You are the CEO of a large, name-brand consumer packaged goodscompany. Some of your most well-known products include frozenfoods, bottled drinks and juices, salad/food dressings and snacks.You have garnered considerable success in the domestic U.S. market,where you have commanding market shares in almost all of your foodcategories. On a recent trip to the international foods conventionin Vegas, you meet with some investment bankers who are followingyour company's strategy and day-to-day events. They point out toyou that they would like to see you continue to sustain the highgrowth rate of your company. In fact, they believe that animportant way to continue growing is by entering new overseasmarkets. You concur, and are willing to hear what else they mighthave to say. The bankers realize you are somewhat risk-averse, asyou are unwilling to make an outright acquisition of a company in amarket or region with which you are not familiar. However, theynote that are two potential alliance partners who would like totalk with you. Both of these companies are in the same industry asyou, so there is no issue of industry-based friction or tension. Onthe other hand, the two prospective firms differ from each otheralong some important dimensions.
The first company (call it A) is small, managed by a young andenthusiastic management team, but is comparatively new to the foodbusiness. In fact, the young leader of company A claims to haveread about you in airline magazines and other businesspublications, and he/she aspires to build the same kind of companythat you did. He/she looks up to you and is excited that you areconsidering his/her company as a potential partner. Company A iswell-situated in an emerging market that looks promising, but isalready well-represented by the operations and subsidiaries ofother highly diversified, multinational food firms. Most of companyA’s business is dedicated to providing bottled drinks to its ownemerging market. These bottled drinks are wildly popular, and youare thinking that they could be exported to other similar emergingmarkets (and even the U.S. market) if the conditions are right. Thebottled drinks business offer you a nice way to get into A’semerging market, where you can contribute important skills, but youare concerned that the A’s facilities are not quite up to yourquality standards. An additional factor to consider is that thetransportation infrastructure in A’s marketplace is uneven, raisingthe possibility that freight damage could occur, as well asperishability, due to the limited shelf-life of bottled drinks.Company A prefers to work with you in a joint venture format wherethe both companies form a third-party entity that would serve asthe nerve center and operations base of the alliance.
The second company (call it B) is large, and highly diversified inmany food businesses. It is almost two-thirds (2/3) your size andhas been around for almost thirty years. It has a long history ofworking closely with the government in its marketplace, and at onepoint, was owned by the government before it was privatized.Competing in a free-market economy remains more of an abstract,than a real, tangible concept. In fact, company B is often a placewhere departing government officials often call home, since thereare many ties with B’s management that were developed over time.Company B’s management has a marked tendency to look towards itscentral government for “guidance” on how it should compete. Assuch, the company has not evinced a high degree of urgency forprofitability nor for perfection. Although B owns a number ofmodern, state-of-the-art bottling and food processing facilities,they are all heavily unionized, and workers are worried aboutcompeting in this post-privatization environment. Company B offersyou a wide variety of possible joint food-related projects within abroad alliance, and B’smarketplace is only now beginning to bediscovered by other multinational firms. Transportation in B’smarketplace is somewhat better, but company B has reliedexclusively on its own set of suppliers for bottles, cans, labels,and bottle caps for a long time. There are few other suppliers ofthese inputs to B in that market. Company B, however, does not wantto work in a joint venture alliance format with you. In fact,company B insists on a co-production arrangement that does notinvolve any type of third-company formation, equity sharing or thelike.Being somewhat of a cautious person, you choose to investigateallying with only one of the two potential partners. Financing iseasily available.

Based on the notion of differing perceptions of time, how doesCompany A appear to think? Also, how does Company B appear tothink? What makes each company “tick?”