Journal of Co-operative Studies Vol 37 Issue 1

Peer reviewed articles

Growing credit unions in the West Midlands – the case for restructuring

Paul Jones, pp. 5-21.

This paper explores current issues in the modernisation of British credit unions. It describes and analyses the challenges and dilemmas they face as they endeavour to increase their market share and to serve a diverse membership with attractive financial products and services. The paper makes the case for a radical financial and organisational restructuring of credit unions and argues that, they are only going to grow as viable and relevant financial institutions in Britain, if they adopt robust market oriented and commercial principles. The paper analyses the implementation of these principles within a credit union strengthening project in the West Midlands.

Creating and supporting co-operative members in the West Midlands

Richard Simmonds and Johnston Birchall, pp. 22-37

Member participation is widely considered to be the lifeblood of democratic member-owned organisations such as consumer co-operatives. However, despite this recognition of its importance, active participation is often lower than desired. In this article we first establish why this is an important issue for consumer co- operatives to address. We then present a theoretical model we call the ‘Participation Chain’, which aims to unravel some of the complexity that inheres in an important question that has, up to now, received little systematic attention - namely ‘what motivates co-operative members to participate?’. Finally, we present some research findings from a recent research project that tested the model with two types of consumer co-operative in the West Midlands region: housing and retail co-operatives. This research was conducted in partnership with the Co-operative College as part of a larger project that aimed to find new ways to create and support active ‘stakeholder members’, and therefore vivify processes of member involvement in the West Midlands.

Short papers

An experiment in co-operative development in Botswana

Basil Loveridge, pp. 38-42

This paper reviews the International Labour Organisation and United Nation's projects from 1970 to 1975 to support and improve the development of co-operatives in Botswana, together with a comparative summary from 1969-1974.

Book reviews

Co-operatives and pace in the era of globalisation: A retrospective look at the ICA’s concern, resolutions and action throughout the 20th century. By Dionysos Mavrogiannis

Reviewed by John Courtneidge. pp.  43-44

The future of co-operatives in the European Union at the threshold of the 21st century: Report on the 14th International Conference on Co-operative Science, Nuremberg 2000. 

Reviewed by Jim Craigen, pp. 44-45

Benjamin Franklin: an American life. By Walter Isaacson

Reviewed by Rita Rhodes, pp. 46-47