The Comparative Advantages of Single and Multi-Stakeholder Cooperatives

14 Pages Posted: 15 Sep 2017

See all articles by Johnston Birchall

Johnston Birchall

School of Applied Social Sciences, University of Stirling

Silvia Sacchetti

University of Trento; European Research Institute on Cooperative & Social Enterprises (EURICSE)

Date Written: September 13, 2017

Abstract

When cooperatives 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 cooperatives 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 cooperatives have been designed. Eroski, the big Spanish retailer, 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.

Keywords: Cooperative governance, Organizational design

JEL Classification: D23; P13; L20; L31

Suggested Citation

Birchall, Johnston and Sacchetti, Silvia, The Comparative Advantages of Single and Multi-Stakeholder Cooperatives (September 13, 2017). Euricse Working Papers No. 95|17, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3036385 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3036385

Johnston Birchall

School of Applied Social Sciences, University of Stirling ( email )

Stirling, Scotland FK9 4LA
United Kingdom

Silvia Sacchetti (Contact Author)

University of Trento ( email )

Via Giuseppe Verdi 26
Trento, Trento 38152
Italy

European Research Institute on Cooperative & Social Enterprises (EURICSE)

Via S. Giovanni 36
38122 Trento (TN)
Italy

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