Relevance of Entrepreneurial Orientation Strategy to Cooperative Business Organizations in Nigeria

This study examines the relevance of entrepreneurial orientation (EO) strategies to the success of cooperative business organizations. Primary data were collected through structured questionnaire from randomly sampled cooperative organizations. The data covered organizational characteristics, entrepreneurial orientation and performance of the cooperative firms. Descriptive analysis and structural equation model (SEM) were used to analyze the data. The findings show that entrepreneurial capacity of cooperative organizations to unlock prevailing market strategies is high. However, their level of aggressiveness for enhanced market competitiveness is low. Strong proclivity for high risk business is also low. The competitive aggressiveness of cooperative organization is found to be non-existent in the entrepreneurial framework. The findings suggest the need for review of business strategies of most cooperative entities.

Are cooperative firms more agile? A contingency perspective on small and medium-sized enterprises in agglomerations and peripheral areas

In this study of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) operating in German key technology industries, we investigate whether cooperating with others is an effective strategy for SMEs to enhance their organizational agility. Taking a contingency perspective, we are specifically interested in whether this effect depends on the firm’s location in an agglomerated or a peripheral area. Results show that a greater number of cooperative relationships with others is positively associated with SMEs’ organizational agility. This effect is stronger for agglomerated than for peripheral firms, suggesting that agglomerated SMEs can seize the abundant opportunities to cooperate in order to counter agglomeration diseconomies such as organizational inertia and mimetic behavior. This finding highlights the importance of absorbing external knowledge gained in cooperative relationships for SMEs’ organizational agility. Thereby, the study offers a novel perspective on how agglomerated SMEs can actively prevent being negatively affected by the downsides of agglomerations.

Responsible Innovation for Sustainable Development Goals in Business: An Agenda for Cooperative Firms

In this contribution, we explore the possibilities of Responsible Innovation (RI) to assess and support the engagement of businesses in the spectrum of Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) and, in particular, cooperatives to the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) at the firm level. We conduct a critical review of the academic literature on sustainable development and responsible innovation, focusing on the role of business to identify how firms in the spectrum of SSE can contribute through responsible innovation to the sustainable development agenda and how firms in the spectrum of SSE can benefit from it. Results suggest that firms can benefit from responsible innovation in the transformation of their business models. On the other hand, firms in the spectrum of SSE contribute to extending the scope of SDGs to business, not focusing on what cooperatives do by their nature (e.g., principles and values), but their contribution to key horizontal enablers (e.g., partnership and innovation) for the integration of firms in the sustainable development agenda. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the relationship between SSE firms and RI is assessed from the perspective of firms’ contribution to SDGs. Further research is needed to sophisticate the translation of particular tools developed in the framework of RI to firms in the spectrum of SSE and, in particular, cooperative firms.

Social Economy, Environmental Proactivity, Eco-Innovation and Performance in the Spanish Wine Sector

Concerned about climate change, cooperatives in the wine sector are beginning to adapt their strategies, guided by cooperative principles that encompass high social responsibility and the pursuit of community values. In this context and focused on the analysis of the decisions that drive firms to be more environmentally sustainable, our goal is twofold. On the one hand, we wish to examine whether there exist differences between cooperative and non-cooperative firms as regards their environmental proactivity. On the other hand, we hope to demonstrate the diversity of behaviors within the category of cooperative firms, identifying the possible patterns of environmental proactivity in Spanish cooperatives in the wine sector. We first conducted a difference of means t-test for independent samples (n = 251; sampled in 2017)—cooperatives (51) vs. non cooperative firms (200)- and then a two-stage cluster analysis and a subsequent variance analysis, using SPSS 24. Our results show no significant differences between cooperative and non-cooperative firms concerning their environmental behavior and underlines the diversity within the cooperatives in the wine sector as regards their environmental proactivity, revealing the existence of proactive, preventive and activist patterns of behavior. These patterns also show differences in the motivations for their environmental behaviors and their assessment of financial performance.

Cooperative Entrepreneurship Model for Sustainable Development

The main objective of this research is to contribute to the economic literature on cooperative entrepreneurship as a model for sustainable development, taking into account the special alignment of the cooperative principles (ICA) with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It offers new empirical evidence from Spain, based on Stakeholder Theory, about the differences between cooperatives (Coops) and Capitalist Firms (CFs) in relation to the distribution of economic value between the different stakeholders. For this purpose, panel data was analysed using the Correlated Random Effects approach. The results reveal that cooperative firms generate value for some of the stakeholders analysed, specifically for their partners and creditors, but no significant differences have been found with CFs in terms of workers and the state. In both cases, it can be inferred that the period analysed has influenced the results, since it has been found that, first, cooperatives adjust wages downward rather than dismiss workers during a recession, which is in line with previous research, and second, that their tax contribution to the state is lower because they are subject to a more favourable tax system in Spain.

Leadership Style and Gender: A Study of Spanish Cooperatives

The growing global need for social cohesion and sustainable development gives visibility to cooperatives because their principles help to achieve these objectives and the adoption of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Among them, gender equality policies are in the forefront. This paper explains how cooperatives contribute to women’s professional opportunities and to balancing the presence of women in management positions. It analyzes the predominant leadership styles and gender differences in cooperatives with a sample of 114 cooperative firms. The results show that: (a) Both transformational and transactional leadership styles are widely used; (b) no significant differences in leadership styles between men and women exist; and (c) the composition of management teams results in significant leadership style differences. The transformational style is less often used in mixed teams with a male majority and a woman president, and most often used in homogeneous teams (made up of only men or only women). Transactional leadership is more frequently implemented in teams made up only of women than in mixed masculine teams with a female president. These findings identify women’s leadership styles in cooperatives, pointing out their difficulties and introducing innovative proposals for contributing to their success and the achievement of SDGs in cooperatives.