A joint venture is a legal partnership between two or more companies. It can be for strategic purposes or as a way of servicing a large project that requires capabilities beyond the scope of each individual company. An online marketing company might form a strategic joint venture with an online retailer to create a company that sells overstocked goods via email marketing. The retailer supplies goods to the partnership, the marketing company promotes the partnership business, and profits accrue to both companies.
Construction companies often create joint ventures for large construction projects such as bridges and office complexes. In this case, a steel company, concrete company, electrical contractor and general contractor might combine forces to lower the cost of the project by each supplying its goods and services to the joint venture and splitting profits.