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Co-operatives are business entities owned by their members and governed democratically with a view to providing benefits for their members and communities. Not driven by the need to maximise short-term profitability, they tend to have a long-term view of business, serving both economic and social needs. With a legal regime that differs from that of commercial, capitalbased companies and a philosophy and purpose that are socially focused and community based, the question arises: how are co-operatives taxed in Australia? This article exposes a regime that is fragmented, ambiguous, inconsistent and complex in its application. Tax policy will become increasingly important as co-operatives, as a business model, increase. This article was inspired by Emeritus Professor John Taylor's contribution to the literature on the taxation of business entities, including his work related to this topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examined vegetable farmers' perception towards hydroponic technologies in Ogun State, Nigeria. The study employed the use of a two-stage sampling technique to employ 320 vegetable farmers as respondents. Primary data was gathered through organized interviews and a structured questionnaire. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze data collected. Findings showed that only 31.3% were involved primarily in farming, livelihood diversification was 49.4% in favour of trading/business. Also, 35% of the respondents belonged to cooperatives and 90% had a favorable perception of hydroponics. The study examined the constraints to the practice of hydroponics where increase in the tariff of power supply ranked first position. Results of Chi-square test of relationship between socioeconomic characteristics of respondents and their perceptions of hydroponics farming technology showed that only level of education and membership of cooperatives indicated significant relationship. The study recommends that empowerment programmes and knowledge acquisition programmes on hydroponic technology farming should be targeted at vegetable farmers who are members of farmers' cooperatives and this is to ensure successful knowledge impact and positive effects of the programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The co-operative network in Gujarat, India, has given the livestock sector a new direction for growth. The co-operative sector’s dairy husbandry department not only deals with treatment of ill animals but conducts extensive management programmes for infertility. Various programmes like fertility improvement programmes, calf rearing programme, ration balancing programme, productivity enhancement programme, village awareness progress, and training of artificial inseminators are in operation for fertility enhancement. The present review describes the impact of these programmes on fertility based on collected data from various co-operatives of Gujarat [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay is based on the experiences of Bristol’s (a Fair Trade City) linking programme with Nicaraguan co-ops and the challenges and impacts of setting up a programme for visitors to Bristol schools and communities. The authors focus on the practical details of the experiences and what resonated the most with the school children visited. The article captures the voices and experiences of the Bristol organizers and the lasting effects and impacts on them. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

From the first co‐operative trust school at Reddish Vale in Manchester in 2006, the following decade would witness a remarkable growth of 'co‐operative schools' in England, which at one point numbered over 850. This paper outlines the key development of democratic education by the co‐operative schools network. It explains the approach to democracy and explores the way values were put into practice. At the heart of co‐operativism lay a tension between engaging with technical everyday reforms and utopian transformative visions of an educational future. A new arena of debate and practice was established with considerable importance for our understanding of democratic education within the mainstream. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of the study was to establish the Critical Success Factors (CSFs) for the primary Agricultural Marketing Co-operatives Societies (AMCOS) at Rombo District in Tanzania. Specifically, the study aimed to establish factors that members perceive to be critical to their success, and to assess their contribution to the AMCOS performance. The study identified factors through intensive literature review, then refining them before testing them through survey to members and employed survey by distributing 334 questionnaires to members to the AMCOS that have the autonomy to do business directly without dependingon their umbrella institutions. Qualitative data were also used in order to validate the quantitative data. Data from survey were analysed by factor analysis in order to have factors which were mostly accepted by the AMCOS members. After categorising the factors obtained from the factor analysis, regression analysis was conducted to assess their influence on the performance. Qualitative data were analysed using content Analysis by the help of ATLAS Software. The study established Eleven (11) CSFs that were categorised into: commitment (use of personal skills, members’ control and promotion), governance (measurement system, governance structure, leadership support, and transparency), strategy (self-evaluation, objective development, strategy focused, living the vision of the institution). The study found the CSFs to have positive significant influence on the primary AMCOS performance. The study concludes that members of the primary AMCOS do have their common factors which they believe to be key for the success of their institutions, that affect positively the performance of their cooperatives. The study recommends that, the CSFs suggested by the members should be given priority in any decision that is intended to affect the cooperatives that can be easily translated according to their expectations to have strong institutions.

The voices of students about the early days of Indigenous-controlled adult education providers are hard to find. In historical research for Tranby National Indigenous Education and Training and the University of Technology Sydney 24 former participants of Tranby courses from 1980 to 2000 gave in-depth interviews, which were analysed alongside Tranby’s archival holdings for the first two decades under Indigenous CEOs and Board Chair. Tranby drew students from across the country with goals ranging from improving literacy to gaining skills for community roles, accessing further education or allowing promotion. Informal interviews with seven former Tranby teachers added information on subject design and teaching strategies. The former students’ interviews focussed on Tranby’s atmosphere and learning environment, strongly valuing the perspectives they learned from their fellow Indigenous students. Most felt that, while formal courses were useful, these contextual and informal experiences were more useful in their later careers.

< p >To achieving rural development Cooperatives as a third pillar of the country''''s economy plays a vital role. Cooperatives improve the efficiency of financial, human and natural resources and enhance economic activity. This study presents strategies for rural development in two regions Hamadan and Bahar township of Hamadan province. In this study, SWOT and ANP multi-criteria decision-making models were used. Using the community elite''''s opinion, strategies were identified by the SWOT matrix and then strategic goals ranked with a multi-criteria decision-making model. Based on the results, the high number of decision-makers and the membership of co-operative managers in other communities are the most important strengths and opportunities point. The mismatch between available credit and needs and market instability (inflation and recession) are the most important strengths and weaknesses point face-off cooperatives. According to the results of the ANP model, increased supervision and support of the cooperative sector in law, management of available resources and assignment of further activities to the cooperative sector with weight 0.195, 0.174 and 0.127 are in priority. Strategic goals should be of interest to planners and policymakers in decision-making. Overall, the co-operative sector needs more government support and law''''s rule oversight and proper management of available resources, especially labor and natural resources. It is suggested that the government act as a supervisor by delegating more activities to the members of the Cooperatives and to provide farmers with lesser bureaucracy in coordination with subsidiary organizations.

Shared value may be defined as operational practices and policies that increase competitiveness of firms and simultaneously improve social and economic conditions in communities where the firm works and creates positive social impact. Within financial institutions, credit coops are salient due to their management that ally business to users' interests, sharing values with cooperates. Current paper, dealing with a quality and descriptive research and a single case study, analyzes how a financial institution promoted the establishment of shared value through activities during the last three years. Results show that the focused firm managed to align shared value to entrepreneur strategies and that sustainability in business may occur at the same time as social and environmental shared value. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In countries worldwide, limited access to affordable housing is fuelling interest in collectivist solutions. Different organizational models are being developed to enable groups of people to own and control housing collectively. The benefits of such models have been widely promoted, not least in terms of delivering enhanced housing affordability for residents. However, evidence to support such claims is scarce and it remains unclear whether affordability is the product of collective forms and functions, or some other factor(s). To address this gap in knowledge, the paper presents findings from three case studies of English and Canadian housing collectives. Applying realist theories of causation, the processes affecting housing affordability are explained, conceptualizing two causal mechanisms which depict how organizational form, internal rules and regulatory activity, along with the unique role of the resident-owner, influence the setting of rents and prices. Further research is required to understand the prevalence of these mechanisms and their general application. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper seeks to explore the potential for supporting the presence of 'community voices' in a local government-led initiative for lifelong learning (LLL). The initiative in Rochdale (UK) was a partnership between the local authority and a university. The paper seeks to situate the initiative and the lessons learnt in the context of the potential value to all participants in a collaborative approach to lifelong learning. The paper argues that whilst it is not necessary for all participants to have a shared definition of LLL, there are clear and tangible benefits for the partners which suggest that it is the focus on mutual gain that is critical in any shared initiative. The Rochdale-based initiative can offer some key lessons and it reinforces the lesson that long-term place-based work is not straightforward and has to navigate competing interests; securing respect for community voices requires accountability and a genuine commitment from all participants (academics, active citizens and professionals) that change can be achieved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Çevre sorunlarının önüne geçilmesinde yerel ölçekte mücadele edilmesi stratejik öneme sahiptir. Dolayısıyla bu çalışmada, çevre güvenliğinin sağlanmasında etkin ve verimli bir örgütsel yapının, sürdürülebilir kalkınma ve toplumsal yapılar elde etmedeki önemi ortaya koyularak, mahalle ölçeğinde bir model önerisi sunulması amaçlanmaktadır. SWOT analizi modelin değerlendirilmesinde yöntem olarak belirlenmiş, ayrıca literatür taraması ve ilgili kurum ve kuruluşların yayınladıkları teknik ve analitik raporlardan da faydalanılmıştır. Böylece önerilen modelin, çevrenin korunmasına ve sürdürülebilirliğine katkı sağlayabilmektedir.

The plight of the smallholder cotton farmer in the Rwenzori region of western Uganda starts with the unfair terms of hiring land for cultivation. The next hurdle is the loss of ownership of the cotton at the earliest stage of the value chain after delivering the produce to the ginner. Even the Fairtrade standards base the minimum price for the farmer on delivery of seed cotton at the ginnery, implying that the farmer is not expected to participate in the value chain and share the accruing value additions further up the chain. However, members of the Rwenzori Farmers' marketing Co-operative Society decided to move a step up the value chain by hiring the ginning services and, hence, retained the ownership of both the lint and cotton seed, which improved their income by at least 30 per cent. The strategy is to find investors to enable them to spin the cotton and manufacture the final products. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Co-operatives played a significant part of the global economy, and its success depends on the effectiveness of the co-operative board to perform their roles. This article is aimed at reviewing and synthesizing the literature of the last ten years in order to enhance our understanding of the factors that have affected the effectiveness of the board. A systematic review of the Scopus and Web of Science databases identified 13 related studies that respond to research questions, guided by the PRISMA Statement (Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses) method. An analysis of these articles resulted in four main themes – board composition, board characteristics, board structure and board process, and these four themes formed a total of 12 sub-themes. This study has three significant contributions. Firstly, it provides an overview of studies of the co-operative board. Second, this systematic review highlighted the factors impacting the board's effectiveness. Finally, derived from this systematic analysis, we draw the pattern of variables that were analyzed in assessing the efficacy of the co-operative board. The findings indicated that the studies of the co-operative board are still inadequate, and in the context of developing countries, empirical research lags even further behind. Most studies concentrate mainly on the effect of board characteristics, followed by board composition, board process and board structure. Some recommendations for future research are outlined to explore other related factors that may enhance the co-operative board's effectiveness, namely from the perspective of the resource provision role of directors.

Co-operatives play a vital role in supplying various goods and services in the UK, as well as in other parts of the world. In the past twenty years co-operatives have become important players in modern organic food supply chains, providing small-scale farmers with access to knowledge and markets, alongside opportunities to scale up their production. This teaching case is developed from qualitative interviews with current and former members and employees from the South Devon Organic Producers (SDOP) Co-operative, an award-winning organic vegetable grower co-operative based in South Devon (UK). The case is supplemented with interviews with key managerial personnel at the SDOP's main stakeholder Riverford Organic Farms Limited. The case explores how the relationship between SDOP and Riverford is the key to understanding SDOP's participation in the organic food chain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Community-based energy initiatives have been regarded as a promising way to guide people toward a more sustainable future. We analysed whether the members of Finnish forest bioenergy co-operatives (FOCOs) are readier for the sustainability transition than other forest owners (n = 10 for both groups). The data were gathered using an interview about forest-related change and a survey about climate change attitudes. Qualitative content analysis, network analysis and Mann-Whitney's U-test were applied. The FOCO members were readier for change regarding different new ways to gain profit from one's own forest, and they also recognised significantly more positive forest-related changes than the non-members. However, changes that reflected environmental concern or the idea of sustainability transition were rarely recognised within both forest owner groups. Further research and education interventions are thus needed to increase the awareness of sustainable development within both groups. Furthermore, the FOCO members' readiness for applying economically attractive businesses could be used in piloting projects that aim to include payments for ecosystem services, such as subsidies for carbon storage, into the FOCO model. Instead, the emergence of more radical community-based forest initiatives that start from an environmental concern are probably not appealing for most of the present forest owners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using Care Store as a case study, this research examines the innovative development and value penetrations of workers' co-operative societies in Hong Kong. Care Store operates through the practices of equality and mutual care, in the unfriendly neoliberalist social order of Hong Kong. The society penetrates the dominant models of labor organization and consumption process. But the penetration of structural inequalities is limited, because the female workers of the society remain low-income laborers, social boundary and exclusion still take place, and the workers internalize their cultural inferiority. In comparison with innovative organizations in other regions, workers' co-operative societies in Hong Kong have little opportunity to rely on or collaborate with the public and private sectors, and they explore a more progressive path of penetration in development. Practices strengthening this path can not only sustain these young organizations but also enrich the understanding of the true potentials of the nonprofit sector. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines differentiation of the agriculture co-operative JZD Slušovice which was one of the most efficient co-operatives in the centrally planned economy in Czechoslovakia in 80s. The purpose is to explain differentiation ways of the co-operative with the case production of computers as sideline production in the mentioned period. According to Luhmann's social system theory, the co-operative represents a social organized system differentiated from the environment defined as CZ economy. The theoretical concept decision premises including the concept the form of firm by D. Baecker are used for the analysis. The result of the analysis are decision premises specified as programs that show how a management decided on production strategy. It means distinctions between how organization self-observed and observed environment, and a way of observing, that is decision making on the strategy, differentiated the co-operative from environment. One of programs was the objective decision-making premise on what the product needs to be like to bring profit. This objective determined decision-making premises of condition programs, so decision-making on resources, which would help achieve such TNS PCs, the style of how to offer them to public so they would be accepted, and decisions on image to be created through the TNS PCs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the design, modeling, and implementation challenges for a target detection algorithm using multi-sensor technology of a co-operative autonomous offshore system, formed by an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) and an autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV). First, the study develops an accurate mathematical model of the USV to be included as a simulation environment for testing the guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) algorithm. Then, a guidance system is addressed based on an underwater coverage path for the AUV, which uses a mechanical imaging sonar as the primary AUV perception sensor and ultra-short baseline (USBL) as a positioning system. Once the target is detected, the AUV sends its location to the USV, which creates a straight-line for path following with obstacle avoidance capabilities, using a LiDAR as the main USV perception sensor. This communication in the co-operative autonomous offshore system includes a decentralized Robot Operating System (ROS) framework with a master node at each vehicle. Additionally, each vehicle uses a modular approach for the GNC architecture, including target detection, path-following, and guidance control modules. Finally, implementation challenges in a field test scenario involving both AUV and USV are addressed to validate the target detection algorithm.

Article 33 of the 1945 Constitution of Indonesia positioned co-operative as a pillar and backbone of the national economy. To optimally function as the pillar and backbone of the economy, the co-operatives should be managed efficiently and productively. Considering their pivotal roles in the Indonesian economy, this study is aimed at empirically measuring efficiency and productivity of the co-operatives across 33 provinces nationwide. Three inputs (i.e., own capital, external financing, and board size) and one output (co-operative surplus) over the period 2010-2015 are analyzed using Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) with Malmquist Index. The study documented that the co-operatives were highly inefficient, indicated by the average level of inefficiency of 47.6%. Out of the co-operatives in 33 provinces, 42.42% were found to record efficiency level of less than 50% and only 12.12% of them were fully efficient. In addition, the study also documented that, of 33 provinces, only the co-operatives in 14 provinces were found to experience an increase in their total factor productivity. The co-operatives in the province of East Nusa Tenggara recorded the highest productivity progress by 49.9%, while the co-operative in the province of Bangka Belitung recorded the highest productivity regress by -24.4%. Overall, the productivity level of the co-operatives only slightly increased by 9.9% over the study period nationwide, which was mainly contributed by an increase in technical efficiency. These findings implied that to further enhance the productivity level of the co-operatives, improving their pure efficiency should be prioritized, followed by enhancing their scale efficiency and technical efficiency. The co-operatives should provide regular training for their staff, professional management, adopt advanced technology, and enlarge their size by merging small co-operatives become a larger entity.

To finance their growth and value creation, agricultural co-operatives have at their disposal several financial instruments: equity, quasi-equity or debt. Many of these instruments are particularly innovative and have been designed specifically for co-operatives. In France, only recently have some co-operatives expanded their types of financing to include external funders through the issue of OTC- or publicly-traded securities. Agricultural co-operatives' governance and economic projects are often misunderstood by external financial investors. The risk of conflicts of interest plays a role in these misunderstandings in the way retained earnings, returns to agricultural products brought by co-op member and returns to equity capital. Such risks are identified and answers are proposed.

This paper focuses on the impact of business relationships on safe production behavior by farmers in China. Data collected from 410 vegetable farmers were used with a propensity score matching model for estimating. We found that the co‐operative membership without marketing transactions had no significant effect on whether farmers had vegetable certification, whereas the membership did positively affect farmers' attention to pesticide toxicity and the application of soil‐testing results to fertilization compared with farmers who participated in market exchanges. These results show that farmers who participate in co‐operative membership with marketing transactions are more likely to own certifications, attend to toxicity and apply soil‐testing results. We also found that contract farming has a positive effect on whether farmers have certification, whereas no significant effect was observed on the attention paid to toxicity and the application of soil‐testing results. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]