The potential of co-operatives during the current recession; theorizing comparative advantage

This paper asks how effective are co-operatives at surviving economic recession, and whether they can grow at the expense of investor-owned businesses and provide an alternative business model that is fairer, more stable and less risky. The paper begins by providing historical evidence concerning the resilience of co-operatives during economic crises. Then, taking a ‘member-owned business' approach, it analyses the comparative advantages and disadvantages of co-ops along three dimensions: ownership, control and benefit. It broadens this out to consider advantages to the wider society, and theorises comparative advantages of other business types. It concludes by asking what it would take for the co-operative potential to be realized

A Mutual Trend: how to run rail and water in the public interest

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Cooperatives and the Millennium Development Goals

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Innovation in the governance of large co-operative businesses: the alarming case of UK Co-operative group

This paper begins by providing a short history of the Co-operative Group and the Bank, showing how its current governance structure has come about. Then it provides a summary of what has happened since its current troubles began in 2009, asking what has gone wrong and why. Then it asks who is to blame; is it a failure of management or of governance? It finds that governance has to take a large part of the blame, and so examines the recent innovations that have led to the current peculiar and unsatisfactory governance structure. It then looks forward to the redesign of governance that has been called for by Lord Myners, and explains the work of this author and his colleagues at Co-operatives UK in helping with this process. It provides a method for evaluating alternative governance structures using an analytical framework first proposed in Birchall’s study of the world’s largest co-operatives. (Birchall, 2014

Rediscovering the cooperative advantage - Poverty reduction through self-help

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User Power: the participation of users in public services

This report explores how to increase user participation and make it effective by applying a more systematic and strategic approach. While evidence on the current level of active participation is far from complete, we estimate that a significant, but small minority of up to seven per cent of users are involved on a regular or occasional basis. An important factor in user participation is the model of relationship on offer, which tends to come in three types: a bureau-professional model, a market-based service or a mutual approach. A long legacy of paternalism of the first approach in fields such as housing has to led to efforts to turn service users into customers, and in some cases, more recent efforts to enlist users as partners in service provision. Findings from the research with 500 public service users in housing and community car

The comparative advantages of single and multi-stakeholder co-operatives

When co-operatives were first invented, it was assumed their membership would be limited to one type of user. The Rochdale Pioneers favoured consumers, and employee representation was deliberately limited to a set percentage of board members. Similarly, Schulze Delitsch and Raiffeisen privileged farmers, Buchez workers, insurance mutuals those who are insured, and so on. Recently, Italian social co-operatives have developed a different model in which all the relevant stakeholders become members: those who are cared for, the carers, the workers, and volunteers. Also, occasionally dual stakeholder co-operatives have been designed. Eroski, the big retailer located in the Iberian peninsula, has both consumers and workers in membership, and iCoop in Korea has both consumers and farmers. This paper has two aims, to set out some of the theoretical arguments for and against multi-stakeholder governance, to look at examples of multi-stakeholder models in practice, and to generate from this a set of research questions

Resilience of the Cooperative Business Model in Times of Crisis

The financial and ensuing economic crisis has had negative impacts on the majority of enterprises; however, cooperative enterprises around the world are showing resilience to the crisis. Financial cooperatives remain financially sound; consumer cooperatives are reporting increased turnover; worker cooperatives are seeing growth as people choose the cooperative form of enterprise to respond to new economic realities. Why is this form of enterprise proving so resilient? This report will provide historical evidence and current empirical evidence that proves that the cooperative model of enterprise survives crisis, but more importantly that it is a sustainable form of enterprise able to withstand crisis, maintaining the livelihoods of the communities in which they operate. It will further suggest ways in which the ILO can strengthen its activity in the promotion of cooperatives as a means to address the current crisis and avert future crisis.Also published in Italian, Mizo, and Greek

Hearing Voices: User Involvement in Public Services

Modern public services demand greater awareness of who they are trying to serve. Managing relationships in the service of the public therefore requires the ability to ‘tune in’ to who public service users are, and what they are trying to say. This article examines the nature of the relationships between service users and providers through various mechanisms of voice. It suggests that if the user voice is to be recognised and acknowledged, a range of channels should be provided that cater for the values, norms and attitudes of a differentiated user constituency. Beyond this, however, it suggests that the simple provision of a range of channels is insufficient. Resistance to hearing the user voice through one or other of these channels can result in counterproductive ‘culture clashes’ and/or withdrawal. The article argues that this should be avoided through a combination of appropriate institutional design and the commitment of institutional effort to ensure that service cultures fit better with users’ expectations

Resilience of the Cooperative Business Model in Times of Crisis

The financial and ensuing economic crisis has had negative impacts on the majority of enterprises; however, cooperative enterprises around the world are showing resilience to the crisis. Financial cooperatives remain financially sound; consumer cooperatives are reporting increased turnover; worker cooperatives are seeing growth as people choose the cooperative form of enterprise to respond to new economic realities. Why is this form of enterprise proving so resilient? This report will provide historical evidence and current empirical evidence that proves that the cooperative model of enterprise survives crisis, but more importantly that it is a sustainable form of enterprise able to withstand crisis, maintaining the livelihoods of the communities in which they operate. It will further suggest ways in which the ILO can strengthen its activity in the promotion of cooperatives as a means to address the current crisis and avert future crisis