Business

Northwest Cooperative
Development Center
www.nwcdc.coop

Cooperative Starter Series
by Andrew McLeod
December, 2006

Types of Cooperatives
Cooperatives argon owned, controlled and operated for the benefit of their members. Most
corporations be controlled based on the number of shares owned, and destine profits based
on investment. entirely co-ops operate on the foot of one member, one vote, and return dividends
based on patronage. But cooperatives take a number of forms.
As you begin to manufacture a cooperative, it is important to reach agreement about what you are
stressful to do. The form of the cooperative will depend greatly on which problem it is primarily
trying to solve. Are you primarily concerned with project losses or lack of access to certain oddballs of
goods? Do you suffer from poor prices for your produce, or poor market access?
Common Cooperative Forms


Consumer cooperatives are owned by the hatful who do business there. One
particularly common business is in retail food sales. In the U.S. today, this is usually a
natural foods store, only if historically food cooperatives have tended to operate
supermarkets and small grocery stores. otherwise examples include the sporting goods
cooperative REI and Group Health Cooperative.







prole cooperatives are businesses which are owned by the employees. This is one of
the nigh versatile of cooperative forms, and can be used up to now by a small group of
business partners running, for example, a bakery or bookstore. However, they can also
run large industrial operations, including some of the worlds largest co-ops. Another
common form of dual-lane ownership is the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP),
although this structure very much does not give democratic control to the employees.



Producer cooperatives are owned by people who produce the same type of goods. Such
cooperatives will often operate shared facilities for processing or distribution. These are
generally agricultural co-ops, including...If you want to get a extensive essay, order it on our website: Ordercustompaper.com



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