Types of Cooperatives

Flashcards covering the definitions of the four basic types of cooperatives and key challenges faced by workers' cooperatives based on lecture notes.

Consumer co-operatives

Stores which share the net profits of the business among themselves.

Market cooperatives

Businesses where several producers or small businesses combine to sell their goods or services.

Producer co-operatives

Cooperatives that are involved in producing certain products.

Workers' cooperatives

Businesses that are owned and run by their own workers.

Management expertise limitation in workers' cooperatives

A common difficulty arising from a lack of management expertise among the workers running the business.

Market establishment challenge in workers' cooperatives

A struggle caused by having insufficient power or money to keep the business going until its products have become established in the market.

Reinvestment challenge in workers' cooperatives

A tendency in enterprises set up by relatively poor workers where there is a natural desire to distribute profits rather than plough them back into the business.

Leadership tendency in workers' cooperatives

The tendency of leaders within the cooperative to exhibit popular rather than effective qualities.