Your degree of control depends on what has been agreed. When a new joint venture company is formed, it is common practice for the shareholders' agreement to include clauses relating to each party's rights to appoint directors, how decisions will be taken and so on. A similar agreement can be put in place if the joint venture is structured in some other way, such as a partnership.
Often joint venture partners want deadlock, with each having the right to veto the actions of the joint venture. You will need to agree how you will escape from the deadlock if it goes on too long. For example, you might decide you will wind the joint venture up if there is a deadlock, or that one party will buy the other out, at a fair price.
