Emerging economies present the case of rapid changes in markets and institutions. In this context, joint ventures between multinational enterprises (MNEs) and local firms are subject to a gamut of calculations between the partners for arriving at mutually beneficial contractual arrangements. In this note, we analyze two case studies utilizing a combination of the intangible asset theory of MNEs, Williamson's concepts of asset specificity and hold-up, and the resource-based theory of the firm. Both case studies involve financial services, namely, credit cards and insurance products. In these two cases, a large local bank provided the brand name while the MNEs provided the back-end technical-support, which is a seeming reversal of the normal pattern in emerging markets. From a resource based theory perspective, at the inception of such joint ventures, investments in relation specific assets may be small and the possibility of hold-up seem remote, but when markets become complex the possibility of hold-up increases dramatically. In this kind of context, joint venture partners have to adopt a dynamic perspective and formulate ex ante strategies for addressing the holdup problem, even though static analysis may suggest there is only limited or no possibility of such hold-up. Our analysis brings forth fresh insights on the issue of joint ventures, especially in the context of financial services, in an emerging economy. Key words: Intangible assets; capital market imperfections; joint ventures; financial services; emerging economies