The Cooperative Business Movement, 1950 to the Present

Description

The United Nations declared 2012 the year of cooperatives, emphasizing that there is an alternative to privately owned firms. While greed and mismanagement have caused world financial and economic crises, co-ops offer another type of business for economic activities that is less exposed to aggressive capitalism. This book provides a problem-oriented overview of the development of cooperatives over the last fifty years. The worldwide study addresses the major challenges cooperatives face, such as the organizational innovations introduced in order to acquire necessary risk-capital and implement growth-related strategies, the wave of demutualization in developed nations and their ability to construct an original consumer politics. The contributors to this volume discuss the successes and failures of the cooperatives and ask whether they are an outdated model of enterprise. They document a wave of foundations of new co-ops, new forms of collaboration between them, and a growing trend toward globalization. Generally speaking they show that this special kind of business will doubtless continue to thrive and to maintain an important position in a rapidly changing world economy. The Cooperative Business Movement, 1950 to the Present Series Editors Title Copyright Contents Contributors Acknowledgments Introduction: Principal Problems and General Development of Cooperative Enterprise INTRODUCTION WHAT IS A CO-OP? ORIGINS AND TYPES OF CO-OPS VARIATIONS IN PURPOSE IDEOLOGICAL FLEXIBILITY OF CO-OPS VARIATIONS ON THE EUROPEAN MODEL LITERATURE SURVEY HOW THIS BOOK IS ORGANIZED SECTION 1 COOPERATIVE ISSUES IN A GLOBAL OVERVIEW CHAPTER 1 The International Cooperative Movement: A Quiet Giant INTRODUCTION WHAT ABOUT THE NUMBERS? EUROPE: THE CRADLE OF COOPERATION England Germany Italy INSPIRED BY EUROPE, INNOVATIVE BY NECESSITY: COOPERATIVES IN THE INDUSTRIAL GIANTS United States and Canada Japan EXTRAORDINARY CASES IN THE NEWLY EMERGING INDUSTRIAL GIANTS: CHINA, INDIA, AND BRAZIL China India Brazil COOPERATIVES IN TRANSITIONAL ECONOMIES: EUROPE COOPERATIVES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES: AFRICA AND LATIN AMERICA CONCLUSIONS Bibliography CHAPTER 2 A World of Variations: Sectors and Forms COOPERATIVES IN AGRICULTURE AND FOOD PROCESSING COOPERATIVES IN FINANCE: CREDIT UNIONS AND MUTUALS RETAILING CO-OP NEW DEVELOPMENTS IN SERVICES THE “MISSING” SECTOR: INDUSTRY CONCLUSIONS CHAPTER 3 Cooperative Movements in the Republic of Korea INTRODUCTION COOPERATIVES IN TIMES OF JAPANESE RULE Cooperatives Introduced by Japanese Authorities INITIATIVES FOR AUTONOMOUS COOPERATIVES EVOLUTION OF COOPERATIVES AFTER INDEPENDENCE Cooperatives in the Agricultural Sector COOPERATIVES IN THE FINANCIAL SECTOR Credit Cooperatives COMMUNITY CREDIT COOPERATIVES (CC) OTHER COOPERATIVES INITIATIVES Fishery Cooperatives NATIONAL FORESTRY COOPERATIVE FEDERATION (NFCF) CONSUMER COOPERATIVES KOREA FEDERATION OF SMALL AND MEDIUM BUSINESS (KFSB) HOUSING COOPERATIVES WORKER COOPERATIVES SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS Literature Research Articles Statistics Internet Sources CHAPTER 4 “. . . What Is the End Purpose of It All?”: The Centrality of Values for Cooperative Success in the Marketplace THE PROBLEMS WITH PRINCIPLES THE COMPLICATED VALUES INHERITANCE THE BACKGROUND TO THE 1990S’ DISCUSSION OF CO-OPERATIVE VALUES IDENTIFYING THE CO-OPERATIVE VALUES CONTINUING CONCERNS REFLECTIONS CHAPTER 5 Why Cooperatives Fail: Case Studies from Europe, Japan, and the United States, 1950–2010 INTRODUCTION WHY COOPERATIVES FAIL: THEORETICAL PERSPECTIVES CASE 1: CENTRAL AND WESTERN EUROPEAN CONSUMER COOPERATIVES (1960–1985) CASE 2: JAPAN’S CREDIT COOPERATIVES (1970–2000) CASE 3: AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES IN THE UNITED STATES (1990–2010) CONCLUSION CHAPTER 6 Demutualization and Its Problems INTRODUCTION DEMUTUALIZATION AS A WORLDWIDE PROCESS WHAT DROVE DEMUTUALIZATION? SUMMARY References SECTION 2 SELECTED CORE ISSUES OF COOPERATIVE ENTERPRISE IN A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE CHAPTER 7 Legal Frameworks and Property Rights in U.S. Agricultural Cooperatives: The Hybridization of Cooperative Structures PRE-1925 PERIOD: COEVOLUTION OF COOPERATIVE STATUTES A NON-ROCHDALIAN VIEW BIRTH OF A HYBRID 1925-1985 PERIOD: COOPERATIVE GROWTH POST-1985 PERIOD PROPERTY RIGHTS, OWNERSHIP COSTS, AND ORGANIZATIONAL EFFICIENCY TYPOLOGY OF OWNERSHIP RIGHTS IN NEW COOPERATIVE MODELS OBSERVATIONS OBSERVATION 1: “TO PROTECT” OR “TO ADD” VALUE OBSERVATION 2: RESIDUAL CLAIM – RESIDUAL CONTROL TRADE-OFFS OBSERVATION 3: BUILDING THE BALANCE SHEET OBSERVATION 4: EXIT – CONVERSION OBSERVATION 5: ORGANIZATIONAL FORM DYNAMICS OBSERVATION 6: CONTINUED INSTITUTIONAL ADAPTATION OBSERVATION 7: HYBRID FORMATION OBSERVATION 8: FILLING A VOID? OBSERVATION 9: AGENCY ISSUES CONCLUSION CHAPTER 8 The Performance of Workers' Cooperatives INTRODUCTION PRODUCTIVITY Factors Increasing Productivity among Worker Cooperatives Compared Productivity of Worker Cooperatives and Conventional Firms INSTITUTIONAL SUSTAINABILITY Underinvestment Degeneration to the Capitalist Form JOB PRESERVATION AND SURVIVAL Pay and Employment Adjustments Survival CONCLUSIONS References CHAPTER 9 Organization: Top Down or Bottom Up? The Organizational Development of Consumer Cooperatives, 1950–2000 CONSUMER COOPERATIVES AND THE MULTIPLE RETAILERS SIMILAR CHALLENGE – DIVERGENT OUTCOMES: THE CONSUMER COOPERATIVES’ RESPONSE TO THE CHALLENGE FROM THE MULTIPLES THE NONFEDERAL MODEL THE HYBRID MODEL THE FEDERAL MODEL ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE AND COMPETITIVENESS IN WESTERN EUROPEAN CONSUMER COOPERATIVES CONCLUSION AND FURTHER RESEARCH Sources and References CHAPTER 10 The Politics of Commercial Dynamics: Cooperative Adaptations to Postwar Consumerism in the United Kingdom and Sweden, 1950–2010 INTRODUCTION BRITISH AND SWEDISH COOPERATIVE MODELS, 1860–1950 CONTRASTING COOPERATIVE MODERNIZATION STRATEGIES AND THE CHALLENGE OF THE NEW CONSUMERISM, 1950–2010 CONCLUSIONS Conclusion: The Decisive Factors of Cooperatives' Future – Their Nature, Longevity, Role, and Environment THE SPECIAL NATURE OF CO-OPS THE LONGEVITY OF CO-OPS AS A SPECIES THE ROLE OF CO-OPS IN A COUNTRY’S ECONOMY CO-OPS AND THEIR ENVIRONMENT APPENDIX I: Statement on the Cooperative Identity Definition Values Principles 1st Principle: Voluntary and Open Membership 2nd Principle: Democratic Member Control 3rd Principle: Member Economic Participation 4th Principle: Autonomy and Independence 5th Principle: Education, Training and Information 6th Principle: Co-operation among Co-operatives 7th Principle: Concern for Community APPENDIX II: Figures on the Cooperative Movement Worldwide Index