Cooperatives (Development Studies)

This paper examines the politics of possibility for rural activism in reform era China. By periodizing rural reforms from 1990, we explore the political-economic changes that have coalesced in the reform era, and how these changes condition forms and possibilities of activism. We argue that the current modernization–urbanization drive that emerged around 2008 is foreclosing opportunities for the pro-peasant cooperative forms that New Rural Reconstruction activists imagined earlier in the decade. Instead, as the process of capitalist agrarian change deepens in the countryside, food- and farming-related activism now resembles the state’s focus on markets and consumption, to the detriment of addressing social relations of production. Without a focus on distributional politics and power, this shift has the potential to further entrench existing inequalities within and across rural and urban spaces. The contextual work undertaken in this paper is currently absent from the emerging literature on China’s agrifood transformations.

ABSTRACT
Agriculture is a key sector to the Malawi’s economy. Smallholder farmers who contribute immensely to agriculture sector itself have been circumvented in the vicious cycle of poverty as they, individually, face various agricultural production and marketing challenges.  In this, regard smallholder farmers across the country have been encouraged to embrace agribusiness through formation of agricultural cooperatives between various political and economic eras.  Agricultural cooperatives in Malawi have long history beginning in mid-1940s, but it was not until 1990s that critical national strategies, policies and legislation, programmes and projects were initiated to support cooperatives development in the country. This has been exhibited by the increased number of agricultural cooperatives in the country to date. However, various national and international statistics and studies have shown alarming minimal contribution of Malawian cooperatives to private sector development; and specifically, of agricultural cooperatives to agricultural sector development. This is an indication of ‘dark and silent’ cooperatives development’s periods, agricultural cooperatives have in one way or the other have lived through.

This study explores institutional and governance factors affecting agricultural cooperatives’ performance and eventual sustainability in Malawi, in respect to comparisons and contrasts of cooperatives principles, values, roles, problems and theoretical perspectives. Agricultural cooperatives play an important role in agricultural production and marketing. However, most of the smallholder agricultural cooperatives in Malawi are not performing this role as they are faced with weak capacity of cooperatives management and poor coordination of cooperative stakeholders; exacerbated by political, social and economic institutional weaknesses.

Even though Malawian smallholder farmers in agricultural cooperatives have confidence in the cooperative model in improving their livelihoods, they are still disgruntled with their own poor performance and worried of the high probability of their un-sustainability.  Specifically, agricultural cooperatives’ worsening performances depict that: cooperatives’ members have little control of management; investments are short-term; and accumulated investments are below the economic optimum. In essence, the relevance of cooperatives cannot be overemphasized in Malawi, but their full potentials have not been unlocked to necessitate their growth and vibrancy.
In order for agricultural cooperatives in Malawi to improve their organizational and business performance and be sustainable; to enhance the ‘doing capacity’ among the cooperators, promoters and facilitators; to optimize the stakeholders ‘cooperative consciousness’; to rejuvenate fully the cooperative movement (having experienced almost a half century of darkness and/or silence), there need for turn-around strategies to address the governance and institutional problems identified. This study, therefore, makes three major recommendations in respect to strengthening the capacities of cooperators and stakeholders to: adherence to the cooperatives legal and regulatory framework; implementation and enforcement of the cooperative development policy and legal and regulatory framework; and review of cooperatives development policy and amendment/repeal of Cooperative Societies Act, 1998 and Cooperative Societies Regulations, 2002 in respect to ILO Recommendation 193, 2002. These recommendations are meant to: strengthen agricultural cooperatives’  internal and external legitimacy to support self-determination; to promote the leadership, vision, and goals as well as multiple bottom lines of cooperatives; to enhance the agricultural cooperatives’ organizational, financial, and business capacity; to enhance farmers active participation and committed involvement in cooperatives formation and operations; to communicate more broadly to the agricultural cooperatives’ stakeholders; and to strengthen agricultural cooperatives’ partnerships with community and other stakeholders. In this respect, transformation of cooperatives from conventional forms to non-congenial structures and systems of cooperatives that would encourage: proportionate patronage to investment; appreciable and transferable share values; and allowance of non-patron equity participation.

Significantly, the study is to help cooperatives’ promoters, policy makers, legal and regulatory institutions, academicians and the cooperators in general to; understand institutional and governance issues related to cooperatives’ philosophy, values and principles;  make use of or build upon as they find helpful; to present ideas for the strategic guidance of cooperatives development – the ideas based on reflection about experience and practice within cooperatives, as well as cooperative theory, relevant to contemporary discussions of cooperative strategies;  understand cooperative related policy and legal and regulatory frameworks that need redress; and, coordinate efforts to improve cooperatives’ performances and eventual sustainability.

Key Words: Cooperatives, agriculture, farmer, governance, institutions, new institutional economics theory, policy, legal and regulatory framework, performance, sustainability, Malawi.

This research was carried out with the intention of examining the relationship between leadership behaviour and organizational commitment in co-operative societies. Various
past literatures supported the relationship between leadership and commitment where leader’s style do have influence on employee’s commitment. 360 samples were collected from various co-operatives located in Peninsular Malaysia. Walk in was done in selective co-operatives to have some guidelines and discussions with employees and leaders.

Apart from Autocratic and Participative Leader’s behaviour, this paper is also intended to examine if nurturant task leadership developed by Sinha (1980) can be applied in cooperative
societies. The nurturant – task has been found suitable for Indian organizations (Ansari, 1986, 1990; Sinha, 1980, 1994) and due to the similarities between Indian and Malaysian organization, the nurturant task can be applied in Malaysia.
The dependent variables of employees commitment was examined using Meyer and Allen’s (1997) Three Component Model of employee commitment (affective, normative
and continuance).

Factor analysis was carried out prior to the analysis to suit the Malaysia setting. Respondents have similar understanding of Nurturant Task and Participative where these two variables are later merged in the analysis part to become one. These variables were name as Nurturant Task + Participative (NTP).8
Regression analysis was analyzed that showed mixed results of leadership style. NTP has inverse relation with Affective Commitment, while autocratic leaders showed no significant relationship. However, NTP and Autocratic leaders both showed positive significant results with normative and continuance commitment of employees.

Tenure was found to be high among new and experienced employees if the leaders adopted high level of NTP behaviour. Experienced employees possessed more stable high commitment regardless of leaders behaviour, however new employees commitment are totally dependent on the leader’s NTP behaviour.

Overall findings from this study suggest, autocratic and NTP do play important roles in determining the levels of employee’s commitment. Leaders should consider in matching
both leadership styles based on the situation of their subordinate. NTP was also found to be significant in promoting new employees commitment. Since no similar research has
been done in co-operatives, this finding may contribute to the understanding and improvement of employee’s commitment in co-operative societies in Malaysia.

lare il Ministero dello Sviluppo Economico di concerto con le amministrazioni regionali e le province autonome di definire "le caratteristiche e le modalità di individuazione delle reti di imprese e delle catene di fornitura" estendendo ad esse i benefici previsti a favore dei distretti industriali contenuti nella legge finanziaria del 2006, quali: agevolazioni amministrative, finanziarie e per la ricerca 3 .

The main object of this paper is to assess the role of co-operative societies as a development strategy. The study was conducted in Edo State of Nigeria. One hundred and fifty respondents were selected using a convenient sample technique. They were drawn from three local government areas of the State. A structured questionnaire was used to collect data from the respondents. Statistical analysis was accomplished by means of frequency distribution, percentages and Chi square. The result of the analysis showed that the co-operative society strategy is successful and should indeed be encouraged in the development of the rural communities. The study showed that there is a significant relationship between the co-operative society and the growth in size of the rural business in the rural community and that there is also a significant relationship between the growth in the co-operative society and the creation of employment in the rural community. The study may lack generalization due to the small number of co-operatives used for the study and the convenient sample nature of the selected respondents.

ABSTRACT
Agriculture is a key sector to the Malawi’s economy. Smallholder farmers who contribute immensely to agriculture sector itself have been circumvented in the vicious cycle of poverty as they, individually, face various agricultural production and marketing challenges.  In this, regard smallholder farmers across the country have been encouraged to embrace agribusiness through formation of agricultural cooperatives between various political and economic eras.  Agricultural cooperatives in Malawi have long history beginning in mid-1940s, but it was not until 1990s that critical national strategies, policies and legislation, programmes and projects were initiated to support cooperatives development in the country. This has been exhibited by the increased number of agricultural cooperatives in the country to date. However, various national and international statistics and studies have shown alarming minimal contribution of Malawian cooperatives to private sector development; and specifically, of agricultural cooperatives to agricultural sector development. This is an indication of ‘dark and silent’ cooperatives development’s periods, agricultural cooperatives have in one way or the other have lived through.

This study explores institutional and governance factors affecting agricultural cooperatives’ performance and eventual sustainability in Malawi, in respect to comparisons and contrasts of cooperatives principles, values, roles, problems and theoretical perspectives. Agricultural cooperatives play an important role in agricultural production and marketing. However, most of the smallholder agricultural cooperatives in Malawi are not performing this role as they are faced with weak capacity of cooperatives management and poor coordination of cooperative stakeholders; exacerbated by political, social and economic institutional weaknesses.

Even though Malawian smallholder farmers in agricultural cooperatives have confidence in the cooperative model in improving their livelihoods, they are still disgruntled with their own poor performance and worried of the high probability of their un-sustainability.  Specifically, agricultural cooperatives’ worsening performances depict that: cooperatives’ members have little control of management; investments are short-term; and accumulated investments are below the economic optimum. In essence, the relevance of cooperatives cannot be overemphasized in Malawi, but their full potentials have not been unlocked to necessitate their growth and vibrancy.
In order for agricultural cooperatives in Malawi to improve their organizational and business performance and be sustainable; to enhance the ‘doing capacity’ among the cooperators, promoters and facilitators; to optimize the stakeholders ‘cooperative consciousness’; to rejuvenate fully the cooperative movement (having experienced almost a half century of darkness and/or silence), there need for turn-around strategies to address the governance and institutional problems identified. This study, therefore, makes three major recommendations in respect to strengthening the capacities of cooperators and stakeholders to: adherence to the cooperatives legal and regulatory framework; implementation and enforcement of the cooperative development policy and legal and regulatory framework; and review of cooperatives development policy and amendment/repeal of Cooperative Societies Act, 1998 and Cooperative Societies Regulations, 2002 in respect to ILO Recommendation 193, 2002. These recommendations are meant to: strengthen agricultural cooperatives’  internal and external legitimacy to support self-determination; to promote the leadership, vision, and goals as well as multiple bottom lines of cooperatives; to enhance the agricultural cooperatives’ organizational, financial, and business capacity; to enhance farmers active participation and committed involvement in cooperatives formation and operations; to communicate more broadly to the agricultural cooperatives’ stakeholders; and to strengthen agricultural cooperatives’ partnerships with community and other stakeholders. In this respect, transformation of cooperatives from conventional forms to non-congenial structures and systems of cooperatives that would encourage: proportionate patronage to investment; appreciable and transferable share values; and allowance of non-patron equity participation.

Significantly, the study is to help cooperatives’ promoters, policy makers, legal and regulatory institutions, academicians and the cooperators in general to; understand institutional and governance issues related to cooperatives’ philosophy, values and principles;  make use of or build upon as they find helpful; to present ideas for the strategic guidance of cooperatives development – the ideas based on reflection about experience and practice within cooperatives, as well as cooperative theory, relevant to contemporary discussions of cooperative strategies;  understand cooperative related policy and legal and regulatory frameworks that need redress; and, coordinate efforts to improve cooperatives’ performances and eventual sustainability.

Key Words: Cooperatives, agriculture, farmer, governance, institutions, new institutional economics theory, policy, legal and regulatory framework, performance, sustainability, Malawi.

The Basque town of Mondragón is home to one of the largest and most significant experiences of co-operative organization and workers’ self-management anywhere in the world. The Mondragón co-operative movement, born in the 1950s around the local technical training college and a handful of small industrial firms, encompasses today more than one hundred co-operative firms operating in ninety-seven countries and generating an aggregate revenue of €12bn. In this chapter we review the historical origins of the Mondragón experience and the goals that guided the first co-operative projects. After describing the organizational principles and governance mechanisms of individual co-operatives and of the Mondragón group as a whole, we examine the rapid expansion and internationalization of some of the most emblematic Mondragón  firms – a process that has led to a difficult balance between the maintenance of the original co-operative principles at home and an increasing reliance on capitalist forms of ownership and production abroad. We conclude by discussing the impact of the recent economic crisis on the Mondragón group and its system of inter-co-operative solidarity, and reflect on the future prospects for this far-reaching experiment in collective ownership and democratic governance.

This article takes an innovation intermediary perspective to examine farmer cooperative’s (FC) roles in facilitating agricultural innovation and its positioning in the agricultural innovation system (AIS). The article draws experiences from the rapidly emerging FC field in China. Three cases are selected to cross check findings from them and innovation journey analysis is used within each case to understand FCs’ engagement in innovation processes. The findings show that FCs cover a wide range of knowledge intermediation and innovation intermediation functions identified by the literature. FCs recognize the importance to connect technical, social and economic dimensions of farming practice and provide corresponding services to link farmers to relevant actors, like extension agencies, research institutes and supermarkets. Though they mainly work through bilateral relationships as opposed to acting as a systemic intermediary, they could take the role of coordinator in the service system and bridge the gap between the research and policy system and everyday farming practice, especially in the absence
of a systemic coordinator. However, their legitimacy as intermediary might be challenged due to the potential conflicts with governments, market actors or their members, and their local position may provide insufficient clout for developing durable relationships with relevant actors.

Workers' buyout (WBOs) are emerging during the present economic crisis as an alternative tool to maintain employment and production. In Italy, in the last thirty years, 258 cases have been recorded. What are their general characteristics? Why do WBOs develop and who are the main sponsors and financing tools? The present analysis aims at defining the phenomenon and the enabling environment. Moreover, primary sources collected from different actors will explain how WBOs have developed and thrived across Italy saving jobs and productive capacity.

Cuba’s still-emergent economic reforms promise to open the way for an expanded ‘non-agricultural’ cooperative movement to flourish on the island. But Cuba is still at a crossroads. While an expanded cooperative economy has the potential to both protect the gains of Cuba’s Revolution and reimagine its socialism as a more inclusive and participatory one, there are also pressures to privatize its economy. Alongside cooperatives and state-run enterprises, the economic reforms also promote foreign direct investments and permit private businesses using wage-labour. This means that some form of competitive market economy will bring tensions to Cuban socialism and its new cooperative sector, hastened by foreign capitalist interests encouraged by the end of the US embargo in 2014-2015 and the expansion of Cuba–US trade.
In this chapter I explore the possibilities and challenges of Cuba’s economic reforms with a focus on its new cooperatives. I consider what Cuba can draw from the radical roots and historical evolution of cooperatives and, most pertinently, what its emergent cooperative movement can learn from new forms of cooperative organizing in Latin America that contest neoliberalism and, at the same time, move beyond it.

The book is structured like a dictionary and as such presents 23 short contributions, each with a different topic and an author’s profile and disciplinary perspective. All letters aim to show how diverse, rich and old is the co-operative sector worldwide. All letters discuss explicitly or not the ability of the co-operative sector to contribute to growth and development. Taken together, the letters provide a multidisciplinary explanation of how co-op­eratives contribute to our life, how they have been doing so for a long time, and, through reinvention, might still do so for years to come. All letters position the role of co-operatives with reference to traditional firms but do so in a critical rather than a polemical or utopian way.



Questo libro è strutturato come un dizionario e come tale presenta 23 brevi contributi, ciascuno con un diverso argomento, scritto da autori con un background differente e una diversa prospettiva disciplinare. Tutti i capitoli ambiscono a descrivere quanto sia antico, ricco e diverso il settore cooperativo a livello mondiale. Tutti i capitoli descrivono esplicitamente o meno il peso del settore cooperativo sulla crescita e lo sviluppo. Presi insieme, i capitoli offrono una spiegazione multidisciplinare del contributo offerto alle nostre vite dal settore cooperativo, illustrano come così è stato da molto tempo e come potrebbe essere ancora a lungo attraverso il reinventarsi del ruolo delle cooperative nella nostra società. Tutti i capitoli descrivono le cooperative con riferimento alle imprese tradizionali ma fanno ciò in maniera critica, piuttosto che retorica o polemica.

The fishermen cooperative is as part of the institutional system of the local economy of coastal communities, its role is expected to make corrections to the economic injustices there. As a joint venture container for fishermen, cooperatives
should be able to be "pandiga" in the system of economic institutions of fishermen communities. The objective of research was to determine the performance effect of fishermen cooperatives on the welfare of its members.
The research was conducted from May to August 2010. While the location of the survey and observation were: (1) Cooperative of Makaryo Mino operating in Nusantara Fishery Port and surrounding areas in Pekalongan of Central Java, (2)
Cooperative of Fishery Products Industry in the City and County of Pontianak of West Kalimantan and (3) Cooperative of Fishery and ponds in Gresik, East Java. The data were analyzed using descriptive qualitative methode. From the results of the discussion is concluded that the primary capital to the success of a cooperative to improve the welfare of its members is on the idealism and courage of acting administrators or managers to establish cooperatives. The
other factors such as amenities (facilities) of effort will follow on a par with the level of development of the cooperati
ve. Local government support is not absolute, the business experience of managers can be learned on the job, and the
competitors will be able to overcome if cooperative consistent to establish competitive market system.
Keywords: Fishermen cooperatives, The Welfare, The coastal communities

Empirical evidence has shown that cooperatives are diverse organizations that efficaciously address a plurality of socio-economic needs. Cooperative organizations are effective in provisioning for myriad life needs, and do so in more democratic and sustainable ways than investor-owned firms. Rooted in the unique principles and values that distinguish them from other business types, cooperatives, in a nutshell, embody what has been called “the cooperative advantage”. This special issue of the Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, “The Cooperative Advantage for Community Development”, was organized to highlight the myriad roles that cooperatives can and do have in protecting and developing communities, as well as the possible tensions and challenges that emerge in the process. Including seven articles from established and upcoming cooperative studies scholars, the special issue critically assesses diverse experiences of co-ops deployed for community development. Via papers engaged in case study approaches, political economy perspectives, critical historical research, and qualitative and quantitative methods, this special issue of JEOD critically reflects on and contributes to understanding the role of cooperatives in grounding bottom-up and locally based community development.

El artículo se centra en el concepto dual de la economía social y solidaria, con el objetivo de presentar las características del sector en Colombia y en Europa, y así establecer puntos comunes y de interés para su fortalecimiento en el espacio eurolatinoamericano. Se detalla la importancia de la ESS para el desarrollo social y el papel de las alianzas intercooperativas como elemento de innovación social, identi cando los elementos de mayor importancia para fomentar el modelo basado en la pluralidad y la democracia económica que contribuye al desarrollo sostenible, además de fomentar el tejido asociativo y la igualdad de oportunidades en las dos orillas del Atlántico. Palabras clave: alianzas público-privadas, cooperativas, economía social y solidaria, innovación social, internacionalización.

This paper argues that the predominant economic theories of the firm neglect the importance of cooperation based on trust and loyalty, and that as a result, their criticisms of worker cooperatives are incomplete. While competence-based theories tend to focus exclusively on coordination and thus fail to acknowledge that the development and application of productive knowledge also involves cooperation, contract-based theories cling to a rigid model of behaviour that does not account for the type of cooperation thus involved. Thus, although contract-based theories denigrate cooperatives for failing to achieve cooperation, cooperatives may in fact be more propitiously situated than conventional firms to achieve the cooperation involved in the development and application of productive knowledge. Meanwhile, although competence-based theories imply that cooperatives are incapable of achieving coordination, cooperatives may in fact be more propitiously situated than conventional firms to achieve coordination without incurring potentially adverse effects on cooperation. This ability, however, may be suppressed by a hostile institutional environment, which biases both the options available to individuals and the way they perceive those options against cooperatives. Although inter-cooperative associations can alleviate this institutional bias, they involve structural and cultural obstacles of their own.

It has frequently been presumed that the ability of the Mondragón group of co-operatives to achieve a remarkable degree of trust and loyalty amongst its members while maintaining relatively bureaucratic workplaces is due to the uniquely solidaristic traits of Basque culture, implying that the same feat will be unattainable amidst less favourable cultural milieus. This article argues that, on the contrary, Mondragón’s organisational culture is embedded in its organisational structures — such as its systems of governance, education, ownership, remuneration, and inter-co-operation — and should therefore be widely applicable, even if not identically replicable, in other regions. To this effect, the article provides evidence that the key features of ‘the Mondragón Model’ have indeed been emulated elsewhere — namely in Valencia and the United States — and moreover has significant parallels around the world.

After the financial crisis in 2008 and amid growing concerns about climate change, interest in systemic alternatives to neoliberal capitalism is growing. This cultural shift helps explain the enthusiasm from political elites, media, and academics that greeted the launch of Evergreen Cooperative Corporation in 2009. Based in Cleveland Ohio, Evergreen is a network of worker-owned cooperatives with scalability and replicability woven into its design. But how warranted is the broad-based enthusiasm around Evergreen? Is this a model that can be replicated across North America as its founders suggest? Based on site visits and stakeholder interviews, we argue that there are important limits on desires to reproduce the " Cleveland Model. " However, its ambitions for scalability and replicability position it to contribute to the important project of movement building that can facilitate the policy change needed to scale up the cooperative alternative.

This article homes in on the recuperative and learning dimensions of Argentina’s empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores worker cooperatives (ERTs, worker-recuperated enterprises). Drawing on the author’s sociological, ethnographic, and political economic work with Argentina’s ERTs since 2005, the article theorizes autogestión – the collective self-management of associated labour – from its take up by ERT movement protagonists. The article explores and theorizes how ERT workers come to practice autogestión, what they actually take back in the process of occupying and controlling the formerly capitalist workplaces that had employed them, and how their projects of cooperative production are ensconced in a ‘language of autogestión’ – recuperating and (re)learning other economic notions and practices against and beyond capitalocentric discourses. Grounded in a class-struggle Marxist perspective, the paper ultimately proposes that ERT workers collectively recuperate three overarching dimensions of productive life from capital: (1) the self-valorization of living labour, (2) cooperation in the labour process, and (3) the socialization of surpluses and wealth. These recuperations of autogestión, the article concludes, (their ‘language of autogestión’) offer evocative suggestions for envisioning less-exploitative forms of work, more socially just and democratic workplaces, and for challenging and beginning to move beyond neoliberal logics.

ABSTRACT

The study examined the contributions of microfinance programs channelled through cooperatives for the government’s poverty alleviation thrust particularly among microcredit beneficiaries. We implemented the study through personal interviews with management representatives from sample cooperatives and randomly selected cooperative members who were microfinance program beneficiaries. The study used qualitative-quantitative descriptive survey design utilizing primary and secondary data from sample cooperatives and their members. Majority of the interviewed respondents were women. Government microfinance program have led to improved assets, capital build-ups and profits of cooperatives. As noted, income levels increased among microfinance program beneficiaries. Augmentation of family and household incomes subsequently improved the living standards of member recipients. There was expanded access to microcredit and education by children of program beneficiaries. Women empowerment was evident with strong participation of wives in leading micro-entrepreneurial activities. However, with relatively large household size, exits from the poverty threshold among member households were not substantial. The study also found that many member beneficiaries keep renewing their loans becoming habitual/perennial borrowers from micro-credit lending with availed loans not used anymore for microenterprise activities. We recommend that access to microfinance program should be strengthened and sustained especially for cooperative members in the low income groups.

Keywords:  poverty alleviation, microfinance program, cooperatives, credit assistance, cooperative member-borrower, women’s participation

This study outlines the evolution and impacts of the Inuit co-operative movement in Canada's North from its beginnings in the late 1950s through to 1968.  In 2009, the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada, through the Minister of Environment, designated the movement as an event of national historic significance.

This report sets out to review the experiences, innovations and challenges of new non-financial co-operatives in Canada. The research questions guiding this research are the following:

1) How have non-financial co-operatives in recent years from across Canada’s provinces and territories and in different economic sectors, sought to meet their members’ or communities’ social/cultural/economic/environmental needs via the co-operative model?

2) Why is the co-operative model chosen over other business types?

3) What are the challenges faced in starting-up or further developing a non-financial co-operative and why and how do non-financial co-operatives succeed or fail to overcome these challenges?

4) What innovations have new non-financial co-operatives forged in order to offer both members and surrounding communities new or better ways of provisioning for their social/economic/cultural/environmental needs?

To answer these questions, we have tapped into an illustrative sample of new and emerging co-operatives that were involved with the Co-operative Development Initiative (CDI) from 2009-2013. To gather and analyze our data, a mixed-methods, and grounded theory methodology was used, including survey, interviews and focus groups.

On the whole, we found a predominance of socially focused motivators and needs driving the startup of new co-operatives in Canada from our research sample. Collectively across Canada, for instance, social care and social services, alternative health care, alternative and organic food, alternative and renewable energy, community economic development (CED) and offering employment for marginalized communities made up a total of 62.2% of interests and motivators for the creation of new co-ops in our sample. These are what co-operative founders and members saw as lacking in their communities and what drove their co-operative business.

When we filtered the motivations for starting a co-operative through the goods and services produced or delivered, we again explicitly found a strong, outward, socially focused direction to new co-operative development in our sample, again suggesting that many of Canada’s new co-ops are created to deliver socially useful goods and services rather than being only motivated to meeting member needs or business interests. Many of the new co-operatives in our sample were thus also social enterprises—that is firms that rely on some market activity but with strong social missions aimed to deliver particular goods and services to communities. Since there is no formal legislation or broadly agreed upon nomenclature for conceptualizing these types of co-operatives in Canada, we call them for this report Canada’s “social mission-driven co-operatives.”

While many of the new co-operatives in our sample from across Canada are motivated by and are actually delivering socially focused goods and services of benefit to multiple community stakeholders beyond just the co-op’s members, new Canadian co-ops are also experiencing a common set of challenges. These include: (1) lack of knowledge by co-op founders of the specifics of the co-operative model; (2) lack of resources for, or knowledge of where to access start-up funds and funds for ongoing business consolidation and growth; (3) human resources issues (i.e., possible volunteer burnout, membership and staffing engagement, division of labour issues, retention and motivation, etc.); and (4) organizational issues related to governance.

Moreover, we noticed four major “paradoxes” emerging with new Canadian co-operatives in our sample, suggestive of the tensions present with developing and consolidating new co-operative initiatives today:

1) the paradox of external funding: the need to pursue supportive and external sources of funding to supplement revenues and start or sustain new projects vs. the time it takes to pursue it, possibly taking a co-op away from the daily tasks of running the business while not guaranteeing returns;

2) the paradox of participative decision-making and governance: decision-making and governance viewed as a distinguishing feature and strength of co-ops vs. the competitive disadvantages democratic governance brings at times when quick and decisive decisions are needed, especially in competitive markets;

3) the paradox of member engagement and diversity: the importance placed on maximizing member engagement and diversity vs. issues affecting fluid governance, decision-making, and business actions brought on by conflicting member interests, needs, or ideas; and

4) the paradox of volunteering: the recognition that much of the work that happens in co-ops is volunteer labour vs. the burn-out and difficulties that emerge from the fact that a core and often small group of members do most of the volunteering.

For overcoming some of these difficulties and tensions and for assisting in getting new co-operatives off the ground, the new co-ops in our sample relied much on the expertise and guidance of co-operative developers. Over 54% of new co-op projects from our survey sample tapped into the expertise of a co-operative developer at some point. Moreover, almost all co-ops from our sample that did use co-op developers said that the developer completed their tasks successfully and were happy with the support they had received from them.

Besides co-op developers, other major supports for new co-ops in our sample from across Canada included: community economic development initiatives, other co-operatives, financial institutions such as credit unions (particularly in the founding stages, but not as much when the co-operative is operational), and perhaps most tellingly, individuals such as visionary leaders or groups of leaders who often become the co-op’s founders. The latter points to a strong presence of “collective entrepreneurialism” across Canada’s new co-ops and, again, to the importance of co-operative developers.

This study also found evidence for the strong role of learning in the new co-operatives in our sample. This learning is mostly informal and “learning-by-doing,” underscoring the inherent “associative intelligence” that the co-operative form fosters for acquiring the skills, values, and practices needed to run a co-operative, work with others collaboratively, and engage with their social missions and the community. Again, co-operative developers also play a strong educational role regards members’ take up of co-operative values, principles, governance, and in how to deal with business issues. However, the use of formal learning via courses and at the college level remains very minimal with new Canadian co-operators, our data evidenced.

Emerging from the findings of this research, this report concludes with seven major recommendations for the co-operative movement, social economy organizations and policy makers to best help support new co-operative development in Canada:

1) Design a comprehensive strategic plan and approach to support new co-operatives in Canada, which has input and buy-in of all key stakeholders (co-operatives, support organizations and different levels of government).

2) Develop a national clearinghouse for co-operative development, including appropriate legislation, funding sources, networks and networking opportunities, and useful community linkages.

3) Create specific capacity building strategies to be delivered by key co-operative stakeholders, from start-up through the early stages of co-operative development, and focussing on associative skills, leadership, business management, financial capacity, and partnerships/networking.

4) Co-ordinate and build-up the activities of key supportive co-operative organisations in order to nurture skills, to provide sustained support, and to raise awareness of the needs of new co-operatives.

5) Provide further supports to co-operative developers to network, share and work together in order to keep their knowledge and skills current and up-to-date.

6) Design and implement program support that is specific to the reality and needs of new co-operatives in Canada.

7) Support the creation of more formal education outlets and co-operative knowledge mobilization initiatives in all provinces for co-operative members, managers, volunteers, other stakeholders, and the general public and policymakers.

Globalisation is generating immense organisations' competitive environment. To grow and survive in such environment, organisations are obliged to perform. Performance is one of the major goal for organisation, which many human resource management scholars are trying to demonstrate the link between HRM and organisational performance. There are studies that affirm the conviction and those that are doubtful of the demonstrable link between HRM and organisational performance. There is however, a continuous need to improve theoretical and analytical frameworks of HRM, performance and the link between HRM and organisational performance. This conceptual paper, theoretically shows HR practices that define HRM; levels of performance outcomes that makes the link between HRM and performance more evident; and, comparison of linear causal models through which HR practices ultimately impact organisational performance. This paper synthesises key models that illustrate the link between HR practices and organisational performance. While, drawing from various theories and (linear) models, this paper established so. However, there are continuous arguments over the number of HRM mediating variables and its content to show a clear link between HR practices and organisational performance. This challenge notwithstanding, the literature review opens an opportunity to develop a (cyclical) model, which is inclusive of common variables that

The cooperatives " significance in Kenya is unquestionable, just as it is acknowledged worldwide. But country " s cooperative movement has been conventional. Today, there are emerging global issue trends on development and sustainability. At all levels, sustainable development and cooperatives have been emphasized in the recent times – with development of new agendas and frameworks such as the: Kenya " s 2010 constitution and Vision 2030; UN International Year of Cooperatives 2012 and Vision 2020 for Cooperatives Decade; East Africa Cooperative Societies Bill, 2014; and, Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development Goals. Kenya is therefore in transition phase of governance of sustainable development and cooperatives. USAID through various structures, especially the 2014-2018 Country Development Cooperative Strategy, has been supporting Kenya in this phase, importantly on ensuring effective implementation of devolution. The USAID/Co-operatives Development Program (CDP) by Global Communities, is among other objectives, supporting Kenya in rethinking and transitioning of the Cooperatives Development Policy and Legislation to the County levels, with

The study aimed to appraise members’ participation among farmers cooperative society in Awka South LGA of Anambra State. One hundred and twenty (120) members were randomly selected from 11 functional farmers cooperative societies across communities in the local government area of study. Data were collected and analysed through both descriptive and inferential statistics. The result indicated that the level of illiteracy among the farmers is relatively high and they lacked quality and timely extension services that will diffuse modern means and technology of farming. The study also revealed that there is a strong existence of motivational factors that facilitate members’ participation in cooperative. Therefore, among other things the study recommended that, basic cooperative education should be made compulsory to members in order to enhance their participation, also urgent attention should be given to extension service delivery to farmers so as to boost their productivity and participation in cooperative. Finally, identified motivational factors such as solidarity and unity, opportunities for development assistance, democratic nature of cooperatives and members welfare should be maintain so as to sustain members’ participation in cooperative.

This brief paper, entry "B" in the edited book "The Cooperative Firm: Keywords" (Bernardi & Monni, 2016) reviews the particularities of the phenomenon of "workers' buyouts" -- a business restructuring, rescue, or conversion process whereby employees purchase an ownership stake in the business that employs them.

The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) has been widely established and most applicable to be used in any research dedicated to predict intention and behavior. Though it is one of the most cited theory in predicting intention, however recently, this theory has evidenced many attempts to deliberate and diversify its three main constructs of Attitude, Subjective Norms and Perceived Behavioral control. This article discusses on the evidence of the extension of the theory, invented by many researchers in an effort to better predict and understand intention by using additional relevant external factors

This study investigated the effect of agricultural cooperative societies on rural development in Anambra state. The specific objectives include to ascertain the effect of socioeconomic characteristics of agricultural cooperative members on rural development in the study area and to compare rural development indicators (output, income and value of productive assets) of cooperative members before and after joining cooperative. Two hypotheses were formulated to buttress the objectives of the study. The study was anchored on the theory of the Cobb-Douglas production function. A descriptive survey design guided the study and questionnaires were administered as the instrument for data collection. The study revealed that there was a significant difference in the annual output, annual farm income and value of productive assets of farmers before and after joining cooperatives. All the indicators were significant at 0.05 level of significance with F-value of 6.5888.The estimates of R 2 and Adj. R 2 suggested that all the variables in the model collectively accounted for more than 81% of the variations in farm income. The F ratio value of 8.774 was significant at 5% level. Therefore, the following recommendations were made; rural poor should be encouraged to join cooperatives and there should be stronger collaboration between cooperatives and the Ministry of Agriculture so that they will understand each others' viewpoints and challenges.

Cooperative winemaking in the province of Mendoza results in a particular case in three senses: on the one hand, the delay in its development. On the other hand, because it nevertheless appears as a successful case, unless in relation to its importance within the sector. Finally, because its beginnings and later development do not seem to be associated with the causes of international literature is found for other countries.
This paper presents a comprehensive overview of the evolution of wine cooperatives throughout the twentieth century and its relationship with business cycles and other relevant factors. In particular, the paper explores the reasons that led to the organization of this type of entities in the province of Mendoza from the administrative records of the entities that regulate the sector.

Organizational economics points to the weaknesses of cooperatives in producing high-quality products compared with investor-owned firms (IOFs). In the Brazilian broiler industry, suppliers delivering to a cooperative are performing better on quality than suppliers to an IOF. Data was collected through a survey among suppliers of one cooperative and two IOFs. What could explain the cooperative's advantage in terms of suppliers' quality performance? Results show that there are important differences regarding relationship characteristics such as dependence, behavioral uncertainty, market risk reduction, and adaptation support, which could account for the higher quality products of the cooperative farmers.

This study assessed the nexus between agricultural cooperative and rural poverty reduction in Anambra State. The study utilised primary data, which were extracted from the questionnaire distributed to 213 rural farmers in Anambra State. Descriptive statistics were used to present and discuss data, while inferential statistics such as Paired sample T-Test were employed to test hypothesis at the 5% level. The results study reveal that cooperative credit, cooperative farm inputs, cooperative farm extension services and agricultural cooperative marketing have significant positive relationships with rural poverty reduction among farmers in Anambra State at 5% level of significance.
The study recommends among others, that government should complement the efforts of cooperatives by evolving a favourable credit policy which would lead to entrepreneurial development in the rural areas; and that government at the three levels and all stake holders should endeavour to assist in providing adequate farm input supplies, crop varieties, good storage facilities among others because of their multiplier effects on poverty reduction, food security, job and wealth creation.

El capítulo ofrece elementos para el posconflicto colombiano, a través del análi- sis de las organizaciones de la Economía Solidaria como agentes socioeconómicos del territorio útiles para superar situaciones de conflicto entre actores, aportando creatividad e innovación social desde el enfoque de capital social y acción colectiva. Asimismo, el capítulo examina y presenta las relaciones entre la ilegalidad y criminalidad organizada y cómo son necesarias instituciones que generen confianza y credibilidad en torno a proyecto productivos basados en bienes decomisados a la criminalidad organizada. Se analizan los casos de tres territorios italianos y se compara en el sistema de de restitución de bienes decomisada entre Colombia e Italia.

Argentina’s empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores (worker-recuperated enterprises, ERTs) are formerly investor- or privately-owned businesses in crisis ultimately taken over and re-opened by their employees, most commonly as worker cooperatives. Since 2002, the Programa Facultad Abierta (Open Faculty Program) of the Faculty of Philosophy and Literature at the University of Buenos Aires has carried out a series of national studies of Argentina’s ERTs. The aim of this article is to present the conclusions of the fourth survey of Argentina’s ERTs carried out by the Facultad Abierta. This survey focused on ERTs that emerged between March 2010 and December 2013, providing the most complete and up-to-date database of the characteristics of Argentina’s ERTs, and showing evidence of a wave of new worker-recuperated enterprises emerging in the postcrisis years, especially since 2010. The key findings presented in this article include: the political economic reasons for the emergence of ERTs; the characteristics of the growing ERT movement today as compared to earlier ERTs; the nature of the conflicts and issues leading to the creation of Argentina’s new ERTs; a critical analysis of new legal frameworks for ERT firms, comparing and contrasting them to older legal outlets for their formation; and the involvement of unions with Argentina’s ERTs.

In a Turkish village, Western expatriate intellectuals founded a carpet cooperative to promote natural dyeing and women's artistic heritage as weavers. In this cooperative, encounters between feminist ideals of female emancipation clashed with conservative Sunni Muslim villagers' understandings of gender roles. I discuss how the villagers selectively adopted the goals of the project and reinterpreted ideals of female emancipation according to their own needs and understandings of gender. Employment in the women's cooperative became a source of empowerment for married women, but unmarried daughters remained unpaid weavers in their natal households. By considering the different actors in this cooperative-male and female, unmarried and married-I consider the construction and limits of personhood, agency and empowerment, collective struggles for economic survival, and local interpretations of development.

If we are to understand the organization and growth of capitalist space, should we not also seek to understand the organization and expansion of noncapitalist economic spaces? In contrast to methods employed by theorists such as Harvey, Smith and other geographers focused on capitalist space, the diverse economies framework opens up to investigation such noncapitalist spaces. In this paper, using Gibson-Graham's "politics of possibility", I explore the production of work space and time in a growing worker owned co-operative copy shop in order to gain insight into the organization and growth of cooperative space. I argue that, in this instance, co-operative growth emerges from the transformative experience of workers having a say in their daily work lives, having equal authority to govern work space and time and to appropriate and distribute surplus.

The study evaluated the determinants of farmers’ inclination towards membership of cooperative societies in Anambra State, Nigeria. Specifically, the study determined the influence of farmer socio-economic background; the influence of farmer awareness of agricultural cooperative benefits; and influence of farm input, credit, and marketed farm produce on cooperative membership inclination. Primary data were obtained from a sample of 368 farmers from four communities in the four agricultural zones of Anambra State. Descriptive statistics such as frequency distribution tables, percentages, mean and standard deviation were employed to present data. Multiple regression analysis was adopted in the analysts and tests of three formulated hypotheses. The study outcome revealed that: farmer’s socio-economic background had a significant influence on cooperative membership inclination (F ratio of 28.502 was Significant@ 0.000); farmer’s awareness of benefits of
agricultural cooperatives constitutes significant influence on cooperative
membership inclination (F ratio of 900.231 was Significant@ 0.000); quantum of farm input, credit, and marketed farm crops by farmer constitutes significant influence on cooperative membership inclination (F ratio of 5.354 was Significant @ 0.001). The study recommends, among others, that government can improve the awareness about the benefits of agricultural cooperatives in the area region by giving more focus to knowledge- and awareness-based instruments like education, information center, rural associations, communication services and roads.

Successful small agro-enterprises (SAEs) play a vital role in the economy of an agrarian country like Bhutan. Although entrepreneurial factors, amongst others, affect the success of SAEs, there is a dearth of empirical studies on this topic in Bhutan. Such studies will help entrepreneurs and agribusiness promoters understand entrepreneurial factors affecting the success of SAEs. Therefore, we studied the relationship between entrepreneurial factors and the success of SAEs in Bhutan. Using multistage quota sampling, we selected four districts (1), eight sub-districts (2), 32 chiwogs (3), and 320 entrepreneurs of SAEs (4) for the study. We interviewed 320 entrepreneurs using structured questionnaire and analyzed data using IBM SPSS version 23. We found a significant and positive relationship between the success of SAEs and entrepreneurs' motivation (r = .44, P = .000) and personal entrepreneurial competencies (PECs) (r = .39, P = .000). However, there was no statistically significant relationship between entrepreneurs' age and success of SAEs (r = .02, P = .707). Overall, entrepreneurs' motivation and PECs contributed 20.7% to the success of SAEs in Bhutan. We recommend relevant authorities to continue supporting entrepreneurship education and training programs to motivate and build entrepreneurial competencies.

The Swedish welfare system was developed in an incremental fashion in an interaction between the state and a range of voluntary organizations. Consequently, Swedish voluntary organizations do not quite fit accepted typologies, with regard to underlying normative principles, fields of activity and organizational forms. The absolute size of the Swedish nonprof2 sector is comparable with that of other European countries. However, the bulk of its activity is within policy formulation, rather than service provision; concepts of membership and 'popular movement ' are central, and charitable organizations are marginal. The spread of existing organizational forms is reviewed, with particular reference to the role of cooperatives. New cooperative users' and producers' organizations play an important role in the current expansion of third-sector organizations providing welfare services. Three case descriptions of new cooperative forms are appended.

Cooperative development efforts over the last 25 years have been largely inspired by, and modeled on, the Mondragon experience in the Basque region of Spain. None of these efforts has achieved nearly the success of Mondragon, which stabilized and dramatically developed a regional economy through the creation and growth of a diverse set of industrial worker and supportive secondary cooperatives. U.S. efforts in cooperative development have typically replicated some aspects of the Mondragon model but ignored others. This thesis argues that successful cooperative development requires a more complete understanding of the critical components of the Mondragon model. Drawing on the Mondragon case and on the emergent model from the Evergreen Initiative in Cleveland, I present a cooperative economic development framework made up of three components: defining a geographic area, developing a cooperative network, and designing policies based on an endogenous, import replacing economic development model. Using this framework, I then offer an initial cooperative economic development strategy for the Bronx targeting recommendations to both governmental and non-governmental organizations.

This study examined the effect of agricultural credit on farm output of members of selected cooperative societies in Anambra State Nigeria. Data was collected from 260 cooperative farmers from 10 cooperative societies in Anambra East LGA in Anambra State. Also 260 non-cooperative farmers were equally selected to act as control group Descriptive and inferential were applied to collected data. Evidence from the study showed that cooperative members had more access to agricultural credit than non-members. Furthermore, results from the regression analysis showed that farm size, farm inputs, credit and access to cooperative credit were positive and important determinants of farm output. The implication of the significance of access to cooperative credit is a confirmation of the primacy of cooperative as a source of credit to rural farmers. Indeed, significance of use of credit and access to cooperative credit equally confirms the main thrust of Vroom's expectancy theory that a particular course of action is chosen based upon perceptions, attitudes, and beliefs of a positive return.

Cooperatives and socially responsible corporations are being hailed as possible correctives to the socioeconomic and ecological exploitation of transnational capitalism. AmazonCoop-a cooperative linking indigenous Brazil nut harvesters and the multinational firm The Body Shop through trade and development projects-capitalized on indigenous symbolism to generate significant material benefits for both parties. At the same time, however, it made indigenous people more vulnerable and dependent, failed to promote participatory development, masked the effects of unfavorable state policies, and perpetuated discriminatory distinctions among indigenous people. Furthermore, the cooperative did not provide an organizational framework to ameliorate the vulnerabilities of indigenous identity politics or transform symbolic capital into enduring political-economic change. This case strongly supports arguments that cooperatives must be rooted in participation, democratic member control, and autonomy if they are to promote "fair globalization" or social transformation rather than institutionalize existing patterns of exploitation.