Abstract:
The research was conducted in an international joint venture (IJV) formed between a Brazilian and
Spanish Company, located in Brazil, which operates in the cosmetics industry. CEOs from both
parent companies were interviewed. The interviews occurred at two points – August 2001 and May
2003 – and sought to capture the evolution of the phenomena being researched. All the interviews
were transcribed and content analysis was used to uncover the theoretical themes that
underpinned or framed their discourse, according to a research model developed on the basis of an
extensive literature review. The model provided a frame with which to trace diverse theoretical
elements in the development of the venture. In terms of understanding the different rationalities
deployed by the different partners in their discourse, it was the development stage of the two
countries that provided the best interpretive device. Theoretically, aspects of Transaction Cost
Economics, Institutional Theory, and Resource Dependence could all be seen, in terms of the
rationalities shaping the discourses, to underlie the decision to form the IJV. In respect to practice,
these theories should be regarded as complementary rather than alternative ways of framing the
world: each represents an element of the discursive work that went into the constitution of the IJV.
