ABSTRACT
For many successful joint ventures, a more pressing problem than overstaffing is the need to find and retain talented and qualified staff in an environment where the supply falls far short of the burgeoning demand. This has led to many ventures facing increasing wage pressure as they try to retain those staff with sought after skills. Here, the labour contract has become a means not of freeing the enterprise of unwanted workers, but of attempting to attach workers more closely to the firm. A number of enterprises, both foreign invested and domestic, have been experimenting with providing low cost mortgages for ten-year periods in the hope that the prospect of foreclosure will deter leaving.
