Journal of Co-operative Studies Vol 34 No 2

Rural co-operation - Plunkett Foundation

A review of competition provisions of the Treaty of the European Union and national legislation and how these Impact upon the development of agricultural co-operativse and their structures.

Leif Erland Nielsen, pp. 77-93

Short articles

Building on mutual success in the knowledge economy: A response to the UK Government's consultation on knowledge funding.

Bob Allan, pp. 94-105

This paper outlines some of the current discussions within the co-operative movement on new financing mechanisms and the implications for government policy. It begins with an elaboration of the economy case for mutuals in the knowledge economy. While there are many social arguments for increased funding of mutuals, this paper bases its case on the potential economic advantages.

Job creation in an aging society.

Masao Ohya, pp. 106-111

This short paper reports on research undertaken in Japan focussing on user friendly and accesible store designs in two co-operatives in Nagoya, Japan, and considers exisitng and emerging co-operatives.

Moscow to Beijing: The co-operative way.                                                    

Rowland Dale, pp. 112-116

This short paper recounts a study tour undertaken in June 1999.

Peer reviewed articles

How to bake a fruit loaf: Reflections on co-operators’ economic practice and ideas in a consumer co-operative context.

Katarina Friberg, pp. 117-140

This paper considers the practice f becoming a member of a consumer co-operative and the practice connected to co-operative values and principles that contirbutes to people rmeinaing as members. It provides both an historical and comparative account of the development of consumer co-operation in Malmö, Sweden and Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK.

Bank size, mutuality and market success of German co-operative banks.

Christian Kammlott and Dirk Schiereck, pp. 141-154

Few other areas of German banking, have seen the structural transformations as significant as within the co-operative bank sector in recent years. Besides a dynamic and organic growth, a number of mergers increasingly contributed to the fact that the average German credit co-operative increased its total assets by 51.6 per cent to DM 417.4 million from 1993 to the end of 1999 alone. At least, the business success achieved in this growth process seems not to put into question the strategy in general and thus a great number of additional mergers has already been announced. Particularly with regard to the specific structures of co-operative banks, however, it can be doubted whether the organisational frame and the mutual spirit by statute of today's co-operative banks are still appropriate for the current bank sizes and thus, whether the growth strategy does not also carry negative concomitants. From this background, the paper briefly outlines the market success of German co-operative banks in recent years and contrasts the findings with the latest discussion about member orientation as the statutory main goal. Within the framework of a simple empirical analysis, the paper also investigates whether an increasing bank size also has negative consequences for the members of German credit co-operatives.

Book reviews

The matriarchs of England’s co-operative movement. By Barbara J Blaszac.

Reviewed by Rita Rhodes, pp. 155-156.