Servitization of Lithuanian Agricultural Cooperatives

Abstract

To survive and be competitive in the changing economic environment, agricultural cooperatives are innovating and creating more sophisticated, added-value products and broadening the range of provided services. Lithuanian cooperatives, facing the same challenges, are less flexible and adaptable to changes due to short operational history and sparse membership. Therefore, the following scientific problem is addressed: do Lithuanian agricultural cooperatives still represent a shift to servitizing? The aim of this paper is to investigate the current state of servitization among Lithuanian agricultural cooperatives, and to frame directions for further research in this novel research field. The research relies on structured interviews conducted with Lithuanian agricultural cooperatives. The results of statistical data analysis indicate a slow shift of agricultural cooperatives towards servitization, particularly related to the provision of knowledge-based and adding-value services. Identification of general and personal causes of slow servitization among cooperatives is suggested for further researches.

Development of a Model for the Assessment of the Performance of Rural Producers’ Cooperatives: A Case Study of Isfahan Province, Iran

“…van Oorschot et al (2013) suggested that the investigation and examination of cooperatives in different countries might be beneficial because the findings of each research are contributions to the knowledge of the field as a whole and that the results obtained from the study of cooperatives in different countries might help to develop better theories and plans of cooperatives. Šumylė and Ribašauskienė (2017) suggested that further efforts should be addressed towards identifying the causes and barriers for more successful performance among cooperatives. Amene (2017) suggested that future research may make an in-depth study by considering other regions to clearly factors influencing agricultural cooperatives’ performance.…”