The objective of this article is to formulate hypotheses as to cooperation tendencies and capabilities in family businesses. As a first step, the circumstances under which inter-company cooperation arrangements originate are presented on the basis of an analysis of the relevant literature. Then, these circumstances are compared to cooperation-related characteristics of family businesses, thus identifying factors that hinder or encourage cooperation. This leads to the hypothesis that family businesses tend to be less willing to enter into cooperation arrangements as many characteristics of family businesses have a hindering effect on cooperation.
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