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for production cooperatives(such as dairy co-ops)because they need to 写留学论文 https://www.51lunwen.org
increase their production as wellas the scale of their logistics operations to compete withmajor industry players.Growth is also a major challengefor service cooperatives that have to play an increasinglydifficult market-share game against leading professionalcompanies.One alliance,Coop Europe,has been de-liberately set up to encourage co-ops to join forces tonegotiate withmanufacturers,provide services,defendproduct quality,and provide an alternative to globalchains such as Wal-Mart and Carrefour.Success,in Europe or elsewhere,is not assured.
Cooperatives have faltered at times.This happened mostrecently in the 1990s with Great Britain’s famous“build-ing societies,”cooperative banks that had pioneeredlow-interest mortgages for their working-class members.In a series of publicly criticized moves,the boards ofsome major cooperatives rewrote the governance rules tomake directors less accountable,sold the companies tomore conventional businesses(for example,Lloyds Banktook over the Cheltenham&Gloucester BuildingSociety),and allowed a few directors to pocket dispro-portionately large gains.Observers concluded that coop-eratives,like many idealistic experiments,would simplynot stand up against conventional business practice;they would need special legal protections to survive.But the examples of Rabobank,the COOP group,the REWE Group,Migros,and many others show thatspecial protections generally aren’t necessary.To be sure,the social benefits of cooperatives—such as their abil-ity to help counter a stagnating labor market—providea rationale for political support.But if cooperatives arebeing held back legally within Europe,it’s by a barrierthat applies to all types of companies in the EuropeanUnion:the restrictions that still make it difficult forbusinesses to transcend national boundaries.
Recently,the Commission of the EuropeanCommunities passed a Statute for a EuropeanCooperative Society(SCE),which will take effect thisyear.This SCE will,in the commission’s own words,“allow cooperatives to operate throughout the EU witha single legal personality and set of rules,in the sameway as a Statute for a European Company(SE)will dofor public companies limited by shares.”The resultinglegal framework should prove instrumental in allowingcooperatives to operate freely across Europe,and tocompete more effectively with other multinationalenterprises.
Consensual CompetitivenessHow well can cooperatives compete with fiercely entre-preneurial companies emerging in a globalizing world?
That depends on how well the distinctive qualities ofcooperative management succeed in the future.To manobservers,cooperatives appear to be burdened with fea-tures that are liabilities in conventional business models.But cooperative leaders have learned,over the years,howto translate them into assets.For instance:?Consensual decision making.Cooperatives typ-ically cannot move without taking the time and effort tobring all participants to the table.As Arie de Geus says,“This involves more brains and more time up front—and therefore would seem to take an awful lot longer.Buteverybody who has worked with this system will tell youthat the gain made in the implementation,both in speedand quality,outweighs by far the decisions made in con-ventional companies.”
Bert Heemskerk has found the same to be true dur-ing his tenure as chief executive at Ra本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。