On the Nature of a Cooperative: A System of Attributes Perspective
| dc.creator | Feng, Li | |
| dc.creator | Hendrikse, George W.J. | |
| dc.date | 2017-04-01T14:00:53Z | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2026-07-09T04:36:01Z | |
| dc.description | 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. | |
| dc.identifier | doi:10.22004/ag.econ.44398 | |
| dc.identifier | https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/44398/files/121.pdf | |
| dc.identifier | http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/44398 | |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/123456789/552282 | |
| dc.language | eng | |
| dc.publisher | ||
| dc.source | http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/44398 | |
| dc.title | On the Nature of a Cooperative: A System of Attributes Perspective | |
| dc.type | Text |