Marketing Conflicts in Joint Ventures in Vietnam's Lubricant Industry

Vietnam's large potential market and oil resources have attracted many multinational companies, and joint ventures have been the common form of entry. Joint ventures allowed multinationals to gain quick entry, and domestic companies to gain access to capital and technical expertise. However, joint ventures in Vietnam can suffer numerous conflicts, due to differences in working environment, cultures, economic system, level of development, and objectives and motives of the partners involved. Our research looks specifically at conflicts in the area of marketing. It is based on a series of in-depth, face-to-face interviews in three large-scale European-Vietnamese joint ventures operating in Vietnam and serving mainly domestic markets. Results show major differences, from the level of marketing strategy and planning, to implementation of marketing activities, to control