Management process issues for forming cooperative ventures with an increased likelihood of subsequent success are addressed. The cooperative venture formation is based on Roos (1989) and is conceptualized in terms of 3 theoretical constructs: 1. the extent of sufficient internal push for the project, 2. the breadth and depth of analytical scope, and 3. the strength of key stakeholder support. These constructs are related to subsequent perceived performance. Data from 67 firms in Norway and Sweden were collected and analyzed via latent variable structural modeling a partial least square (PLS). The main managerial implication is that the process by which a cooperative venture is formed should largely be seen as a step-by-step approach, not as a discrete decision. The research demonstrates that a theoretically complex and seemingly impenetrable phenomenon can be explained by reducing it to a simple model of theoretical constructs.