Cooper, Sarah

Tregear, Angela

English

Objectives: To address the challenges posed by their remote locations, policymakers encourage SMEs in rural areas to co-operate with each other, including by jointly producing and marketing goods under a local or regional brand name. Producer co-operatives are relatively common in agricultural and natural resource sectors, however they are a challenging organisational form to manage. The objectives of this study are to (i) explore the interfirm ties that exist within rural co-operatives (ii) examine the forms of knowledge that are created and shared between the members (iii) analyse the implications of these knowledge flows for market orientation.Prior Work: Co-operatives allow members to pool resources and achieve critical mass, but due to distinct ownership and control features, market orientation can be difficult to achieve. The ways in which co-operatives produce, share and use different forms of knowledge may be crucial, as market orientation requires the generation of, and action upon, different types of intelligence. Such knowledge flows may be particularly important to cooperatives in rural locations, where there may be few weak ties to the market, and over-embeddedness is a risk. To date however, empirical studies of co-operatives have overlooked the role of knowledge, hence the current research addresses this gap.Approach: Case studies are conducted of four producer co-operatives, all located in rural areas in Scotland and each of which produces and markets a good under a single regional brand name. In each case, semi-structured interviews are conducted with board directors, members and external stakeholders, supplemented by secondary data.Results: Members’ experiences of being involved in a co-operative are reported, along with managers’ preoccupations in handling the inter-firm relations. Initial results indicate that three forms of knowledge are salient to market orientation (related to production, marketing and co-operation itself). Analysis examines how these forms are produced and shared in the case study co-operatives.Implications: The research offers practical implications for managers of co-operatives seeking to develop more market orientation, as well as for policy bodies wishing to support them.Value: The research contributes to understanding of how small firms in rural areas may collaborate more effectively, as well as offering new insights into a hitherto overlooked aspect of producer co-operatives. <br/

Edinburgh Research Explorer

Harnessing the Value of Place: Knowledge Flows and Market Orientation in Rural Co-operatives

https://www.research.ed.ac.uk/portal/files/19381450/ISBE_2014_Paper_REVISED.doc

Harnessing the Value of Place: Knowledge Flows and Market Orientation in Rural Co-operatives

Abstract

Similar works

Full text

Available Versions

Edinburgh Research Explorer