Co-operative Management

In urban communities, infrastructures that support living are indispensable. There is increased interest in alternative ways of providing such support systems, including semi-autonomous infrastructures resulting from the self-organization of local actors. In this study, we analyze the emergence and management of such infrastructures in light of the theory of complex adaptive systems, within which they are called ‘inverse infrastructures’. Empirical evidence is drawn from the case of water cooperatives in the town of Ikaalinen, Finland. Our analysis shows that, with favorable preconditions in place, inverse infrastructures may contribute significantly to local infrastructure services and so also to the functioning of society.

The study’s overall objective was to investigate the impact of Co-operative movements in rural development in Kenya. The study was descriptive in nature. The researcher used structured questionnaires and face to face interviews especially where the respondents may not have time to complete the structured questionnaires. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics involving percentages and charts. The study found out that Agricultural cooperatives have played significant roles in reducing unemployment problem in the study area by generating permanent and temporary employment to both skilled and unskilled individuals, providing credit- and/or grant-based financial support to unemployed people, which enable them to engage in micro and small activities, and building the confidence and awareness of the local people. Agricultural cooperatives have also made vital roles in protecting the environment from degradation through making their members conscious on the impact/effect of environm...

There is growing recognizition about Cooperative movement in Indonesia nowadays. The purpose of this study is attempted to understand how service quality and sense of belonging affect member's members' participation in cooperatives enterprise. By using convenience sampling, 149 members of various cooperatives which are placed in Malang, East Java, Indonesia, taken as respondent and completed questionnaire. Quantitative method was used to analyze data in order to gain conclusions about research question that proposed in this study. All of hypotheses generated in this study were accepted but in small variance, with the greatest impact founded in relationship of service quality and sense of belonging. Analysis has been discussed, together with the implications and suggestion for future research.

This study dealt with the impact of governance practices on the inclusion of youth and women in rice cooperatives in Rwanda. The main research problem is that poor governance practices in cooperatives do not allow this vulnerable group of people; the youth and women to involve in the cooperative activities as stipulated in the principles governing cooperatives. The general objective of the present study was to assess the governance practices and their impact on the inclusion of women and youth among rice cooperatives in Rwanda. This study used descriptive and correlational research design. To determine the extent to which the variables were related, the researchers made recourse on a survey to record the data. Simple random and stratified sampling techniques were used to sample 387 respondents. A questionnaire was administered to selected members of the cooperatives. Data analysis using regression analysis and correlation coefficients and interpretation of results showed indeed that the governance practices not only increased the inclusion levels of the youth and women (the R square =.348) but also encouraged them to train and participate more in various activities that would help them develop economically and socially. The results have also showed that inclusion of youth and women is highly predicted by engagement (P-value = .000), leadership (P-value = .012) and accountability (P-value = .016). It can be concluded that a combination of governance practices has a pivotal role in bringing about the inclusion of the youth and women. This study recommends rice cooperatives in the study area to implement the governance practices that suit entire community members so that more youth and women are encouraged to join.

Michels (1962) claims that any democratic system
ultimately evolves into an oligarchy. Similar
conclusions are drawn by DiMaggio and Powell
(1983) and the phenomenon of co-operatives
becoming oligarchies is generally accepted in the
co-operative literature. Olgarchisation of
democratic organizations can be defined as the
transfer of power from democratically elected
bodies to an informal elite — a group of people who
have real influence on the decisions of the
organization. This paper demonstrates that
oligarchies are by-products of general tendencies to
transfer decision making power to the incompetent
in any form of democracy. Democratic systems are
the result of an attempt to solve a variety of
problems by simplifying rules. Common
meritocratic governance based on expertise is
proposed. An example is provided using the
published case of the Mexican Co-operative
Pascual (Hernandez, 2006), reinterpreted as the
members’ push toward a common meritocracy.

Is it responsible to assume a duly elected socialist government would be allowed to take up governance without corporate/military intervention?

Is it even sensible to go to all the trouble of getting one elected without taking precautions to protect it?

When a human is born, there is every reason to consider that he or she should have a natural entitlement to the wherewithal to stay alive.  In modern times, enough acreage for “hunting and gathering” seems no longer practicable.  Which leaves agriculture.

Entrepreneurs require various factors in order to remain sustainable and impact positively on the growth and development of the community, the state and the nation. The study was conducted to determine the role of Nigeria’s Amesi Multi-purpose Co-operative Society Limited in providing start-up funds for entrepreneur-co-operators and to determine the contributions of Amesi Multipurpose Co-operative Society Limited to capacity building and entrepreneurship development. Using stratified random sampling technique, copies of questionnaire were distributed to 265 members of  Amesi MPCS Ltd to elicit quantitative and qualitative data. Tables, graphs, percentages and descriptive statistics were used in the analysis and presentation of data. Cash flow statistics of the enterprise shows that thrift and special savings recorded increases on yearly basis. Bonus was yearly paid to members. The practice of patronage refund was being upheld and a large sum of money was set-aside yearly for education, training, and payment of gratuity and pension to entrepreneur-co-operators. Expansion of entrepreneurial activities through formulation of sustainable business and economic policies by the co-operatives to aid the growth and development of Nigeria’s private sector was recommended.
Keywords: Co-operative, growth, entrepreneur, entrepreneurship.

The study analyzed the effect of fishery agricultural loans and insurance premium on the economic growth of fishery production sub-sector in Nigeria. It adopted ex-post facto research design, in which data obtained from Nigeria Agricultural Insurance Corporation and Statistical bulletins of Central Bank of Nigeria from 1989-2015 were used for analysis. Descriptive statistics, graphs, ordinary least squares, one sample t-test and co-integration were applied. Regression models were used to test hypotheses. Findings showed that agricultural loans on fishery production have a positive significant effect on economic growth in fishery production with coefficient value of 0.753036, t-value of 8.55006 and p-value of 0.0000. The result of co-integration revealed the presence of co-integration at r=0 which has positive effect on the normalized long run coefficient. Insurance premium on fishery has a positive significant effect with coefficient value of 0.939288, t-value of 11.7996 and p-value of 0.0000. The paper concluded that what the Banks spend in terms of loans and the Nigeria Agricultural Insurance Corporation charges as premium on fishery are significant to the co-operative farmers, as well as to the economic growth of fishery production sub-sector in Nigeria.Co-operative farmers are therefore advised to continue to seek agricultural loans to improve production since their economic well-being is increasingly being sustained, while provision of fish as a protein source is made available, accessible and affordable to Nigerians.
Keywords: Fishery, loans, premium, economic growth, Nigeria.

Este artigo tem por objetivo apresentar um estudo realizado junto a 12 complexos cooperativos brasileiros, dos segmentos de agricultura/ agroindústria, pesca/ maricultura, artesanato, têxtil e metalúrgico. A presente pesquisa caracteriza-se como uma investigação de caráter exploratório, apoiada no método do estudo de casos múltiplos, sendo composta por: pesquisa documental, análise das características mais relevantes das diversas cadeias produtivas, pesquisa de campo nos complexos cooperativos, análise comparativa de tais empreendimentos. O estudo é baseado nos conceitos de externalidades, ações conjuntas e grau de cooperação interorganizacional. Palavras-Chave: Complexos cooperativos, Estruturas de governança, Cooperação interorganizacional, Desenvolvimento local. 1. INTRODUÇÃO O presente artigo tem por objetivo apresentar e discutir o conceito de complexos cooperativos, que congrega um conjunto de empreendimentos autogestionários, sob a égide da economia solidária. Posteriormente o estudo centra-se na análise de 12 complexos cooperativos brasileiros nas áreas de agricultura, agroindústria, artesanato, indústria, maricultura, reciclagem e vestuário, detectando suas principais características em relação ao sistema operacional, aos aspectos mercadológicos e de comercialização, aspectos financeiros e, também, ao posicionamento dos empreendimentos nas diversas cadeias produtivas. Buscou-se identificar, também, as diferentes estruturas de governança de tais cadeias. De fato, o que se pretende neste artigo é identificar as principais carências e oportunidades, tanto no nível microeconômico dos empreendimentos, como no nível meso, ou seja, o das relações interorganizacionais dos arranjos produtivos existentes. Finalmente, a partir deste diagnóstico da situação atual dos complexos e empreendimentos, a investigação aponta, em linhas gerais, alguns dos possíveis caminhos para o desenvolvimento auto-sustentável desses complexos.

In this webinar, arranged by the SOFIA,  the panelists (Banani Das, Goutam Majhi and Debaprasad Bandyopadhyay) discussed the history, epistemology and ethico-legal aspects of samavaya (co-operative) movements in India. Keeping in mind the consequences of anthropogenic glocal (global+local) heating, the panelists proposed the decentralized self-reliant green economy through samavaya or horizontal mutual aid following the philosophy of Rabindranath Thakur and M. K. Gandhi.

There exists in the world today a complete economy, nestled within the mainstream economy, but separate and different in many ways.
It has its own companies, corporations, factories, distribution networks, retail outlets, offices, banks, insurance, colleges, farms, fisheries, telecoms, ITC services, pharmacies, funeral services. Mysteriously, it began in the UK over 150 years ago and has now spread to almost very other nation on the planet.

Insurance is a co-operative (contractual) system among people to carry out the results of tort that may happen to anyone of them and pay his losses and damages. Insurance began with a co-operative nature then ended up as commercial (business). Islamic scholars (Imams), addressed Insurance because it is new and it was imported to our societies. Scholars had different pointviews about Insurance, which were divided mainly to: 1- Those who consider insurance Halal (accepted). 2- Those who consider insurance Haram (forbidden). 3- Those who consider commercial insurance done by companies as Haram and suggest co-operative and governmental insurance (social security). 4-Those who consider insurance Haram (forbidden) and suggest Islamic insurance in two stages. 5- Those who consider insurance Haram

The Measuring the Co-operative Difference Research Network and the Centre of Excellence in Accounting and Reporting for Co-operatives joined forces to organize an international conference, focused on how and why co-operatives assess their performance and their impacts on society. Academics and practitioners gathered to share their research and experiences with a variety of accounting and reporting tools and practices. The event offered an unprecedented opportunity to recognize and debate various reporting needs and practices, to hear from practitioners regarding the purpose and methods of reporting in their co-operatives, and to identify the building blocks for the establishment of key supports for co-operatives engaged in performance measuring and reporting. Over a period of 3 days co-operative practitioners and researchers from Europe, North America and Latin America discussed the strengths and weaknesses of the various tools used by co-operatives, and considered how best to obtai...

The study’s overall objective was to investigate the impact of Co-operative movements in rural development in Kenya. The study was descriptive in nature. The researcher used structured questionnaires and face to face interviews especially where the respondents may not have time to complete the structured questionnaires. Data was analyzed using descriptive statistics involving percentages and charts. The study found out that Agricultural cooperatives have played significant roles in reducing unemployment problem in the study area by generating permanent and temporary employment to both skilled and unskilled individuals, providing credit- and/or grant-based financial support to unemployed people, which enable them to engage in micro and small activities, and building the confidence and awareness of the local people. Agricultural cooperatives have also made vital roles in protecting the environment from degradation through making their members conscious on the impact/effect of environm...