Exploring the effect of crisis on cooperatives: a Bayesian performance analysis of French craftsmen cooperatives

Abstract

This paper aims at understanding the economic performance of craftsmen cooperatives during the crisis period. These cooperatives have the distinctive feature of being supply cooperatives. We use an exhaustive dataset for the French craftsmen cooperatives (2004)(2005)(2006)(2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012)(2013)(2014). We estimate Bayesian Translog econometric models in order to underline the impact of the 2008 crisis on these cooperatives. On the one hand, cooperatives' turnover contracts during the crisis, the effect is lower for elder cooperatives and varies across sectors. On the other hand, there is convergence towards the mean for the various generations of cooperatives. Theses findings are robust to alternative econometric specifications.

O impacto da meritocracia em empresas de logística durante crises econômicas

“…It recognizes the collective effort, but reinforces and rewards the individual work of vendors. The proposal of a reward model that has a democratic spirit brings benefits to the organization as a whole (Musson & Rousselière, 2020). Moreover, the model's proposal is not to bring additional costs to the company, since it is structured based on improvements in net results and not on revenues.…”

Cooperative employment cycles in Spain. Does regional localization matter?

“…Solvency ratio (%): (Shareholders funds/Total assets)*100 1.4. Profit margin (%): (Profit before tax/turnover)*100 2 Group: Internal traits criterion There is a wide consensus about the fact that the cooperatives' performance differs based on activity, size and longevity (Borda-Rodriguez et al, 2016;Costa et al, 2012;Costa and Carini, 2016;Fakhfakh, et al 2012;Martínez-Victoria, Sánchez-Val, and Arcas-Lario, 2018;Musson and Rousselière, 2018;Nwankwo, Ogbodo, and Ewuim, 2016). We gather indicators of these three fields.…”

“…We can find a great amount of literature that stresses the higher resilience of the cooperatives rather than capitalist companies, particularly in times of crisis. Various pieces of scholarship, such as the work of Basterretxea and Storey (2018); Fusco and Migliaccio (2018); Musson and Rousselière (2018), review several studies that confirm that employee ownership yields positive effects in terms of satisfaction and motivation, which would improve productivity and commitment. 4 In the face of economic shocks, employees are more accepting towards changes in their work conditions, and more willing to find ways to reduce costs and to enhance their relationship with their customers.…”

“…5 In relation to this, there are two important fields that deserve to be analysed. Firstly, there is a large consensus about the fact that cooperatives' employment resilience differs according to their geographic location (Borda-Rodríguez, Johnson, Shaw and Vicari, 2016;Costa and Carini, 2016;Fakhfakh, Perotin, and Gago, 2012;Musson and Rousselière, 2018;Soboh, Lansink, and Van Dijk, 2014). In this sense, some papers suggest that the resilience of the cooperatives is better than other companies' models in territories with a long cooperative tradition, such as Spain (Díaz-Foncea and Marcuello, 2015;Roelants et al, 2012).…”

“…Secondly, studies such as those by Cantanero, González-Loureiro, and Puig (2017), Musson and Rousselière (2018), Sala-Ríos, Torres-Solé, andFarré-Perdiguer (2018), andFarré Perdiguer (2015) demonstrate that the 2008 crisis increased the pro-cyclical link between cooperatives' employment and the business cycle. The intensity of the crisis and its systemic character undermined the reasons that position cooperative employment as better able to deal with downturns.…”