Why is cooperative management important?

1) They aim to provide goods and services. 2) They aim to eliminate the
unnecessary profits of middlemen in trade and commerce. 3) They seek to
prevent the exploitation of the weaker members of society. 4) They aim to protect
the rights of people both as producers and consumers.

What are the examples of cooperative management?

Cooperative Examples

Nearly any type of business may operate as a cooperative business. Retail oWhat is

the objectives of cooperative management?

The purpose of a cooperative is to realize the economic, cultural and social needs
of the organization's members and its surrounding community.

What are the principles of cooperative management?

Cooperative Principles
 Open and Voluntary Membership. ...
 Democratic Member Control. ...
 Members' Economic Participation. ...
 Autonomy and Independence. ...
 Education, Training, and Information. ...
 Cooperation Among Cooperatives. ...
 Concern for Community.

What are the 4 types of cooperation?

Types of Cooperation and Role of Cooperation
 (i) Direct Cooperation.
 (ii) Indirect Cooperation.
 (i) Primary Cooperation.
 (ii) Secondary Cooperation.
 (iii) Tertiary Cooperation.

What are the 3 types of cooperatives?

Types of Cooperatives
 1) Retail Cooperatives. Retail Cooperatives are a type of "consumer cooperative"
which help create retail stores to benefit the consumers making the retail “our
store”. ...
 2) Worker Cooperatives. ...
 3) Producer Cooperatives. ...
 4) Service Cooperatives. ...
 5) Housing Cooperatives.

What are the organs of cooperative management?

According to it, the organs of the cooperative are the general meeting, the board of
directors or director of operations, and the supervisory board. intelligent,
sustainable and inclusive society: social, technological, innovation networks in
employment and digital economy.

What are the types of cooperative?

Types of Cooperatives
 Producer / Marketing Cooperatives.
 Consumer Cooperatives.
 Worker Cooperatives.
 Housing Cooperatives.
 Financial Cooperatives.
  New Generation Cooperatives.
 Multi-Stakeholder Cooperatives.
 Non-profit Community Service Cooperatives.

What are the requirements of cooperative?

A cooperative is an autonomous and duly registered association of persons, with a
common bond of interest, who have voluntarily joined together to achieve their social,
economic and cultural needs and aspirations by making equitable contributions to the
capital required, patronizing their products and services and ...

Who owns a cooperative?

Most simply put, a cooperative is a business 1) voluntarily owned by the people who
use it, and 2) operated for the benefit of its members. Regardless of the goods and
services provided, co-ops aim to meet their member's needs.

Consumer cooperatives
Consumer cooperatives are a specific type of purchasing cooperative where consumers gain access
to products and services. Food cooperatives are grocery stores that are structured as a co-op, and
it is the most common type of consumer co-ops

What is cooperative benefit?

Advantages of a co-operative include that:

there are equal voting rights for members. this structure encourages member
contribution and shared responsibility. liability for members is limited. there is no limit on
the number of members.

How many board of directors are in a cooperative?

Boards of directors in cooperatives are mostly comprised of at least three members. A
board of directors typically has more than one member so that the directors can consult
and monitor each other more effectively.

How many members are in a cooperative?

- A cooperative may be organized and registered by at least fifteen (15) persons for
any or all of the following purposes: aisa dc (1) To encourage thrift and savings
mobilization among the members: (2) To generate funds and extend credit to the
members for productive and provident purposes; (3) To encourage among ...

Who controls a cooperative business?

4. Autonomy and Independence. Co-operatives are autonomous, self-help
organisations controlled by their members.

What is cooperative business model?

Cooperatives are based on the idea that those who use an enterprise — the
members — should also own and govern it. Cooperative members decide to
produce, how to do it, and what to do with the profits. The goal is to make businesses
truly accountable to those they claim to serve.

How to Adopt a Cooperative Business

Model
Nathan Schneider

 | September 9, 2020
 No Comments

Cooperative businesses can contribute to a more just,

resilient economy. Here’s how companies are adopting
cooperative business models.
Capitalism built around investor-owned companies is struggling to meet society’s needs. Nathan
Schneider (University of Colorado Boulder) argues that cooperatives could do better.

Starting or running a business? A cooperative model might help you do it better.

While our economy keeps getting more efficient and generating more value, most people are
getting a smaller and smaller portion of it. The investor-owned companies that dominate our
economy are geared to maximizing shareholder value, more than pleasing customers, creating
jobs, or benefitting society.
Cooperatives are a different way of doing business. They have been around since the 19th
century, but many people aren’t familiar with them. They’re likely all around you, blending in
with for-profit enterprises but serving a very different purpose.

In this article, I’ll describe what makes a cooperative and how you can build the principles into
your enterprise. I’ll describe advantages and disadvantages and how cooperatives are being
retooled for the modern era. These ideas are adapted from my 2018 book, Everything for
Everyone: The Radical Tradition that Is Shaping the Next Economy.

What makes an enterprise cooperative

Cooperatives are based on the idea that those who use an enterprise — the members — should
also own and govern it. Cooperative members decide to produce, how to do it, and what to do
with the profits. The goal is to make businesses truly accountable to those they claim to serve.

A co-op’s members might be individuals, or businesses, or other co-ops. Cooperatives of any

substantial size hire staff to manage the day-to-day, but for big decisions or board elections, the
rule is one member, one vote.

As co-owners, members receive dividends from the enterprise’s profits, proportional to how
much they have spent. Members can also choose to reinvest dividends to develop the
cooperative.

The International Cooperative Alliance, an international non-profit, identifies seven principles of

cooperatives. In addition to member control, these principles also stress voluntary and open
membership – no discrimination – and concern for community. Cooperatives must aid not only
their members but the broader society.
 7 Principles of a Cooperative Enterprise, from the International Cooperative Alliance (design by Abby Litchfield)

Cooperatives aren’t all or nothing.

Businesses can also take partial inspiration from the co-op model. For example, Employee Stock
Ownership Plans (ESOPs) give employees an ownership stake in the company. Trusts are
another strategy; they can hold some or all of a company’s stock on behalf of certain
beneficiaries, such as its workers, or in service of a social purpose. 

Many emerging business models draw on the co-op idea; while they aren’t formal co-ops per se,
they can still gain some of the benefits. In my recent work on the idea of an “Exit to
Community” for startups, we’ve been exploring a wide range of models for shared ownership.

Cooperatives in practice

Globally, commonwealths are a major market force. The largest cooperatives generate about
$2.2 trillion in turnover and employ about 10 percent of the world’s employed population. For
example:

 In Canada, the vast credit-union federation Desjardins is a cooperative bank.

 New Zealand has the world’s largest cooperative economy as a percentage of GDP,
thanks mostly to hulking dairy co-ops.
 Smart—originally, Société Mutuelle pour Artistes—organizes 80,000 workers in 9
European countries to provide employment support services.
  When Argentina’s economy collapsed in 2001, workers took over factories that owners
tried to close and started running them for themselves.

The case for a cooperative business model

Cooperatives have advantages over investor-owned or purely for-profit companies. For example:

Cooperatives are innovative, often identifying a missing market. They’re a ground-up approach;
traditionally, they have evolved when people have to figure out how to do what no one will do
for them.

Cooperatives can have lower costs. Volunteerism and sweat equity reduce start-up costs, and co-
ownership can mean lower transaction and contracting costs. When people trust each other as co-
owners, they can cut fair deals more easily.

Cooperatives have greater trust and loyalty from customers. Customers see cooperatives as
providing higher quality products and more worker and community benefits.

Cooperatives are more resilient. They have a lower chance of failure, especially after the startup
phase, and greater resilience in downturns (likely due to shared sacrifice and greater risk
aversion). 

Today, as digital firms dominate the economy, the democracy of cooperatives has even more
appeal. It can provide safeguards around data privacy and labour conditions, both under threat.

Limitations of cooperatives

Cooperatives have disadvantages as well. Raising capital is a challenge in an economy designed

for investor ownership. Lenders and investors expect businesses to be owned by a small group of
founders, not a community of members; we need policies that can change that.

Cooperatives can become stuck in their ways. Investor-owned businesses attract investor-owners
by promising to exceed expectations; co-ops tend to attract members by meeting known, day-to-
day needs. We need to ensure that the co-ops have built-in incentives not just to meet member
needs but to help prepare members for uncertain futures.

A new generation revives cooperatives

Over the years, many large, established cooperatives – like credit unions and mutual insurance
giants — have lost the kind of member involvement that they had at their founding. They have
low member turnout in board elections, for example. They’ve also often become conservative
and hesitant to adopt new ideas. Some organizations, like We Own It, are organizing co-op
members to re-activate their democracy.
Newer cooperatives often have different goals than their predecessors. They want go beyond
serving their members to do good in the broader world. They can adopt complex, multi-
stakeholder ownership structures to address complex challenges; many new co-ops, for instance,
have separate member classes for workers, users, founders, or outside investors. Co-ops
increasingly view themselves as social entrepreneurs and secure B Corp certifications, based on
metrics of social impact.

Modern cooperatives

Two cases show the more modern cooperative approach.

Brianna Wettlaufer, an executive at image provider iStock, was frustrated that the imperatives
coming from the company’s investor-owners required her to keep payments to independent
artists. She left iStock and founded Stocksy United. It’s an artist-owned cooperative, where 50%-
75% of all licenses go directly into contributors’ pockets. Stocksy presents its value proposition:
“The sense of community and ownership felt by our members drives a greater level of passion
into their work, resulting in inspired imagery of the highest quality.”

Namaste Solar is a worker co-op solar utility company based in Colorado. By combining and
connecting different co-op models, the founders of Namaste have achieved both a successful
local business and national-scale impact on their market. Namaste organizers created Amicus
Solar, a purchasing co-op that allows other small solar utilities across North America to buy
equipment together, dramatically lowering costs. Namaste has also spun off the Clean Energy
Federal Credit Union to assist with financing.

Be part of cooperative change

Cooperatives provide an imaginative, exciting, possible future. In my Media Enterprise Design

Lab at the University of Colorado, we explore some of the ways that cooperatives are evolving.
Check out our work – and share your ideas for an economy that better addresses society’s needs.

Cooperative Management
 Diya_Ganguly  Uncategorized  May 15, 2019 5 Minutes

WHAT IS COOPERATIVE?
A voluntary association where a minimum of 10 people come together to
work and achieve a common goal.  To understand more watch the video
below.

What is Cooperative?

COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT DEFINITION

Cooperative management is an effective and purposeful relationship

between management in the meaning of cooperation between
individual, relatively independent organisations or individual with the
aim to increase their competitiveness.

In other words,  cooperative management, also co-management,

tries to achieve more effective and equitable systems of
resource management. Representatives of user groups, the scientific
community, and government agencies should share knowledge, power,
and responsibility in cooperative management,

DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COOPERATIVES AND

CORPORATIONS
1. A corporation exists as a legal entity where it can sue or get
sued while a cooperative does not.
2.  A corporation has limited liability while a cooperative does not.
3.  A corporation must deliver returns on investments while this is
not a must for a cooperative.
4. A corporation is run by centralized management under a board
while a cooperative is run by the members.
5. Shares of a corporation are transferable while those of a
cooperative is not.

OBJECTIVES OF COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT

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1. To achieve common goals,

2. To utilize resources,
3. To fulfil social obligations,

4. To maintain economic growth,

5. To ensure the survival of a cooperative society in a fast-changing

environment,

6. To improve the personality and calibre of people to raise their

efficiency and productivity,

7. To meet the challenge of change.

COOPERATIVE SOCIETY

A cooperative is “an autonomous association of persons united

voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs
and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically controlled
enterprise”. Wikipedia

7 PRINCIPALS OF COOPERATIVE MANAGEMENT

1. Voluntary and open membership: One of the cardinal
principles of co-operative is that the membership of a
cooperative society should be voluntary and open. Hoylake
defines “a cooperative society as a voluntary concept, with
equitable participation and control among all concerned in any
enterprise.”

So it may conveniently be said that the voluntary membership means

that the
members of a co-operative society must join it voluntarily without being
coerced.
Voluntary membership not only strengthens individual responsibilities
but it differentiates cooperation from the state scheme of social reforms.

2. Democratic member control: Paul Lambert remarked,

“Democracy is the cardinal principle. It distinguishes co-operative
business most sharply from capitalist business and it can be applied
uniformly to any type of co-operative.”
It is obvious from the above that one of the distinctive features of co-
operative works is that members select from amongst them their own
leaders, whom they
can also remove. The principle, “one member, one vote” is followed by
the cooperative
society. And this principle eliminates the possibility of capturing control
by a few hands by virtue of shareholdings, i.e. control is justified on the
ground of treating members as human beings and not as subscribers of
capital.

3.Members economic participation: Excess of income over

expenditure for a financial year is called surplus of that year. If a co-
operative society decides to distribute such surplus, the distribution
must be on the basis of members’ dealing with the society and not on
that of the number of shares held as in the case of capitalist organization.
Calvert held, “The resulting profit is not regarded as an overcharge which
belongs to those from
whom it has been derived and to whom it should be returned.”

Capital is essential for every establishment and it should always be

welcomed.
But capital should act as a servant rather than becoming a master. Co-
operative
recognizes that capital is entitled to a fair interest, but it refuses to admit
any
other right attaching to its possession or claimed by its owner and more
especially
the claim to a controlling voice in the enterprise. The ICA commission
noted, “Share capital shall receive a strictly limited rate of interest if any.
There is no co-operative principle which obliges interest to be paid. The
principle is that if interest is paid on share capital, the rate should be
limited and fixed on the ground that the supplier of capital is not
equitably entitled to share in savings, surplus or profit.”

4. Autonomy and independence: Cooperatives are autonomous,

self-help organisations controlled by their members. If they enter into
agreements with other organisations, including governments, or raise
capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure
democratic control by their members and maintain their cooperative
autonomy.

5. Cooperate among cooperatives: The principle of co-operation

among co-operatives is essential for the survival and maintenance of the
growth of the co-operative movement. ICA Commission, 1966, stated,
“All cooperative organizations in order to best serve the interest of their
members and their communities, shall actively co-operate in every
practical way with other co-operatives at local, national and international
levels.”

6. Cooperative education: The ICA rules provide that “all co-

operative societies shall make provisions for the education of their
members, officers and employees and the general public, in the
principles and techniques of co-operation both economic and
democratic.”

7. Concern for community: Cooperatives work for the sustainable

development of their communities through policies approved by their
members.

Organisation Structure

 
TYPES OF COOPERATIVES:
1.Consumer Cooperative: These businesses are owned and governed
by consumers of the particular area for their mutual benefit. Their view
is to provide daily necessary commodities at an optimum price. Rather
than earning a pecuniary profit, their aim is towards providing service to
the consumers.

2.Credit Cooperative:  Credit unions are generally member-owned

financial cooperatives. Their principle is of people helping people. They
provide credit and financial services to the members at competitive
prices. Each and every depositor has the right to become a member.
Members attend the annual meeting and are given rights to elect a board
of directors.

3.Farming Cooperative: An agricultural cooperative, also known as a

farmers’ co-op, is a cooperative where farmers pool their resources in
certain areas of activity. … Supply cooperatives supply their members
with inputs for agricultural production, including seeds, fertilizers, fuel,
and machinery services.
4.Marketing Cooperative: With the aim of helping small producers
in selling their products, these societies are established. The producers
who wish to obtain reasonable prices for their output are the members of
this society.

For securing a favourable market for the products they eliminate the
middlemen and improve the competitive position of its members. It
collects the output of individual members. Various marketing functions
like transportation, packaging, warehousing, etc are performed by the
cooperative societies to sell the product at the best possible price.

5.Housing Cooperative: To help people with limited income to

construct houses at reasonable costs, these societies are established.
Their aim is to solve the housing problems of the members. A member of
this society aims to procure the residential house at a lower cost.

They construct the houses and give the option to members to pay in
instalments to purchase the house. They construct flats or provide plots
to members on which the members themselves can construct the houses
as per their choice.

6.Producer Cooperative: To protect the interest of small producers,

these societies are set up. The co-operative society members may be
farmers, landowners, owners of the fishing operations. To increase the
marketing possibilities and production efficiency,  producers decide to
work together or as separate entities.

They perform several activities like processing, marketing & distributing

their own products. This helps in lower costs and strains in each area
with a mutual benefit to each producer.

7.Healthcare Cooperative: Common Ground Healthcare

Cooperative provides health insurance to more than 25,000 individuals
and family members. Like many insurance companies, Common Ground
Healthcare Cooperative’s product offerings include PPO plans.

EXAMPLES
Milk cooperative society in India

Amul story

Workers Cooperative:

Video courtesy: YouTube

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