SingChina Tire Pte Ltd : managing an international joint venture

Abstract

On 20 January 1995, Kimberley Tan was reviewing an expatriation offer from SingChina Investments Holdings Ltd (SCIHL), Singapore. It was a three-year contract as finance manager for its joint venture, SingChina Tire Pte Ltd, Hefei, China (SCT). On the upside, Kimberley was aware that SCT transition from state-owned to joint venture enterprise offered immense challenges she was looking forward to from an overseas assignment. In addition to generous allowances for agreeing to work in China, the new position of finance manager brought her authority and responsibility at a very young age of 28 to hone her managerial skills for a quick ladder up in the corporate world. On the downside, Kimberley wondered as to how she would handle the difference in national and organizational cultures and balance the conflicting interests of joint venture partners. Period covered 1995 – 1998