The outsider consumer co-operative: lessons from the Community Co-operative Store (Nuriootpa), 1944–2010

Current models of co-operative survival need to be modified to consider those national experiences where consumer co-operatives become ‘outsider co-operatives’; they cannot rely on a broader co-operative movement or network. The Nuriootpa Co-operative is a prime example of such a co-op. Its ability to deal with issues of capitalisation, ideological appeal and relationships with the local community has historically been central to the survival and growth of this Australian Rochdale co-operative. However, without the support of a broader movement or network, its adoption of the franchising model has proved to be a key to the success of this co-operative.     

Rating of Network-Integrated Corporations

While conventional rating systems are still focused on individual companies, in reality stand-alone business of a single enterprise respectively debtor is more likely the exception than the rule. Joint business activities of two or more companies (organizational networks) are becoming ubiquitous and have a critical influence on each partners’ success. In order to avoid that rating that turns into some rather useless ritual, network characteristics, such as network assets, network capital, network securities, network management competency, network business opportunities and network structure have to be taken into account when evaluating solvency of a network-embedded corporation. Using primary credit cooperatives as an illustrative object, this paper gives an overview on those new rating criteria becoming relevant in conjunction with network-embeddedness, so that workable opportunities can be shown to improve the reliability of ratings.      

(Farmer) Producer Companies in India as new generation cooperatives: Case studies of performance and impact from West Bengal,India

One of the innovative alternatives to the traditional cooperative structure has been the new generation cooperatives or cooperative companies, known as producer companies (PCs) in India since the early 2000s. This paper examines the impact of PCs on the member farmer livelihoods, which is not well studied, with the help of member and non-member farmer interview survey in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is found that though the PCs were inclusive of small farmers in their membership, the PC interface with members for farm inputs was not very strong and the output linkage was poor, reaching only a small proportion of member farmers. The Sufal Bangla public supermarket franchise by some PCs was found to make a large difference to the PC performance and its impact on member farmers. The small size of membership in most case study PCs hindered the equity size, leading to working capital and market interface constraints. Therefore, it is important to encourage members to contribute more equity and to reward their output linkage.     

农业物流视角下农民合作组织创新及其绩效度量研究

近年来,在我国农业物流中起很大作用的农民合作组织发展缓慢,严重制约了我国新农村建设的进程,农民合作组织的组织创新已经迫在眉睫。本文尝试提出农民合作组织创新是否有效的绩效度量标准,并从加强农业生产区域化和专业化、综合化经营、进行兼并和联合、实施企业化经营、整合改造传统组织资源和提升信息化水平六方面提出加快我国农民合作组织创新的思路。     

An examination of the use of legitimate power in marketing channels

The importance of understanding and managing the channel conflict process has been well discussed, however little research has been conducted to examine the relationship between channel conflict and channel structure. In order to provide the focus for an in-depth research effort, this investigation was restricted to one type of channel structure, a retailer-owned co-operative wholesaling-retailing system, and to an examination of the role and importance of legitimate power as it contributes to channel conflict. A cross-sectional study was conducted of management and boards of directors of the wholesaler and 165 member-retailers of the Co-operative Retailing System. Results from correlational analysis of the aggregated data from sixty-four retail outlets indicated that a co-operative retailing-wholesaling system offers a model of distribution where the benefits of independence and co-ordination have been melded. From the retailers' perspective, autonomy for the independent retailers and a degree of control over channel decisions is offered. For the wholesaler, the decision-making structure provides a model for managing relations between large and small organizations which incorporates a mechanism for conflict resolution, while maintaining standardized delivery of products and services.     

Cooperation Between Co-operative Business Organization and Investor Owned Firm to Stimulate Economic Growth of a Country： A Cooperative Advantage Approach

This study elaborates that the economic growth of a country depending on not only the business performance of the investor owned firms （IOFs）, but also the business surplus of the cooperative organizations （Co-ops）. The policy maker should have the level of understanding and competence to blend five different factors related to organizational structure and business model of the Co-ops and the IOFs to the five similarities factors on the managerial approach of them into one marked. The study investigated five similarities factors and included into a conceptual structural model with its six measurement models, economic growth model, general national factor model, market and industry factors model, Co-ops/IOFs opportunities/threat model, Co-ops/IOFs strength /weakness model, and lastly the Co-ops/IOFs firm dynamic/active： sales, profit, and lost model. Reliability of the six similarities measurement models was tested by the Delphi technique with a sample of 33 respondents. The study found that, apart from the six measurement models, it also has two intervening factor variables that will reduce the power and magnitude of the economic growth which will come from mismanagement of policy maker： These factors are the different in intemational culture among countries, and the global warming and natural disaster from the excess consumption and excess production. These selfish, competition and economic greedy of people will lead to economic, social, and natural disaster problems. To reduce the socioeconomic disadvantages and global disaster, board＇s committee, and Co-ops manager as well as chief executive officer （CEO） of the IOFs must have a good understanding on these five similarities factors. Appropriate management of these five similarities factors will lead the firms to reach their high managerial efficiency, customer value, firm value, and finally economic growth.     

Re-imagining retailers’ co-operatives

This article gives clarity to the area of retailers’ co-operatives. It provides a discussion on the different types of co-operatives and their identifying characteristics. This is to clear up common misunderstandings and misapplication of the word retail co-operative in the literature and popular culture and allow for further research in the area of retailers’ co-operatives. This article also provides a discussion of the drivers and developmental path for retail co-operation as a strategy for independent retailers. Three types of retail co-operation are discussed in this way namely buying groups, retailers’ co-operatives and retailers’ co-operative retail chains. The differences between a retailers’ co-operative retail chain and a corporate retail chain are then elucidated. Finally, managerial implications are provided surrounding retail strategy. This research is important as it provides greater understanding of a very successful retail format that has not been studied in depth, a format that allows for sustainable retail development and growth. This article enables further study in the area along with clarity on terms and dimensions.