Institutional Design and Cooperative Success: The Case of Producer Cooperatives

I develop typologies to investigate hypotheses on the effects of producer cooperative (PC) support structures and the internal organizational design of individual PCs on success. Evidence, including for a new case, shows that individual PCs typically benefit from strong and well-resourced federations. However, the preferred set-up may vary across industries and countries. Particularly important design features for individual PC success include strong participation in control and in returns by worker-members; no single set of arrangements is universally appropriate, especially for both traditional PCs and multi stakeholder cooperatives. Implications for issues, including policy and an appropriate research agenda, are discussed.