The Agricultural Cooperative as an Instrument for Economic Development: An Approach from Spanish Investors’ Preferences through a Choice Experiment

Abstract

The cooperative is one of the most important forms of business in the agricultural sector, due to its special characteristics for small farmers and livestock producers in order to gain access to greater comparative advantages. In addition, cooperatives are a driving force in the social economy, which means that investment in agricultural cooperatives can be seen as a sustainable investment. The aim of this paper is to analyse the preferences of investors in agricultural company cooperatives, looking in depth at the role of the cooperative as a business form. In order to achieve this objective, the choice experiment methodology was applied by carrying out a questionnaire to a total of 282 investors. Latent class models were also used to identify possible groups of investors. Two classes of investors have been identified based on their preferences: owners (return seeking) and workers (risk averse).

Factors influencing the profit and choice of agribusiness for agricultural cooperatives in Thailand

“…ACs that provide compilation services must have sufficient reserves to buy their members' produce, especially during the harvest season. This is in line with Mirón‐Sanguino and Díaz‐Caro (2022) who pointed out that raising funds is essential for the business operations of ACs. Therefore, the ability of ACs to raise additional funds is an important driver of having a business of collecting products.…”

“…Although the primary purpose of establishing a cooperative is not to make profits, cooperatives can only survive with financial success (Grashuis, 2018; Sebhatu et al, 2021). Moreover, profit is one of the keys to showing the success of cooperatives and a factor that determines further investments of owners and investors in cooperatives (Mirón‐Sanguino & Díaz‐Caro, 2022; Sebhatu et al, 2021). Several studies use profit as a performance indicator of cooperatives (Boyd et al, 2007; Sebhatu et al, 2021).…”

“…Therefore, the ability of ACs to raise additional funds is an important driver of having a business of collecting products. However, fundraising for cooperatives remains limited compared with the private sector because ownership and control of the cooperative are usually not divided in proportion to the shareholding, and external investors are not given voting rights in the management process (Cross et al, 2009;Mir on-Sanguino & Díaz-Caro, 2022).…”

“…Agricultural cooperatives (ACs) are one of the most important organizations in the agricultural sector (Mir on-Sanguino & Díaz-Caro, 2022). They can solve the occupation problems of their members and help them earn more (Lu et al, 2018).…”

The key to the development of agricultural cooperatives in Romania from the perspective of those who run them

“…The legal dimension of cooperatives has not been sufficiently explored from a comparative point of view, where a European company can be established by 5 or more individuals and legal entities (entities) can be duplicates of individuals, through the merger of two existing cooperatives and the conversion of a cooperative that was established or had a branch in another country (Miron-Sanguino and Diaz-Caro, 2022; Valentinov, 2004).…”