Joint ventures with foreign partners can be really tough. There was a day when the management literature was full of articles exhorting companies to ink such deals. But the reality has not always matched the rhetoric. These days, foreign joint ventures are out of vogue.

So what to make of Morgan Stanley's (NYSE: MS) deal with Mitsubishi UFG to integrate operations in Japan? Well, it always seemed like both sides were having trouble coming up with a structure for not one, but two joint ventures. In October 2008, Morgan Stanley sold a 21 percent stake in its operations to MUFG for $9 billion and later agreed to a combined operation via two JVs. 

According to the Financial Times, both are to be majority owned by MUFG, but one will be controlled by Morgan Stanley. The only area where staffs will be combined is investment banking. But Morgan bankers will still be employed technically by Morgan Stanley. No IT systems will be combined. All of this points to failure. It sounds way too complicated, but we shall see. 

For more:
- here's the latest and some background from the FT

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