In some ways, Partnerships and Joint Ventures are similar. Both aim to earn a profit and share the burden of losses. However, a Joint Venture is composed of one or more separate entities who join together for a specific purpose and often for a short period of time. Whereas, a partnership is a business entity with two or more owners.
Joint Ventures are often formed to increase market reach, share technologies and research, share the risk, or increase production volume. For example, a US-based software company could choose to work with a Mexican software company to help them expand into the Central American market. An example of a Partnership is two persons who choose to start a company together where each has defined roles and contributions written into the agreement. For example, they open a car dealership, each contributing $100,000, and one is leading the sales department and the other the service shop.