Navigating dynamic contexts: African cooperatives as institutional bricoleurs

Abstract

In agricultural policy and programmes, cooperatives have been framed as organizational fix for addressing institutional voids and market imperfections in rural Africa. By way of guaranteeing scale, quality of produce, and professionalism, cooperatives are assumed to be capable to subvert current trading patterns and contribute to sustainable market access for small-scale farmers. However, such change logic does not hold up well with the circumstances of African farmers and traders. We argue that for understanding how a cooperative organizes sustainable market linkages, attention should be paid to its capacity to navigate within its specific context. This article traces the emergence and development of two cooperatives in distinct contexts, Uganda and Mali. We use a critical institutionalist approach, called bricolage, to show how in both cases farmers organize sustainable market access by blending novel arrangements with existing institutions embedded in social and economic relations. We suggest agricultural policy and programmes to shift attention to the ability of a cooperative to embed new institutions in socio-historical shaped local realities rather than requiring them to comply to an ideal-type organization.

Food systems in transition: conceptualizing sustainable food entrepreneurship

“…Our approach helps to see that entrepreneurship entangles the future and the past, the human and the non-human and therefore cannot be confined to the ideology or motivation of entrepreneurs. Furthermore, Desa and Jia (2020) and Schoonhoven-Speijer (2020), that consider institutions as dynamic entities themselves, closely resembles our usage of the term 'emergent artefacts', but also in general our understanding of entrepreneurship as a cyclical process of change. This shows that our framework could be combined with concepts such as 'institutions' in future research.…”

Cooperative Organization and Its Characteristics in Economic and Social Development (1995 to 2020)

“…Journal of Co-operative Organization and Management [27] Project-based governance framework for an agri-food cooperative Sustainability [28] Analysis of organizational commitment in cooperatives in Ecuador Journal of Management Development [29] Cooperativismo, políticas públicas y organizaciones sociales: Conflictividad en cooperativas promovidas por el Estado en Argentina Psicoperspectivas [30] One for All and All for One? A New Generation of Co-operatives Emerges Scandinavian Journal of Management Long Range Planning [31] Navigating dynamic contexts: African cooperatives as institutional bricoleurs International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability [32] El nivel de conocimiento y la reputación social de las empresas cooperativas. El caso de la Región de Murcia.…”

“…The authors outline the emergence and development of two cooperatives in different contexts: Uganda, and Mali-two territories that are home to small businesses in rural areas. Finally, the authors suggest that agricultural policies and programs turn attention to the cooperative's ability to incorporate new institutions into socially and historically shaped local realities, rather than requiring them to conform to new rules as an ideal type of organization [31].…”

Análisis de los factores: Calidad, capacitación y asociatividad que influyen en las exportaciones de café especial de Chanchamayo Junín, Perú en el periodo 2014-2018

“…Según Mangnus & Schoonhoven-Speijer en el paper de Scopus "Navigating dynamic contexts: African cooperatives as institutional bricoleurs, International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability" hace mención de la manera de organizar las cooperativas del sector agroindustrial en Africa. (Mangnus & Schoonhoven-Speijer, 2020) La investigación identificó factores clave que conducen a la cooperación. Estas son: tamaño de grupo, homogeneidad de los miembros, liderazgo responsable, confianza entre los miembros de grupo, viabilidad económica, tipo de cultivo y mercado.…”