THE EMERGENCE OF FREELANCER COOPERATIVES IN SOUTH KOREA

This paper examines freelancer cooperatives that have recently emerged in South Korea. In particular, it investigates the reasons why freelancers have established cooperatives and what conditions are required for freelancer cooperatives to increase their work. A review of the extant literature on the manner in which freelancers have to organize, as well as case studies regarding freelancer cooperatives, shows that freelancer cooperatives have emerged in order to reduce members' job uncertainty and to reduce time variance of projects assigned to a freelancer. Based on an analysis of freelancers’ organizational characteristics relative to entrepreneur cooperatives and worker cooperatives, we propose that the freelancer cooperatives are a hybrid between entrepreneur cooperatives and worker cooperatives. This paper also proposes the conditions required for development of freelancer cooperatives and suggests how those are distinguished from traditional entrepreneur cooperatives.     

IMPACT OF COOPERATIVES MEMBERSHIP ON ECONOMY IN EASTERN OROMIA: THE CASE OF HARAMAYA AGRICULTURAL FARMERS’ COOPERATIVE UNION (HAFCU)

This study attempts to analyse the impact of cooperatives on the smallholders’ income, productivity, marketed surplus and saving in East Hararghe Zone of Haramaya District. The study is based on primary cross‐sectional data collected from cooperative member and non‐cooperative member household heads. The propensity score matching (PSM) estimates complemented by a bias correction matching (BCM) and Lewbel instrumental variable (IV) regression estimation shows that cooperatives have a positive impact on smallholders’ income and productivity. The findings have strong policy implications. The rural development of the country should work toward strengthening and expanding the existing rural organizations through training and capacity building programmes. It is important particularly establishing new rural‐based organizations that enable rural households to engage in business activities. Doing that may help reduce poverty and increase smallholders’ income, productivity, and capital accumulation.     

COOPERATIVE ESSENCE AND ENTREPRENEURIAL QUALITY: A COMPARATIVE CONTEXTUAL ANALYSIS

This article links two different fields of research, entrepreneurship and cooperatives, and studies whether, depending on the context, differences in terms of the fulfilment of the cooperative philosophy (cooperative essence) and entrepreneurial quality exist. To this aim, a statistical analysis is carried out using data from two Spanish regions: Andalusia and the Basque Country. The results enable us to conclude, firstly, that cooperative essence differs in relation to regional context, but not in relation to entrepreneurial quality. Secondly, cooperative essence and entrepreneurial quality are positively related, suggesting that cooperative essence may be part of the entrepreneurial quality of these kinds of firms.     

False prosperity: Rethinking government support for farmers’ cooperatives in China

The rapid development of farmers’ cooperatives in rural China cannot be separated from government support. To ensure the growth of farmers’ cooperatives, the Chinese government uses it as a key performance indicator for its local institutions. Superficially, rural China's cooperative population and membership size witnessed rapid growth during the first decade after the Farmers’ Specialized Cooperatives Law was enacted in 2007; however, such government intervention also leads to non-standard phenomena due to market distortion. Using nationally representative survey data from 504 cooperatives in Jiangsu, Jilin, and Sichuan provinces, this paper provides a reliable estimate of the “shell cooperative” rate around 2014. The empirical study sheds further light on the role of government during the period of rapid but chaotic growth by a subset containing 241 marketing cooperatives. Results show that direct administrative intervention leads to the emergence of many shell cooperatives (approximately 37%). Further study also confirms that task-oriented policy support is only positively associated with the nominal coverage ratio but has no significant relationship with cooperatives’ function. This study provides new insights into the formation of shell cooperatives and suggests that direct administrative intervention may not be a good strategy for promoting the sustainable development of farmers’ cooperatives.     

COMMUNITY AND COOPERATION: THE EVOLUTION OF COOPERATIVES TOWARDS NEW MODELS OF CITIZENS' DEMOCRATIC PARTICIPATION IN PUBLIC SERVICES PROVISION

The community cooperatives that are spreading today in many parts of the world are the arrival point of an evolutionary process that has seen the progressive shift of cooperatives’ focus from specific social and professional groups to society as a whole. This evolution is marked by two changes. The first was at the turn of the 19th century when there made their appearance the first community cooperatives which catered to the needs of a whole community. Among them were electric cooperatives, cooperative banks and some kinds of agricultural cooperatives. A further development relevant to the evolution of community cooperatives occurred towards the end of the last century with the enlargement of cooperatives’ aims to embrace society's benefit. From this process there emerge in total four categories of cooperatives which taken together constitute a complete classification of the cooperative universe. New community cooperatives are the off‐springs of the old ones but the picture is rather confused. The term itself is relatively new and similar institutions are named differently at different times. Moreover, though having a few basic features in common, they differ much from one another and from the old ones. To take care of this we elaborate a concept of community cooperative consistent with its evolution and the classification of cooperatives we have identified. Basic elements of the concept are community goods, territory and citizenship, which are discussed extensively with reference to factual cases. We then discuss in what way new community cooperatives differ from old ones. The paper closes with a discussion of their future prospects.     

EFFICIENCY AND SURVIVAL: THE IMPACT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COFFEE AGREEMENT'S DEMISE ON COSTA RICA'S COOPERATIVE COFFEE PROCESSING, 1988–2005

ABSTRACT ** :  This paper uses a profit per member (or dividend) frontier model to analyze the impact of the 1989 demise of the International Coffee Agreement on a group of Costa Rican coffee processing cooperatives. Firm-level data on costs span the period from 1988/89 to 1992/93 and information on cooperative survival covers 1988/89 to 2004/05. The more efficient member-owned enterprises survived the crisis. An increasing cost of servicing the smallest farmers may constitute an incentive to restrict membership, however. Dividends fall as investor-owned firms compete to buy farmers' raw coffee. Still, member loyalty does enable cooperative processors to maintain scale economies and market share. Despite several bankruptcies, cooperative firms in Costa Rica processed 40 percent of the national crop in 2004/05, the same proportion as in 1988/89.     

Is there life after degeneration? The organizational life cycle of cooperatives under a ‘grow‐or‐die’ dichotomy

This article provides an in‐depth, longitudinal analysis combining real‐time and retrospective data on a set of Mondragon's industrial cooperatives that are organized as international groups. We examine the life cycle of these international cooperative groups, which is expected to evolve differently to that of small‐ and medium‐sized cooperatives that operate exclusively on a local scale. The article is theoretically informed by the cooperative life cycle theory, as well as by recent insights from the degeneration and regeneration theses. Our analysis yields an intricate picture of the evolution of cooperatives faced with a ‘grow‐or‐die’ dichotomy. On the one hand, our findings reject the highly simplistic and deterministic view of the degeneration thesis by demonstrating that these cooperatives can mobilize resources to revitalize cooperative values and practices. On the other, we find that regeneration may not occur in a consistent, sequential fashion as the previous literature suggests, but rather degenerative and regenerative tendencies can occur simultaneously, even leading to long‐lasting, unresolvable situations. In light of this, the article asks future research to draw on power‐aware and politically informed approaches for further understanding of how cooperatives manage the tensions at each organizational stage of their life cycle, and of which organizational actors benefit, and how, from reversing some degenerative tendencies while maintaining others intact.     

REACHING THE RURAL POOR THROUGH AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES IN MONGOLIA

This paper focuses on the cooperative sector in central Mongolia. Its aim is to provide new insights into the role and importance of cooperatives among poor rural populations. We analyse cooperatives’ inclusiveness of smaller herders and farmers and cooperatives’ governance structures. The research is based on data collected in selected provinces of the central Töv region. The data were collected for three distinctive target groups – cooperative board members, cooperative members and non‐members. We found that the cooperative sector in Mongolia is strongly affected by the governmental policy regarding wool subsidies, which provides subsidies only to cooperative members and has consequently caused rapid growth in the number of new, free‐riding cooperative members and led to very low levels of members’ self‐identification with their cooperatives. This policy also affects the inner organizational structures of cooperatives. Further, we found indications that poorer farmers tend not to be members of cooperatives and that the overall benefits for non‐members and the general community arising from local cooperatives are rather low.     

COOPERATIVE FIRMS AND THE CRISIS: EVIDENCE FROM SOME ITALIAN MIXED OLIGOPOLIES

We investigate how cooperative firms reacted to the current crisis. This allows us to compare the behaviour of cooperative and conventional firms facing exogenous shifts in demand. After a short survey of a stream of theoretical literature, we analyze a large group of Italian production cooperatives in the periods 2003–2010 and 1994–2011 and we contrast co‐ops behaviour with the overall trend in the industries in which they operate. Our sample's evidence suggests that the cooperative's behaviour has a stabilizing effect on employment with respect to shocks in output demand. Unlike profit‐maximizers, cooperative firms seem to be adjusting pay more than employment when facing shocks. Production co‐ops look better equipped than their profit‐maximizing counterparts in tackling the long recession also because they have been very cautious in their profit policies over time. Unlike conventional firms, they have significantly increased their own equity during ‘good’ years instead of distributing large dividends to their members.     

DRIVERS OF PRO‐ACTIVE MEMBER PARTICIPATION IN AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES: EVIDENCE FROM BRAZIL

Effective governance of cooperatives depends on the pro‐active participation of members in the governance. However, it is commonly argued that, especially in cooperatives with high heterogeneity of membership, additional decision‐making and influencing costs could emerge if members who participate in the governance do so to obtain direct or indirect economic benefits at the individual farm level. The objective of this paper is to assess whether or not farmers’ economic motivations for continued association are relevant drivers of pro‐active participation. Data originate from 148 farmers from a large agricultural cooperative in Brazil. The results suggest that economic motivations for continued association are drivers of participation in the General Assembly, but not of ‘pro‐active’ participation in boards and committees.     

Farmers’ organizations and sustainable development: An introduction

This special issue features 14 new research papers investigating the role of farmers’ organizations (e.g., collective action, self-help groups, producer companies/organizations, and cooperatives) in supporting sustainable development. The key findings include: (1) farmer groups and cooperatives promote farmers’ adoption of good farm management practices, new agricultural technologies and sustainable farming practices, although not substantially improving farm yield; (2) outsourcing services provided by agricultural cooperatives help to increase the technical efficiency of crop production; (3) cooperative membership enhances members’ bargaining power and enables them to sell their products at higher prices; (4) cooperatives motivate rural laborers to work in off-farm sectors, while self-help groups empower rural women in decision-making; (5) internet use improves agricultural cooperatives’ economic, social, and innovative performances; (6) direct administrative intervention supporting cooperative development may lead to the emergence of shell cooperatives; (7) participation in forest farmer organizations enables wood value chain upgrading; (8) increasing the cooperative size in terms of income, equity, and assets increases the profitability of savings and credit cooperatives; and (9) creating cross-border cooperation between cooperatives generates benefits for all parties involved. These findings can inspire the design of policies aimed to support farmers’ organizations in achieving sustainable development goals.     

THE USEFULNESS OF ACCOUNTING INFORMATION IN THE MEASUREMENT OF TECHNICAL EFFICIENCY IN AGRICULTURAL COOPERATIVES

ABSTRACT ** :  The study of the performance of agricultural cooperatives has become increasingly important in recent years, due to the significant role that they have in the agricultural food sector. In this context, the present study has a double aim: On one hand to use the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) technique in order to measure the efficiency of agricultural cooperatives, and on the other hand, to analyse if this technique is complementary to the traditional economic and financial ratio analysis. In order to achieve these objectives, an empirical study is carried out using the data of 247 observations made over a horizontal time span of three accounting years (2001–2003). The results show that the efficiency measures obtained by means of the DEA technique are an appropriate complement to the economic analysis of agricultural cooperatives.     

The Relationship Between Agricultural Cooperatives and the State in Sweden: The Legislative Process

On the basis of interviews made with twenty seven leading personalities from cooperatives and government institutions, it is identified, that two main dimensions, the economic and the social, are emphasized by different interest groups involved in the cooperative process. It is also indicated that the relationship between state and cooperatives, in varying degrees, combines these two basic dimensions over time in the actual cooperative law and thus focuses on one dimension, neglecting the other.
Relationship is meant to anchor the economic and the social values of cooperatives in the political process, and enable them to be accepted. In conclusion, it can be argued that the state can influence the character of cooperatives by selecting specific actors in specific processes. For this reason, in order to secure a sustainable autonomous development of cooperatives, it is important to synthesize and take into consideration different interests in future relations between cooperatives and the state.     

HOW COOPERATIVE ARE SAVINGS AND CREDIT COOPERATIVES IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES?: AN ANALYSIS OF DATASETS FROM UGANDA

Building successful savings and credit cooperatives (SACCOs) that actually embody the cooperative principles is a challenge to development agencies. Although SACCOs form the majority of microfinance providers in many developing countries, the most recent literature on microfinance governance and performance has given little reference to the longstanding body of relevant cooperative literature. SACCO representation in microfinance datasets is biased. Drawing on so‐far unexploited datasets of Ugandan SACCOs and savings groups, this paper empirically analyses policy debate regarding SACCO‐ and savings group regulation. The findings point to the relevance of practically implementing the principle of ‘cooperation between cooperatives’ to ensure effective governance at SACCO level. Moreover, the paper introduces two new measures, based on members' savings and shares, which could become useful tools to track the application of cooperative principles in developing countries, and hence improve evidence‐based policy‐making for SACCOs.     

农地股份合作社经营模式的效益分析 ——基于湖南省光明村农地股份合作社的个案研究

农地股份合作社的产生有多重原因。基于效益原理,文章首先构建了农地股份合作社经营模式的效益分析框架,然后,通过湖南省光明村农地股份合作社的个案解析,对农地股份合作社的效益表现、效益成因以及效益约束进行了分析,并从效益视角探讨了农地股份合作社的机制优化与制度安排问题,得出结论：作为新时期农村土地经营制度发展的方向,农地股份合作社的成功依赖于一定的条件,因而并不适合在所有的地区推广,需要农民、合作社以及政府等多方主体的共同努力来创造适合农地股份合作社经营的条件,实现合作社经营的效益最大化与可持续。     

Cooperative Firms as a New Mode of Production

The importance of the notion of ‘the mode of production’ is emphasised by all those scholars who hold that the ‘history-as-totality’ approach is the core of Marx's theory of society. Among them, Gramsci argued that while scientific advancements could shed little light on the issues with which philosophers and economists had traditionally been concerned, concepts such as ‘social relations of production’ and ‘mode of production’ had provided valuable insights for philosophical and economic inquiry. Hence our interest in the question of whether a system of producer cooperatives would actually lead to the establishment of a new mode of production. Opinions in the matter diverge greatly, and major implications stem from the distinction between worker managed firms (WMFs) and labour managed firms (LMFs), where the latter strictly segregate capital incomes from labour incomes. We conclude that LMF cooperatives do implement a new mode of production because they reverse the typical capital–labour relation right within a capitalistic system. An additional major point addressed in some detail is the main contradiction in capitalism.     

UNDERSTANDING MEMBER CHARACTERISTICS AND COOPERATIVE PRICE EFFECTS: THE CASE OF THE ARGENTINEAN DAIRY SECTOR

Since the 1990s, Argentinean dairy‐processing cooperatives have lost considerable amounts of members and market share. We analyse their current role by investigating the characteristics of farmers who continue delivering to them and price differentials between cooperatives and investor‐oriented firms (IOFs). A probit regression model applied to 917 farmers suggests that cooperative farmers are more disadvantaged than farmers delivering to IOFs in terms of education, farm size and productive technology. Moreover, t‐tests applied to data representing 70 per cent of national volume indicate that farmers delivering to cooperatives are between 11 per cent and 29 per cent smaller than those delivering to IOFs, depending on province. A hierarchical multilevel regression model applied to 9,720 transactions among farmers and processors shows that, after controlling for quantity and quality, cooperatives pay lower (3.5%) but more stable prices than IOFs. In a context of rapid structural change, we observe a market in which larger farmers deliver to IOFs and smaller farmers deliver to cooperatives and conclude that, at the expense of paying lower prices, cooperatives may act as buyers of last resort for otherwise disadvantaged farmers.     

民间金融的独特形式--合会

合会作为一种重要的民间金融形式,在中国有着悠久的发展历史,但国内学术界对于这种草根金融的关注甚微.本文通过对中国合会的实地调查,尤其以温州地区合会的发展为主线,介绍了合会的运行模式、种类、发展历史,并结合国外文献对合会的研究经验,概括了合会的特点、主要功能、存在的问题.随着中国加入WTO组织后对金融开放承诺期的临近,利率市场化改革应声而起,如何有效地引导和改造合会等民间金融也提上了日程,笔者希望通过本文的介绍,能够引起国内对这种草根金融的重视,从而加强对中国合会内部机理的研究,为完善正规金融体系和招安民间金融奠定理论基础.     

A ROLE FOR COOPERATIVES IN THE MARKET ECONOMY

ABSTRACT*: This article emphasizes that the cooperative form of organization has an important role to play in developing the institutional variety in the market economy. Cooperatives are important tools for counteracting monopolies and monopsonies. Cooperatives may be analysed in terms of network organizations that enable weaker actors in the market to develop businesses that are beneficial both for themselves as users as well as for the larger national society. The development of new cooperatives is highly dependent on existing social networks in the local environment. Actors trying to promote the establishment of new cooperatives therefore have better chances of success if existing social networks are used as bases for the development of member-owned businesses.     

COLLECTIVE ACTION AND ASPIRATIONS: THE IMPACT OF COOPERATIVES ON ETHIOPIAN COFFEE FARMERS’ ASPIRATIONS

Aspirations motivate behaviours, serve to mobilize and direct energy into actions, and are regarded as important determinants of success. Given the importance of aspirations and their formation in social interaction, the objective of this article is to evaluate if cooperative membership can have effects on members' aspiration levels. Face‐to‐face interviews were conducted with 305 Ethiopian coffee farmers on their aspired levels in five dimensions of their lives. Results, using a propensity score matching technique, show that membership in cooperatives significantly improves the aspiration levels of the members. The article emphasizes the utilization of this hidden but important benefit of cooperatives.