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This study aims to identify the mediating role of cooperation agreements in the relationship between family involvement in international firms and their level of international commitment.

The study focuses on Spanish international wine and olive oil companies that have varying levels of family involvement. The final sample consists of 263 companies. SmartPLS was used to perform the analysis.

A higher level of family involvement in business implies greater difficulties with cooperation agreements. Additionally, family involvement is negatively associated with the firm’s level of international commitment, and the perceived difficulties of cooperation agreements mediate this relationship.

This study is of interest to business managers with different levels of family involvement. The study clarifies their perceptions of cooperation agreements and international business commitment. Managers of firms with a high level of family involvement should emphasize the multiple benefits of cooperation agreements for international strategy performance rather than the drawbacks of cooperation. Additionally, through cooperation, companies can learn about destination markets, which may help them to focus their resources effectively in those markets.

This study contributes to the literature on the internationalization strategies of family businesses. This study is the first to address the mediating role of cooperation agreements in the relationship between family involvement and international commitment.

It has long been known that family firms have a high mortality rate and that increasing these firms' survival rate is one of the most difficult challenges faced by both public policies and scholars. While most policies and researchers have focused on the business side, in recent years, more attention has been paid to the family sphere. This chapter goes one step further by not focusing on one side or another of this binomial, but on the relationship between both. In particular, we analyze the paradoxes emerging between the different inter- and intragenerational dyads that coexist in family firms (mother-daughter, father-son, mother-son, father-daughter, brother-sister, wife-husband, etc.) to open new lines of debate and propose new basis for the establishment of family firms-targeted public politics. We propose policies that will help family decision-makers to manage unique paradoxes that characterize family businesses.