Longevity and cultural differences of international joint-ventures: toward time-based cultural management

This article explores the relationships amongtime, organizational, and national cultural distance inan international joint venture setting. Moreparticularly, the extent to which the longevity of aninternational joint venture affects the intensity of itscultural differences, is investigated in a sample of 51international joint ventures set up in Hungary. Itaddresses certain mechanisms available to aninternational joint venture's managers and to its partners todeal with cross-cultural issues. The results suggestthat the temporal dimension is a cultural moderator ofprime importance, but to be totally effective, it must be combined with a willful strategy ofcultural integration.