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The potential of agricultural cooperatives to foster socioeconomic development is a critical issue in developing countries. This study examines the factors that influence market choice among South African agricultural cooperatives. Data for 381 agricultural cooperatives were collected from the Cooperative Data Analysis System, drawn from the original database of 3,197 cases from 2017. Cases with missing observations were omitted. A multivariate approach utilising principal component analysis and K-means clustering was employed to identify the typologies of market choices. Multinomial logistic regression was then applied to determine the factors influencing agricultural cooperatives' choice of market typologies. The study reveals that the financial and social efficiency of agricultural cooperatives, the age of the institution, the square of the age of the institution, ownership of livestock, cooperative size, and credit access all influence market typology selection. Training programs such as those in financial management, corporate governance, accounting and bookkeeping, management committees, and the number of managers in cooperatives also impact cooperatives' market choice. The findings of this study should facilitate the design of policies that cater to cooperatives encountering diverse market choices. By influencing the choices of agricultural cooperatives, stakeholders can contribute to more meaningful cooperative involvement in markets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identifying the type of organization for achieving social efficiency for agricultural development remains a challenge. In this study, the relationship between the financial and social efficiency of South African agricultural cooperatives was examined. Data, comprising 1788 agricultural cooperatives, were obtained from the Cooperative Data Analysis System database. Only 387 observations without missing values were predicted in the empirical model. Data envelopment analysis scores for the financial and social efficiency indicators were computed. A two-stage residual inclusion method estimated the social efficiency model. The results show that social efficiency is positively influenced by financial efficiency and other factors. These include the number of employees, the enterprise type, and compliance with internal control practices. The social efficiency of agricultural cooperatives decreases for institutions that have recently been trained and that comply with the annual financial audits and profit tax. Social efficiency also decreases with age, but it increases with the square of the agricultural cooperative's age. This suggests that financially-efficient agricultural cooperatives may achieve social efficiency, that young agricultural cooperatives are not the ideal candidates for addressing the social efficiency challenges of agricultural cooperatives, and that the current training received by agricultural cooperatives does not empower them with social efficiency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Post-1994, the South African government has favoured cooperatives over other types of corporate entities in its rural development programmes. An improved understanding of the key drivers underpinning the performance of cooperatives is important for informing government programmes and policies that target cooperatives. This study examined the financial efficiency, and its determinants, of 387 agricultural cooperatives in South Africa, using the Simar–Wilson methodology. Bias-corrected Data Envelopment Analysis estimates for financial efficiency were obtained in the first stage. The results indicated that many agricultural cooperatives are relatively inefficient, compared to the three best-performing cooperatives on the efficient boundary. In the second stage, a double bootstrap truncated regression model was used to obtain bias-corrected scores that excluded the best-performing cooperatives. The statistically significant efficiency determinants identified from the analysis were the age and size of the cooperative, the gender of the principal manager of the cooperative, its governance and the training indicators. The observed relationship between governance and efficiency may be attributed to institutions that prioritise non-financial goals by being relatively more willing to compromise on governance quality. Furthermore, deviations from sound institutional control mechanisms are more likely to emerge in cooperatives that have weak institutional and organisational arrangements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]