Voluntary Marketing Institutions in Food Marketing Systems

Understanding heterogeneous preferences of cooperative members

“…The revealed preferences demonstrate that members agree that VTN/TG should act as a market-oriented organization from which its members as users and investors capture benefits from marketing and selling policies that target end-user demand. These findings support and extend the conclusions identified by van Dijk and Mackel (1991), Meulenberg (1979Meulenberg ( , 2000, Bergman (1997), and Kyriakopoulos (2000) that co-ops offer higher benefits to participating members when focused on long-run planning and invest in aggressive marketing strategies to increase their growth and market power. In contrast, the results show a lack of consensus between the two segments on issues related to the intra-organizational control.…”

“…Specific strategic choices determine the core characteristics of co-ops' marketing mix and positioning (Meulenberg, 1979;Van Dijk & Mackel, 1991). For example, co-ops must choose among cost-leadership, product differentiation, and focus-segmentation strategies that can increase their competitive advantage (Meulenberg, 2000). Strategic management theory suggests a firm's competitive advantage is derived from its ability to produce value by acquiring leadership in market knowledge and bringing its resources to their optimum value in a sustainable manner (e.g., Porter, 1985;Bucklin & Sengupta, 1993).…”

“…We select these attributes because they are at the core of collective co-op structure and because of their importance for understanding the relationship between internal structure and co-op choice, particularly in a competitive marketing environment (e.g. Bijman, 2002;Hendrikse & Veerman, 1997;Meulenberg, 1979Meulenberg, , 2000. We investigate the effect of business size and risk attitude on preferences since these are common factors that emerge in the co-op literature (e.g.…”

Cooperatives’ Organizational Restructuring, Strategic Attributes, and Performance: The Case of Agribusiness Cooperatives in Greece

“…Strategic attributes refer to fundamental choices of cooperatives regarding their marketing approach (Meulenberg, ; van Dijk, ). To be successful, a firm's offer (i.e.…”

“…Researchers have utilized a rich spectrum of theories, such as agency theory (Cook, ) and property rights theory (Fulton, ), in their attempts to explain the problems inherent in agricultural cooperatives (e.g., horizon, portfolio, see Vitaliano, ). Moreover, many studies have focused on cooperative performance primarily through financial analysis, such as balance sheet ratio assessments (e.g., Gentzoglanis, ; Parliament, Lerman, & Fulton, ) or have maintained an analytical focus (e.g., Meulenberg, ; Nilsson, ; Peterson & Anderson, ). Nevertheless, few, if any, account for the behavioral aspects of cooperative entrepreneurship and the broader implications of restructuring cooperatives’ core attributes (Kalogeras et al., ; Salavou & Sergaki, ).…”