Advancing the Theory of Cooperative Organization: Interrogating the Developing Country Perspectives

Abstract

This paper attempts to theorize producers' cooperatives as an organizational form in the context of developing countries, by using Williamson's approach of comparative economic organizations. The idea of composite efficiency has been introduced here, by bringing in the notion of distributional efficiency. Detailed theorization of different types of organizations following the market-hierarchy continuum has been attempted. Institutional factors behind longevity, stability of cooperatives and logic behind coexistence of cooperatives along with hierarchical capitalist firms, by focusing on the Indian handloom weaving sector, have been theoretically established.

Capitalist Progress and Moral Economy: Sustaining Employment in India’s Handloom Sector

“…Costs of production also varied due to different types of economic organization at the microlevel. As observed by Bhowmik (2020) and Bhowmik and Chakraborty (2020), cooperatives as well other non-capitalist putting out systems organized by the master weaver/trader/intermediary seem to fare well. A putting out system is a type of subcontacting arrangement whereby a trader/merchant or a master weaver provides raw materials to weavers who work at home or offsite and supply the finished product.…”