It might seem impossible to compare developing Zimbabwe to a well developed Japanese agrarian, but a deeper examination of the two countries reveals numerous similarities especially in the agrarian sector (land reform, grain policy and the rural political economy). The thesis examined Japan's radical land reform and the development of her cooperatives in conjuction with the path taken by Zimbabwe leading to her land reform and beyond. The author collected and analyzed data from six villages, three in Japan, and three in Zimbabwe to understand different types of cooperatives, their growths, and constraints. The British-Indian type of cooperatives currently obtaining in Zimbabwe needs to be restructured.The central argument is that the FTLR, just as the land reform in Japan, increased the potential for the development of robust, genuine grassroots cooperatives from below. The new movement can learn a lot from Japan's 70-year experience in cooperative development. Based on a global political economy reading of agricultural production, the thesis selects the pros from the Japanese agricultural cooperative system and fuses it with knowledge systems from the Zimbabwe movement to advance an agricultural cooperative development framework for Zimbabwe and other post-colonial states. / 博士(グローバル社会研究) / Doctor of Philosophy in Global Society Studies / 同志社大学 / Doshisha University

We investigate the incentive to provide goods of high quality in a vertically related market for different types of business organizations, a farmer-owned cooperative and an investor-owned firm. Contrary to the firm, the cooperative is characterized by decentralized decision making, which gives rise to overproduction and problems coordinating the quality decisions of its members (free riding). Comparing both manufacturers acting as monopolists we show that the cooperative will never supply final goods of higher quality than the firm, and that the problem of quality coordination is mitigated if the cooperative succeeds in preventing overproduction. When a cooperative faces competition of an investor-owned firm (mixed duopoly), it will - except in one limit case - never produce final goods of a higher quality than the firm and will deliver lower quality in a number of scenarios.

In recent years, nonprofit scholars have increasingly studied the phenomenon of social enterprises which has become a generic term describing a wider reorientation among third sector organizations. The emergence of social enterprises has also led to a dynamic of hybridization and broadening in the cooperative sector, similar to an earlier dynamic of "economization", but this time on the other end of the organizational spectrum. This paper aims at developing a fine-grained conceptual understanding of how this organizational dynamic is shaped in terms of member coordination, thus contributing to a more comprehensive theoretical understanding of different organizational forms of cooperatives. Specifically, to highlight the difference to traditional member-focused cooperatives, the paper introduces the term third-party-focused cooperatives for those social enterprises which emphasize economic goals as well as control and ownership by a particular community (typically place-based). The key result of the paper is that with the shift from member- to community-focus in cooperatives, the main coordination mechanism becomes one of norm-based trust on the basis of generalized reciprocity. In contrast to traditional maxim-based trust member coordination on the basis of relation-specific reciprocity, this enables third-party-focused cooperatives to mobilize bridging and linking social capital, facilitating collective action aimed towards the community interest. The findings suggest that this identity shift requires a mutual re-positioning between the cooperative and the nonprofit sector, in terms of umbrellas as well as regulatory and legislative bodies.

Thesis (M.Dev.) --University of Limpopo, 2013 / Agricultural cooperatives have been widely promoted as a vehicle for smallholder agricultural development in South Africa. As a result, agricultural co-operative registrations in South Africa are increasing. However, research suggests that South African co-operatives have generally not been effective, successful and functional. This study has investigated the challenges facing agricultural cooperatives in the Greater Tzaneen Municipality. It is expected that identification of these elements may enable institutions that offer support to cooperatives make better decisions to improve primary agricultural cooperatives support. Understanding of these elements could inform the efforts for members of cooperatives to achieve their set objectives and thus improve agriculture cooperative, employability, functionality and profitability. A case study of the Nkomamonta Agricultural Primary Cooperative in the Greater Tzaneen Municipalities is used. It is composed of fifteen agricultural cooperative which were purposively selected for the study because they were nearby, they are a pilot agricultural cooperative in the municipality and which are also not functioning as expected. The sample also included the purposively selected members, customers of these agricultural cooperative, workers, Greater Tzaneen Municipality, Local SEDA and LIBSA to explore the differences and provide insight to the knowledge, opinions and challenges that are facing agricultural cooperatives. One-on-one interviews were carried out with co-operative members as well as focus group discussions with customers, members of the cooperatives, workers, the Municipal officials, SEDA and LIBSA. A framework for analysing the challenges agricultural cooperatives with reference to the Nkomamonta cooperative case study was developed using literature of objectives of agricultural cooperatives, challenges which were identified by other researchers and success factors of smallholder agriculture. According to this study, farmers’ activities are hampered by a number of constraints. Production capability of the fifteen primary cooperatives is hampered by resource constraints such as lack of access to land (in one cooperative), machinery and equipment, finances and information relevant to production. Marketing, transportation, poor infrastructure and the elderly age of some cooperative members and issues related to free-rider syndrome were part of the problems that were identified. Low capability of some of the fifteen cooperatives to mobilise resources, use the limited resources available and low capability to manage institutional arrangements rendered the cooperatives ineffective in achieving their set objectives. The study recommends strategies for ensuring that the challenges facing agricultural cooperatives are minimised to better their services in the community. These include strategies for addressing internal and external issues affecting the cooperatives. Direct intervention from government is recommended to improve production through revising land allocation systems which made Kulani Agricultural Cooperative not to have land for growing crops. Jerry Jeff and Nwa Rex went out of action for eight months due to renovation of neighbourhood inorganic farms by the Department of Agriculture. Another strategy would entail improving extension services and follow up and strict monitoring of effective use of government resources provided to farmers. Responding and action taking when disaster has struck the agricultural cooperative by Government is also a plausible strategy. Access and training to relevant technologies to improve the processing and packaging capabilities of cooperatives should improve. Marketing and management activities should be supported through provision of improved infrastructure and relevant training. Farmers themselves should consider assisting one another especially regarding land issues as it was discovered that 67 hectares lay unutilised while the farmer next door needed land. Farmers should also engage in value added activities, and improve marketing programs and cost-effective distribution mechanisms.

Their poverty condition and inadequacy of government assistance at all levels (from federal to state to local) in Igbo communities of South-eastern Nigeria propels the locals to explore the self-help pathway in cooperative association as an alternative means for addressing their collective and individual needs. Over the years, the cooperative ideal has become a sustainable model of support for the Igbos of this region particularly in the rural village communities. However, the advancement of this form of livelihood in the area is fraught with many difficulties ranging from members’ distrust of government development policies, ‘nominal’ (defunct and struggling) cooperative formation, poor membership education/illiteracy, group leadership problems, youth urban migration, group patron clientism, urban-rural encroachment and group gender disparity issues. Social capital is arguably the dominant concept for examining cohesion and cooperative acts among people (Bourdieu, 1997 and Putnam, 2000). ‘Trust and reciprocity’, as principle attributes of social capital that condition most sustained cooperative interactions among members of the groups, is examined in this thesis. This research also assesses the inter-linking (bridging) bond that exists between the cooperative groups, their communities (including dispersed community members elsewhere in Nigeria and abroad) and the government. For example: Why do the ‘nominal’ cooperatives in the study communities lack this attribute? Does ‘trust’ determine the type of attention that community cooperatives receive from their government? What factor(s) facilitate assistance from the government and other community development groups especially the diaspora? Are there avenues to achieve best practice in these relationships for sustained cordiality? The thesis applies the Igbo cultural understanding of social capital as ugwu in discussing relational bonds within select cooperatives and non-cooperative farmer groups in the study communities using field tools adapted from the World Bank’s Social Capital Implementation Framework (SCIF). Previous studies conducted by some African scholars such as Uchendu (1965), Mbiti (1969), Njaka, (1974), Ekeh, (1975), Iroegbu, (1997), Ohadike, (1994), Korieh (2006), Nwagbara, (2007) were drawn upon in the discussions. The researcher adopted a mixture of qualitative (un-structured interviews) and quantitative methods (questionnaires) in gathering and analysis of data. The research found that members of active smallholder cooperative societies uphold their mutual integrity (ugwu) and membership ties but contrastingly adopt a prebendalist attitude (similar to the ‘nominal’ cooperatives) in interactions with the government. Cooperative societies’ ‘ugwu’ - social capital - bond did not necessarily antecede bridging social capital particularly at interactions with the government. The research recommends that since ‘ugwu’ is central in Igbo cooperative life; the government could work closely with local institutions to formalize and strengthen this and in the process rebuild bridging trust with the locals. The churches and other traditional community institutions are mediators that could help in this process. It is hoped this study will help encourage best practice in smallholder cooperative functions and rural development practice.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1968. / Vita. Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references.

Master of Agribusiness / Department of Agricultural Economics / Keith D. Harris / Since the introduction of railroad systems to the United States in the early- to mid- 1800s, agricultural producers – particularly those in the grain, fertilizer and fuel industries – have benefitted from increased access to national and global markets. This study is designed to examine the Wisconsin 2017-2019 Biennium Budget as an indication of the state’s political desire to fund the state’s rail system and address the implications related to cooperative performance and competitive advantage in the agricultural markets. The objective is to collect data from Wisconsin cooperatives and: 1) determine cooperatives’ current use of rail; 2) estimate the average rail transportation cost for cooperatives; and 3) discuss whether cooperatives should evaluate (if not consider) switching from rail to another mode of transportation. When reviewing the participants’ current use of rail, the research findings suggest that a number of organizations use this method of transportation for both inbound and outbound business. In addition, the majority surveyed indicated competitors and/or customers also use rail as a mode of transportation. The research findings suggest that agricultural cooperatives in Wisconsin should independently evaluate the costs and/or benefits of switching from rail to another mode of transportation and the impact a change of this nature would have on the cooperatives’ input suppliers as well as end customers. The implications might impact future profitability or financial viability of the cooperative.

Ce travail s’intéresse à la capacité de résistance des entreprises coopératives. Depuis la crise financière et ses multiples conséquences, le modèle coopératif est particulièrement promu pour sa capacité à résister aux crises. Toutefois, cette résilience semble déduite de nombreuses constatations d’ordre économique (croissance du chiffre d’affaires cumulé du secteur coopératif, augmentation du nombre de sociétaires et d’emplois salariés, etc.) et non d’études scientifiques. Ainsi, ce travail de recherche a pour objectif d’apporter un éclairage scientifique à la question de la résistance du modèle coopératif. Les coopératives sont détenues par leurs membres qui ont le double statut d’apporteurs de capitaux et de fournisseurs, salariés ou clients. De cette détention de la propriété singulière découle une ambition qui sort du paradigme financier dominant de maximisation de la valeur pour les apporteurs de capitaux : maximiser la valeur pour les membres. Dès lors, une question se pose : la détention de la propriété des coopératives influence-t-elle leur capacité de résistance ? Pour répondre à cette question, nous avons structuré notre pensée autour de quatre essais. Le premier essai est une revue de littérature qui permet de revisiter la notion de performance en coopérative : dans le cas des coopératives, la performance financière peut être assimilée à la capacité à résister dans le temps, c’est-à-dire à survivre. Dans le deuxième essai, nous comparons la survie des coopératives à celle des autres entreprises en distinguant les disparitions par fusion et par liquidation et testons l’influence des déterminants financiers classiques. Les résultats indiquent que les coopératives semblent mieux résister grâce à un mécanisme particulier : la fusion. Cela permet un redéploiement de l’activité ; les membres coopérateurs peuvent continuer à écouler leur production dans une organisation qu’ils détiendront collectivement et qu’ils géreront démocratiquement. Ainsi, si les fusions ne sont pas le propre des coopératives, elles reflètent le principe de solidarité entre coopératives et permettent d’éviter les conséquences néfastes de la disparition de l’activité pour les membres. Les résultats indiquent également que les déterminants financiers classiques ne permettent pas de rendre pleinement compte de la survie des coopératives. Le troisième essai s’intéresse à la résistance sous l’angle de la longévité. Nous observons que les coopératives survivent plus longtemps que les autres entreprises. Au-delà de la comparaison « coopératives versus entreprises classiques », cet article, volontairement inscrit dans un secteur précis et homogène, propose un début d’explication à la meilleure survie des entreprises coopératives : il semble qu’elles répercutent les variations de l’activité sur leurs membres. Le quatrième et dernier essai de la thèse se focalise exclusivement sur les coopératives pour en proposer une analyse financière spécifique et construire des ratios financiers adaptés. Les résultats indiquent que les déterminants de la disparition par fusion et par liquidation sont différents, et confirment le rôle des fusions comme mécanisme de résistance. De plus, contrairement à la croyance selon laquelle les coopératives absorbent les chocs grâce à la détention collective du capital, il semble que les coopératives qui résistent sont celles dont les membres acceptent de supporter le risque au travers de leur rémunération. / This thesis focus on cooperatives survival. Since the financial crisis, the cooperative model is particularly promoted for its ability to resist crises. However, this resilience seems to be inferred from many economic facts (growth in cumulative cooperative sector turnover, increase in membership and wage employment, etc.) and not scientific studies. Thus, the aim of this research is to provide scientific insight into the ability of the cooperative model to cope better than corporations. Cooperatives are held by their members who have the dual status of suppliers of capital and suppliers, employees or customers. From this singular ownership flows an ambition that goes beyond the dominant financial paradigm of maximizing value for capital providers: maximizing value for members. Hence, one question arises: does ownership of cooperatives affect their ability to cope better? To answer this question, we have structured our thinking around four essays. The first essay is a literature review that revisits the notion of cooperative performance: in the case of cooperatives, financial performance can be equated with the ability to resist over time, that is, to survive. In the second essay we compare the survival of cooperatives and corporations, by distinguishing between disappearances by mergers and liquidations, and test the influence of classical financial determinants. The results indicate that cooperatives seem to be more resilient through a particular mechanism: the merger. This allows a redeployment of the activity and members can continue to sell their production in an organization that they will collectively hold and that they will manage democratically. Thus, while mergers are not the property of cooperatives, they reflect the principle of solidarity between cooperatives and make it possible for members to avoid the negative consequences of the disappearance of the activity. The results also indicate that the traditional financial determinants do not fully account for the survival of cooperatives. The third essay focuses on longevity. We observe that cooperatives survive longer than corporations. Moreover, this article, voluntarily dealing with a precise and homogeneous sector, propose an explanation for the best survival of cooperatives: it seems that they reflect the fluctuations of activity on their members. The fourth and final essay of the thesis focuses exclusively on cooperatives in order to propose a specific financial analysis and special financial ratios to explain their survival. The results indicate that the determinants of disappearance by mergers and liquidations are different, and confirm the role of mergers as a mechanism of survival. Moreover, contrary to the flagship that cooperatives absorb shocks thanks to their common equity, it seems that the ones which cope better are those whose members agree to bear the risk through their remuneration.

No description available.

MSCAGR (Agricultural Economics) / Department of Agricultural Economics / Agricultural cooperatives are important tools for enhancing the living standards of farmers in rural areas. It is therefore very clear that cooperatives are for the benefit of the farmers. However, the development of cooperatives in the study area is not at a desired level yet; hence, it is necessary to determine the farmers’ attitudes towards forming cooperatives. The research was carried out in Makhado Local Municipality, Vhembe District in Limpopo Province. Three irrigation schemes were selected for the study, which consist of a total of 215 smallholder farmers. However, only 152 smallholder irrigation farmers were used for the study. The mixed research design method was used for this study. The sampling technique used is purposive sampling. Data was collected through a structured questionnaire. Interviews were also made using key informants (Extension Office). The Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyse the data. Cross tabulations and the logistic regression were used to analyse the data. The study revealed that the socioeconomic characteristics smallholder irrigation farmers has an impact on their willingness to form cooperatives. The study also revealed that the attitudes of farmers have an impact on their willingness to form cooperatives. The study further revealed that the constraints such as trainings, hired service providers, costs of inputs, access to agricultural information, access to adequate land and access to markets have an impact on their willingness to form cooperatives. The study recommended that strategies can be implemented on how cooperatives can be formed and enhance their success. The study also shows that future research can be done in youth participation in agriculture and cooperatives, cooperatives partnering with agricultural companies and other organisations. / NRF