Coopetition Mechanism And Strategies Of International Joint Ventures For High-Speed Rail Projects

With the demand for high-speed rail(HSR)growing rapidly in the global market,the HSR has ushered in its golden age of development and witnessed a surge in the number of international joint ventures(IJVs)for HSR projects.HSR projects are not only characterized by high cost,large engineering volume,and long construction period,but also involve comprehensive and complex issues associated with the civil engineering,locomotive manufacturing,and operation.In order to obtain bids and implement the projects successfully,HSR contractors usually adopt the mode of IJVs.Considering that the existence of competition and cooperation among the members in the HSR IJVs,and the significant impact of the inter-partner relationship quality on the IJVs performance,this thesis aims to explore the coopetition mechanism in the HSR IJVs from the perspectives of coopetition relationships and coopetition capability.On this basis,this study will further identify the ideal coopetition strategies under various coopetition scenarios in order to help the members in HSR IJVs make better sense of the nature of coopetition,and provide them with theoretical and empirical reference for the optimization of coopetition strategies.This thesis takes the HSR IJVs as the research object,and analyzed the current situation and shortcomings of the previous research on HSR IJVs based on the comprehensive literature review.Then the objectives of this research was determined,which laid the groundwork for the subsequent research.Firstly,this thesis identified the influencing factors of coopetition relationships in HSR IJVs,and explored the influencing mechanism.Through a literature review and pilot study,35 factors from three levels were identified,and relevant data were collected through a questionnaire survey.On this basis,eight clusters were verified through the confirmatory factor analysis,and the path model of coopetition relationships was established by using the structural equation modeling.It is found that the macro-level and project-level factors affect the coopetition relationship via the firmlevel factors.After that,a series of recommendations are put forward based on the path model,which will assist the HSR IJVs members under different situations(isolating situation,partnering situation,contending situation,and adapting situation)in achieving or maintaining the optimal situation-adapting situation.Secondly,this study discussed the factors influencing the coopetition capability of HSR IJVs,and developed a path model uncovering the influencing mechanism.Through a literature review and pilot study,a total of 19 factors and their categories are determined,and the data were collected through a questionnaire survey.Then the five categories and six paths of 19 variables were confirmed by using the measurement model test and path analysis.The results demonstrate that both environmental and organizational conditions affect the coopetition capability of the contractors in the HSR IJVs.Also,a new framework for analyzing the coopetition capability in HSR IJVs was developed,which contributes to the existing theoretical knowledge system of coopetition research.Finally,this thesis explored the selection of coopetition strategies based on different situation of coopetition relationships and coopetition capability.As the dynamic balance of coopetition requires HSR contractors not only to have deep understanding of the coopetition relationships among the members in the IJVs as well as their own coopetition capabilities,but also to adopt appropriate coopetition strategies to reach a win-win situation in both the common benefits and the private benefits of the HSR IJVs’ members.Therefore,based on the research results of coopetition mechanism in HSR IJVs,this study investigated the ideal selection of coopetition strategies based on various coopetition scenarios and different benefits objectives by using the fuzzy-set qualitative comparative analysis.Also,a framework for selecting coopetition strategies based on the coopetition relationships and capability was established,which can provide direct guidance for members in HSR IJVs to implement coopetition strategies.