The IJV Effects on Developing Technological Capacities: the Case of Tunisian Firms

The evolution of international alliances has raised the interest of literature on firm’s theory and in terms of the conception and its capacities. Thus, the firm’s evolution is viewed from the technological opportunities and its capacities perspective. In this context, the joint venture is considered as one of the main sources of technology transfer and as a dynamic channel for providing a higher potential of innovation capabilities. In the case of emerging markets, the International Joint Venture (hereafter IJV) provides knowledge spillovers for the recipient partner and the possibility of technological capacities development. By using an empirical method, we propose to test in the case of the Tunisian firms, the effects of the IJV in terms of learning, qualification and profitability. We also test the extent of the IJV in enhancing the potential absorptive capacity (PACAP) for the recipient partner. We note that the existence of prior capacities within the firms contribute to a better efficiency of the PCAP. Finally, we test the influence of the profile variables (sector, age), on the results as the considered control variables may affect the success of the transfer and moderate the IJV performance.