On the Nature of a Cooperative: A System of Attributes Perspective
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In the 1950s and 1960s there was a debate
about the nature of an agricultural cooperative: the
cooperative as extension of the farm, the cooperative as
vertical integration or the cooperative as a firm. We
revisit this debate with various concepts from the theory
of the firm that have been formulated since 1990. Two
concepts shed light on this debate: the enterprise as a
system of attributes and the delineation of a governance
structure in terms of ownership rights, control rights and
income rights. We argue that viewing the cooperative as
a system of attributes integrates these three views. It
emphasizes that a cooperative is a firm in itself, with
many independent input suppliers as owners. The feature
of many input suppliers as owners implies that the
behavioral differences between a cooperative and an
investor owned firm have to be addressed by highlighting
the unique aspects of the stakeholder owning the
enterprise.