A Theory of Cooperation in International Business

Abstract

To what extent are cooperative ventures really cooperative? What exactly is meant by cooperation in this context? In international business the term cooperative venture is often used merely to signify some alternative to 100 per cent equity ownership of a foreign affiliate; it may indicate a joint venture (JV), an industrial collaboration agreement, licensing, franchising, subcontracting, or even a management contract or countertrade agreement. It is quite possible, of course, to regard such arrangements as cooperative by definition, but this fudges the substantive issue of just how cooperative these arrangements really are.