The Big Society, values and co-operation

Abstract

In a context of government promotion of co-operatives, a growth in the co-operative economy, and in times when use of the term ‘co-operative’ appears to have broadened to include any form of employee ownership, this article sets out a research agenda for exploring producer co-operatives, focusing on what co-operation means to those who work in them. Based on exploratory research in three producer co-operatives, the article argues that the values and principles are being used so liberally that co-operatives have a very wide appeal, making co-operation attractive to a wide spectrum of political ideals and values – perhaps surprisingly, those associated with individualism alongside those of co-operation.

Agricultural cooperatives remaining competitive in a globalised food system: At what cost to members, the cooperative movement and food sustainability?

“…Within the EU, ACs still mean different things to different countries: in the UK, the term ‘farmer-owned-business’ is commonly preferred and fuelled by the vast array of legal forms that cooperatives can opt for under UK law; in fact, the word ‘cooperative’ does not appear in many ACs’ names. Wilson and McLean found that many ACs try ‘not to look like co-ops as the co-operative identity is seen as ‘old-fashioned’’ (Wilson and MacLean, 2012: 537). In Spain, the government is offering POs increasing support, and the term ‘associative entities’ is becoming common in policy documents, a label more encompassing than ACs (Comisión Nacional de los Mercados y la Competencia (CNC), 2012; MAGRAMA, 2013).…”

“…In contrast to workers' cooperatives, AC members do not have to cooperate with each other daily; in fact, some authors argue they hardly ever have to cooperate, because farmers have delegated the act of cooperating to professional managers (Wilson and MacLean, 2012). The evidence presented suggests that the reasons for joining a workers' cooperative can also be different from the outset from those that farmers might have for joining an agricultural cooperative; the latter appear to be more focussed on financial savings and the economic benefits of economies of scale, in line with what other studies have also found (see Wilson and MacLean, 2012). The data also indicates, especially in the case of MVF, that members have a passive rather than active relationship with their cooperatives, with many being distant from the governance of their cooperatives.…”

“…Cooperatives are four times more likely to be described as ‘fair’ and ‘honest’ compared to public limited companies (Cooperativas Agro-alimentarias, 2013; Wilson and MacLean, 2012). However, ACs offer a not so clear picture (Berthelot, 2012; Kontogeorgos et al, 2017).…”

“…Despite the interest in worker cooperatives, food producer cooperatives account for a larger share of the cooperative economy (Wilson and MacLean, 2012). Agriculture is in fact the largest sector by annual cooperative turnover, with more than 39%, or €347 billion, of the total annual cooperative turnover in Europe, followed by retail with nearly 30%, or €264.38 billion (Cooperatives Europe, 2016).…”

“…However, despite their social and economic significance, cooperatives have received insufficient attention from critical management and organisation studies’ scholars, who by default take large for-profit organisations as the unit of their analysis (Kokkinidis, 2015; Safri, 2015). This is even more so in the case of agricultural cooperatives (ACs), a type of organisation and subject of study clearly dominated by the economic discipline (Wilson and MacLean, 2012). The economics literature has shown an interest in studying finance, governance, and board and investors’ control in ACs (Chaddad, 2009; Cook et al, 2004; Ortmann and King, 2007).…”