2019 Volume 91 Issue 2 Pages 121-133
This study, a case study of four large-scale agricultural cooperatives operating within F&V sector in Almería Prefecture, had been carried out to reveal the paths of European agricultural cooperatives. The results of this study can be summarized as follows : first, agricultural cooperatives tend to convert from bargaining cooperatives to marketing cooperatives with organizational reform in facing changes in the business environment such as increases in large-scale retailers’ demand and fierce competition over exports. Secondly, they prefer to choose federated cooperatives as a measure of horizontal integration rather than mergers that require transfer of ownership rights in the organizational reform. Thirdly, since the result of horizontal integration specifies the volume and range of products, it will have an impact to the fundamental conditions for marketing directly. Fourth, they are going to constrain the members’ autonomy and strengthen their managers’ power in carrying out direct salse with large-scale retailers. Finally, even if the above trends are in play, organizational reforms in European agricultural cooperatives are likely to spread in diverse directions instead of converge into single way under multi-options for organizational form, governance and networks.
