working in a strategic alliance, as there are significant differences in the regional or industrial context of these strategic
alliances in China. It was important to identify research locations or industrial sectors in which strategic alliances are most prevalent, although managers in most strategic alliances located in the north and south of China did not react differently in terms of access and interview. With regard to access, an approach to local managers is commonly facilitated by their management styles. Most local managers tend to answer the telephone themselves instead of using a secretary, so the easiest way to get access is by telephoning local managers directly. Foreign managers prefer to be approached on a more formal basis and generally take a more rigid view of the time they will put aside for an interview.
Confidentiality is a particularly sensitive issue in most strategic alliances in China. Difficulties concerning data access in the research project arise mainly in performance areas in terms of operational records providing statistics on strategic alliance performance and the percep- tions that local and foreign managers hold of one another. Information on the strategic alliances’ operational performance record is not easy to obtain. Senior managers in a strategic alliance tend to feel that the release of confidential information might put them at a competitive disadvan- tage. Their willingness to assess strategic alliance performance along scales and to articulate perceptions of the managers in the strategic alliance can be influenced by how open and assured their personalities are. A few respondents felt that the information would be used against them and thought that this part of the interview was not legitimate.
Personal visits to each strategic alliance are necessary in order to obtain valid information on variables which are otherwise difficult to assess, such as strategies, ownership and control. Mandarin Chinese is the language of interviews with local respondents, while English is generally used with foreign respondents.
Relatively factual information on strategic alliance formation and ownership provision was obtained from interviews with strategic alliance general managers, deputy general managers and functional heads.
Information on each issue was checked with at least two respondents.
Partner firm objectives for each international strategic alliance and their attainments were assessed separately by most of the senior local and foreign managers interviewed. Although interviews were not conducted with managers located in the partner firms, all of the respondents who assessed partners’ strategic objectives were seconded by the relevant partner firms. All the Chinese respondents for partner firm objectives have been with the strategic alliances from the start of operations, as have 15 per cent of the expatriate managers. Their secondment from the partner firms, plus regular involvement in reporting and communi-
cation with the partner, is deemed to provide a reasonable basis for them to assess partner firm objectives. Interviews were normally conducted either with a colleague from the local consulting firm, People’s Republic China, or from the City University of Hong Kong.
The interview started with a fifteen-minute brief on the research and gives a three-page introductory statement about the project together with a one-page covering letter that touched on concerns about anonymity.
The letter, written in two versions (English and Chinese), was prepared and authorized by the City University of Hong Kong. More sensitive questions were asked at the end of the interview after all other questions had been answered and rapport had been built up. Most senior local managers tend to be less cautious about the strategic alliance’s perform- ance data than their foreign partners. In some cases, the interviewer became aware that some managers preferred to focus on a particular market-related topic such as procurement, investment decisions, product pricing or marketing. A positive attitude was encouraged towards the interview by indicating the benefits of previous international strategic alliance research, in addition to the feedback report that the participating firms will receive.
The difference between local and foreign managers may have an effect on the quality of the data received. In order to be able to present an overall perspective for each strategic alliance, the subject matter concern- ing the relative influence of partners is in many cases reported sep- arately by local and foreign managers in each firm. This permits a check to be made for national bias. This research on the subjects of ‘foreign investment and corporate governance’ is perceived as a ‘hot topic’ in China. Some interviewees know what an investigator wants to hear as they have had dealings with different investigators at various times.
There is thus a risk of bias, because respondents are likely to say what they think the interviewers want to hear rather than provide their own opinions, and therefore it is always important to try to double-check information with other interviewees. There was no experience of respondents who said they could not answer because the question was too general and vague, or because they had never thought about the topic.
Specific probing questions were asked to guide the answers, as some respondents were afraid that their replies would reveal their lack of knowledge about their firms. In such situations, it was important to emphasize that there were no right and wrong answers to the particular questions. Monitoring the respondent’s commitment through the interview was sometimes difficult to manage. Some respondents suggested that their time was too valuable to waste on the study or that
the study was not applicable to them. It was found to be important to emphasize the number of cases that had been completed and the poten- tial importance of improving understanding about the management of an international strategic alliance in China. To gain an insight into the mutual perceptions of local and foreign managers, some open-ended questions were asked that often contributed to an overrun of the interview beyond the previously-agreed length.
With this possibility in mind, open-ended questions were asked in the last section of the interview. Given the scope of the questions on objectives, ownership, corporate governance, corporate culture and organizational learning, interpretation of the subjects by different managers tended to vary depending upon their management positions.
Several respondents from one strategic alliance were therefore inter- viewed, as this was likely to strengthen the validity of the information provided. It was also important to get both the local and foreign perspective, especially on foreign investment and corporate governance.