IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v10y2018i10p3449-d172382.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Cooperative Longevity: Why Are So Many Cooperatives So Successful?

Author

Listed:
  • Constantine Iliopoulos

    (Agricultural Economics Research Institute (AGRERI), Nik. Chlorou 1, 115 28 Athens, Greece)

  • Vladislav Valentinov

    (Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO), and Interdisciplinary Research Unit on Cooperative Studies, Martin Luther University, Große Steinstrasse 73, 06099 Halle, Germany)

Abstract

Despite popular misconceptions, cooperatives present a very successful organizational form worldwide. A recent study found that in the U.S., for example, 134 agricultural cooperatives celebrated their 100th anniversary in 2014. This observation on cooperative longevity is not matched by a corresponding research effort on what makes cooperatives so successful. Most of the extant research seems to focus on intra-cooperative problems that posit significant challenges to cooperatives. This special issue of Sustainability bridges the considerable gap between scholarly work and reality. By focusing on what makes cooperatives so successful for such a long period of time, this issue sheds light on key aspects of cooperative longevity. Bridging social capital, fundamental solutions to excessive heterogeneity-induced high ownership costs, tinkering, cooperative genius, and superior capacity to adapt to shocks and changes are among the factors identified to explain extended cooperative longevity. The insights thereby gained are useful to students of cooperatives, practitioners, and policy makers.

Suggested Citation

  • Constantine Iliopoulos & Vladislav Valentinov, 2018. "Cooperative Longevity: Why Are So Many Cooperatives So Successful?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(10), pages 1-8, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:10:p:3449-:d:172382
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/10/3449/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/10/10/3449/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Valentinov, Vladislav & Vaceková, Gabriela, 2015. "Sustainability of Rural Nonprofit Organizations: Czech Republic and Beyond," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 7(8), pages 9890-9906.
    2. Vladislav Valentinov & Gabriela Vaceková, 2015. "Sustainability of Rural Nonprofit Organizations: Czech Republic and Beyond," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(8), pages 1-17, July.
    3. Matthew Elliott & Lisa Elliott & Evert Van der Sluis, 2018. "A Predictive Analytics Understanding of Cooperative Membership Heterogeneity and Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(6), pages 1-31, June.
    4. Ermanno C. Tortia, 2018. "The Firm as a Common. Non-Divided Ownership, Patrimonial Stability and Longevity of Co-Operative Enterprises," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-18, March.
    5. Jasper Grashuis, 2018. "An Exploratory Study of Cooperative Survival: Strategic Adaptation to External Developments," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(3), pages 1-15, February.
    6. Constantine Iliopoulos & Vladislav Valentinov, 2018. "Member Heterogeneity in Agricultural Cooperatives: A Systems-Theoretic Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-22, April.
    7. Iliopoulos, Constantine & Valentinov, Vladislav, 2018. "Member heterogeneity in agricultural cooperatives: A systems-theoretic perspective," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(4), pages 1-22.
    8. Aleksandra Chlebicka & Michał Pietrzak, 2018. "Size of Membership and Survival Patterns of Producers’ Organizations in Agriculture—Social Aspects Based on Evidence from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-24, July.
    9. Michael L. Cook, 2018. "A Life Cycle Explanation of Cooperative Longevity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-20, May.
    10. Jos Bijman, 2018. "Exploring the Sustainability of the Cooperative Model in Dairy: The Case of the Netherlands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-15, July.
    11. Cynthia Giagnocavo & Emilio Galdeano-Gómez & Juan Carlos Pérez-Mesa, 2018. "Cooperative Longevity and Sustainable Development in a Family Farming System," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(7), pages 1-15, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Niyazmetov, Davron & Soliev, Ilkhom & Theesfeld, Insa, 2021. "Ordered to volunteer? Institutional compatibility assessment of establishing agricultural cooperatives in Uzbekistan," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 108(C).
    2. Yi Qu & Jing Zhang & Zhenning Wang & Xinning Ma & Guangcheng Wei & Xiangzhi Kong, 2023. "The Future of Agriculture: Obstacles and Improvement Measures for Chinese Cooperatives to Achieve Sustainable Development," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-22, January.
    3. Yi Qin & Jiawen He & Miao Wei & Xixi Du, 2022. "Challenges Threatening Agricultural Sustainability in Central Asia: Status and Prospect," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-17, May.
    4. Samal Kaliyeva & Francisco Jose Areal & Yiorgos Gadanakis, 2021. "Would Kazakh Citizens Support a Milk Co-Operative System?," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-19, July.
    5. Elena Meliá‐Martí & Deolinda Meira & José Corberá Martínez & Rui Bertuzi, 2023. "Cross‐border cooperation: A response to the challenges facing agri‐food cooperatives in Southern European countries," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 94(3), pages 981-1006, September.
    6. Sonja Novkovic, 2022. "Cooperative identity as a yardstick for transformative change," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 93(2), pages 313-336, June.
    7. Donald M. Houessou & Ben G. J. S. Sonneveld & Augustin K. N. Aoudji & Frejus S. Thoto & Smith A. R. Dossou & Denyse J. R. M. Snelder & Anselme A. Adegbidi & Tjard De Cock Buning, 2019. "How to Transition from Cooperations to Cooperatives: A Case Study of the Factors Impacting the Organization of Urban Gardeners in Benin," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(17), pages 1-25, August.
    8. Gerhard Fink & Steven Wallis, 2022. "Understanding and avoiding negative consequences of value‐based laws, policies and programmes," Systems Research and Behavioral Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(1), pages 21-29, January.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Iliopoulos, Constantine & Valentinov, Vladislav, 2018. "Cooperative longevity: Why are so many cooperatives so successful?," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(10), pages 1-8.
    2. Jos BIJMAN & Markus HANISCH, 2020. "Understanding the heterogeneity among agricultural cooperatives," CIRIEC Working Papers 2013, CIRIEC - Université de Liège.
    3. Aomar Ibourk & Karim El Aynaoui, 2023. "Agricultural Cooperatives’ Sustainability and the Relevance of Start-Up Support Programs: Evidence from Cooperatives’ Level in Morocco," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(4), pages 1-14, February.
    4. Vladislav Valentinov & Constantine Iliopoulos, 2021. "Social capital in cooperatives: an evolutionary Luhmannian perspective," Journal of Evolutionary Economics, Springer, vol. 31(4), pages 1317-1331, September.
    5. Constantine Iliopoulos & Vladislav Valentinov, 2018. "Member Heterogeneity in Agricultural Cooperatives: A Systems-Theoretic Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-22, April.
    6. Valentinov, Vladislav & Iliopoulos, Constantine, 2021. "Social capital in cooperatives: An evolutionary Luhmannian perspective," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 31(4), pages 1317-1331.
    7. Iliopoulos, Constantine & Valentinov, Vladislav, 2018. "Member heterogeneity in agricultural cooperatives: A systems-theoretic perspective," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 10(4), pages 1-22.
    8. Bo Wang & Po-Yuan Cheng & Brian Lee & Lih-Chyun Sun & Hung-Hao Chang, 2019. "Does Participation in Agricultural Cooperatives Affect Farm Sustainability? Empirical Evidence from Taiwan," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(18), pages 1-12, September.
    9. Chaddad, Fabio & Valentinov, Vladislav, 2017. "Agency costs and organizational architecture of large corporate farms: evidence from Brazil," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 20(2), pages 201-220.
    10. Liyan Yu & Jerker Nilsson, 2019. "Social Capital and Financial Capital in Chinese Cooperatives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(8), pages 1-15, April.
    11. Sebastian-Ion Ceptureanu & Eduard-Gabriel Ceptureanu & Mihai Cristian Orzan & Irinel Marin, 2017. "Toward a Romanian NPOs Sustainability Model: Determinants of Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(6), pages 1-26, June.
    12. Jason R. V. Franken & Michael L. Cook, 2019. "Do Corporate Governance Recommendations Apply to U.S. Agricultural Cooperatives?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(19), pages 1-16, September.
    13. Denisa Gajdová & Helena Majdúchová, 2018. "Financial Sustainability Criteria and their testing in the conditions of the Slovak Non-Profit Sector," Contemporary Economics, University of Economics and Human Sciences in Warsaw., vol. 12(1), March.
    14. Sebastian Ion Ceptureanu & Eduard Gabriel Ceptureanu & Vlad Liviu Bogdan & Violeta Radulescu, 2018. "Sustainability Perceptions in Romanian Non-Profit Organizations: An Exploratory Study Using Success Factor Analysis," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-23, January.
    15. Ville Pönkä, 2018. "The Legal Nature of Cooperative Membership," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 7(2), pages 39-61.
    16. Yuying Liu & Ruiling Shi & Yiting Peng & Wei Wang & Xinhong Fu, 2022. "Impacts of Technology Training Provided by Agricultural Cooperatives on Farmers’ Adoption of Biopesticides in China," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-17, February.
    17. Chiara Leardini & Gina Rossi & Stefano Landi, 2020. "Organizational Factors Affecting Charitable Giving in the Environmental Nonprofit Context," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(21), pages 1-11, October.
    18. Imami, Drini & Valentinov, Vladislav & Skreli, Engjell, 2021. "Food safety and value chain coordination in the context of a transition economy: The role of agricultural cooperatives," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 15(1), pages 21-34.
    19. Amiquero, K. (Katty) Sanchez & Wubben, E.F.M. (Emiel) & van Dam, Y.K. (Ynte) & Trienekens, J.H. (Jacques), 2023. "Success and failure factors in agricultural cooperatives," International Journal on Food System Dynamics, International Center for Management, Communication, and Research, vol. 14(01), January.
    20. Aristotelis Batzios & Achilleas Kontogeorgos & Fotios Chatzitheodoridis & Panagiota Sergaki, 2021. "What Makes Producers Participate in Marketing Cooperatives? The Northern Greece Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-15, February.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:10:y:2018:i:10:p:3449-:d:172382. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.