Michael Lee Cook

• University of Missouri

The current chapter reviews extant literature on organizational costs incurred by agricultural cooperatives, discusses the importance of these costs, and introduces a novel framework for studying organizational costs in these business enterprises. The framework is based on the observation that when a cooperative is founded, original members are fac...

This incisive Handbook provides a global update on the state of knowledge in cooperatives and mutuals, expertly describing future directions for research and education. Showcasing extensive discussions of cooperative theory, Matthew Elliott and Michael Boland, and the contributors assess cooperatives' social, economic and environmental effects and...

Little attention is given to cooperatives’ role in producer risk management. We review literature and theory in development of a hypothesized positive relationship between producers’ risk aversion and usage of cooperatives. We test the hypothesis using a sample of crop and hog producers and find evidence that cooperative membership and the percenta...

The ability to successfully engage in collective action is often related to group heterogeneity. In the case of farmer cooperatives, member heterogeneity is often assumed to relate negatively to long-term performance. However, applied research is lacking in part because of the difficulty in measuring and matching farm-level and firm-level construct...

Following implementation of the Agricultural Cooperative Law in July 2007, the number of cooperatives increased dramatically, as did the related research in China. The objective of this paper is to describe articles written in Chinese and published in the top six Chinese Agricultural Economics journals between 2007 and 2017, identify research trend...

Though horizon and portfolio problems are commonly thought to limit cooperatives’ ability to capitalize on investment opportunities, empirical inquiry into the existence of these constraints is sparse, and recent conceptual arguments suggest that the horizon problem in particular may be less severe than commonly believed. Using surveys of members o...

A limited inquiry into cooperative governance and performance suggests that best practices from corporate governance literature may not apply uniformly to cooperatives. The rarely addressed issue of endogeneity limits confidence in recommendations for corporations and cooperatives alike and inference of recommendations for cooperatives is complicat...

The organizational growth of farmer cooperatives is tied to increased heterogeneity in member attitudes and perceptions. To inform possible solutions, a better understanding of the complex interrelationships of member attitudes and perceptions is necessary. Using survey responses from 1,116 members of an organic marketing cooperative in the United...

A new organizational form, the new generation cooperative (NGC), emerged in the United States during the 1990s as farm producers came together to collectively add value to raw farm commodities. As compared to the traditional cooperative, the NGC facilitates a strong market orientation by defining membership and requiring high supply and equity capi...

A micro analytical, interdisciplinary informed framework is presented to postulate why and how some cooperatives endure for long periods of time. This five-phase framework was developed through an extended research process employing inductive and deductive approaches. The paper concludes that cooperative longevity is associated with multiple factor...

The long-term economic viability of the farmer cooperative mode of organization is often assumed to be jeopardized by an equity constraint. To inform possible solutions, the farmer cooperative is conceptualized as an independent firm comprising a system of attributes, thus facilitating a better understanding of the dual function of organized farm p...

Primary survey data on 371 US farmer cooperatives is used to study the diffusion of traditional and novel ownership structures. We conclude the existing typology of claim right configurations is an imperfect representation of the current population of US farmer cooperatives, which is interpreted as strong evidence of much ownership structure adapta...

This special issue of the Journal on Chain and Network Science on 'Agricultural cooperatives in netchains' includes new research on three research themes: (1) explanation of why are cooperatives particularly important in certain food netchains; (2) willingness of farmers to invest in their cooperative's netchain; and (3) the role of ambidexterity i...

A comparative study of two smallholder dairy cooperatives in Kenya examines the question: what factors are conducive to producing sustainable smallholder cooperatives that can gain entry into the vertical value chain in liberalized post-colonial economies? The relative weight of income advantage; selective individual incentives and, social capital...

For years, scholars and policy makers have ar gued that cooperatives, particularly agricultural cooperatives, exhibit organizational inefficiencies primarily caused by individual member behavior that is often independent and non-cooperative conflicting with the formation of effective coalition building. This free riding tendency creates significant...

Prior work assessing cooperative performance focuses mostly on available financial accounting measures commonly used to evaluate investor owned firms. Here, we advance a more inclusive approach, which incorporates several aspects of performance consistent with the dual objectives of the cooperative form. We demonstrate that cooperative performance...

Organic Valley is the largest organic cooperative in North America, one of two national buyers of organic milk, and one of two national organic dairy manufacturers. The cooperative's official name is Cooperative of Regional Organic Producers, and it is organized as a new generation cooperative, owned and controlled by patron-members who also transa...

The purpose of this chapter is, in part, to inform the project’s research questions related to (a) board governance, not only at the co- operative level but also at the level of investment partnerships with other entities, and (b) inducements for member investment, particularly with reference to the development of an effective business plan to comm...

KijaniAgro is a Tanzanian-registered agribusiness that operates on the simple principle and model that Africa can beneit from professional, commercial, successful agribusinesses that are committed to sharing know-how with the farmers, providing access to technology, and creating a network of outgrowers interested in developing an integrated agricul...

The question addressed in this article is what precisely are the benefits that small-scale farmers in the developing world receive from being members of producer-controlled vertical value chains? A baseline comparative survey was conducted of members and non-members of four vertically coordinated dairy cooperatives, three in Kenya and one in Uganda...

This paper investigates whether long-tenured cooperative chief executive officers (CEOs) are successful in negotiating less monitoring, resulting in the cooperative being agent driven. Utilizing a sample of the 1000 largest US agricultural cooperatives, we examine whether boards of long-tenured CEOs exhibit differences in composition, formal commit...

The cooperative movement in the United States has been informed by multiple waves of ideas, social movements, varying economic conditions, foresighted leaders, and institutional path dependencies – thus time and space preclude a comprehensive review. Consequently, we limit our exploration to the formation of agricultural cooperatives, their institu...

In the past decade, Australia has begun to privatize its irrigation system. Two general models have emerged: a single and a dual ownership structure. This paper examines the trade-offs, costs and benefits, and the attendant efficiencies regarding costs of ownership. In particular, we examine member capital investment incentives and resultant risk-b...

Agribusiness scholarship emphasizes an integrated view of the food system that extends from research and input supply through production, processing, and distribution to retail outlets and the consumer. This article traces development of agribusiness scholarship over the past century by describing nine significant areas of contribution by our profe...

Governing agribusinesses is increasingly complex as the global food and fiber sector becomes more vertically coordinated and heterogeneous in size, locality, objective function, and scope. Little is known about the governance characteristics that enhance the ability of producer-owners to lead complex organizational forms in the agri-food sector. Co...

Multiple, often conflicting, theories regarding success and failure of collective action exist. We suggest a life cycle framework of patron-owned collective action in the agricultural sector as a systematic method of deciding when to selectively apply relevant theories of collective action. A dynamic framework appears to better inform the cooperati...

In China, agricultural machinery cooperatives (or machinery cooperatives) play an important role in increasing farmers’ earning, utilizing modern machinery, promoting agricultural mechanization, prompting transfer of agricultural labor, and building culture of cooperation in the countryside. However, there is no such exploration like: what are the...

Capital-constrained cooperatives are being challenged by producer-members to provide vertical integration opportunities. We find evidence producer groups are utilizing an investment strategy described as spawning. Producer-investors familiar with a particular organizational form and who have developed joint investment networks were more apt to inve...

We document an increasing prevalence of the term ―collective entrepreneurship‖ in scholarly research. By examining the context in which the term is utilized, we present a framework through which to understand motivations for research in collective entrepreneurship and the variety of entrepreneurial endeavors described as collective entrepreneurship...

Introduction: The food and agriculture sector offers many opportunities to apply concepts from the new institutional economics (NIE). Indeed, some of the earliest modern studies on economic organization focussed on agricultural contracting such as cropsharing (Stiglitz 1974), land tenancy arrangements (Roumasset and Uy 1980; Alston and Higgs 1982;...

Abstract—Existing research treats the cooperative structure as relatively homogeneous. The proposed paper argues that all cooperatives are not created equal – and consideration of organizational structure is critical when analyzing the economic impact of cooperation. In recent empirical work, we observe cooperatives forming as single- or...

The objective of this study is to determine if there is a dominant free riding activity which can be identified and used as the basis for measuring free riding, or if multiple free riding actions and/or behaviors coexist within large collective action organizations. The study uses a confirmatory factor analysis model to evaluate member level survey...

This case explores a cluster of firms that emerged sharing a particular ownership structure. Typically, clusters are thought of as interrelated firms that produce similar products and services. However, we document the emergence and evolution of a cluster of entrepreneurial ventures that developed using a unique governance structure. We explore the...

This paper discusses exit strategies in U.S. agricultural cooperatives. Compared to other mutual organizations, liquidations and conversions have not been common in U.S. agriculture. We attribute this phenomenon to the “stickiness” of the cooperative organizational form in agriculture. Hypothesized factors that lead to this conclusion include exist...

This paper introduces and defines the concept of collective entrepreneurship. A review of the defensive single-level rent-seeking objective of traditional agricultural cooperatives is introduced followed by an analysis of recent studies documenting a shift in the objective functions of producers jointly integrating toward more multiple-level rent-s...

This study examines the presence of financial constraints in US agricultural cooperatives. We test the cooperative capital constraint hypothesis with a panel data econometric analysis of agricultural cooperatives’ investment behaviour. Regression results suggest that agricultural cooperatives’ capital expenditures are significantly affected by the...

This article examines new agricultural cooperative organizational models from an ownership rights perspective. The article adopts a definition of ownership rights comprising both residual claim and control rights. We argue that new cooperative organizational models differ in how ownership rights are assigned to the economic agents (members, patrons...

The past three decades have seen significant advances in the field of organizational economics. By endogenizing "institutions" into their analysis, organization economists have enriched and extended the study of economic behavior. This paper explores the dynamic process of adoption of organizational economics or new institutional economics as appli...

In a mid 1990s AAEA invited paper ses- sion, the presenters and discussants posited challenges and opportunities for agricultural cooperation. Fulton hypothesized that forces external to the cooperative, especially technol- ogy and member individualism, would increas- ingly emerge as obstacles to success in North American agricultural cooperatives....

This article examines new agricultural cooperative organizational models from an ownership rights perspective. The article adopts a definition of ownership rights comprising both residual claim and control rights. We argue that new cooperative organizational models differ in how ownership rights are assigned to the economic agents (members, patrons...

The objective of this study is to contribute to the current debate on demutualization from a US perspective. We document waves of demutualization and review the empirical literature examining the economics of organizational structure changes that have occurred in the US savings and loan and insurance industries since the 1980s. Based on the review...

This article reviews the advances in neoclassical, coalition-game theoretic, and new institu-tional-nexus of contracts applications of economic theory to agricultural cooperative literature published in English language academic journals since 1990. The article com-plements the Staatz framework developed to analyze the pre-1990 cooperative theory l...

This paper examines new agricultural cooperative organizational models from an ownership rights perspective. We argue that new cooperative organizational models differ in the way ownership rights are assigned to the economic agents tied contractually to the firm – members, patrons, and investors. The paper proposes a typology of discrete organiz...

It is commonly argued in the literature that agricultural cooperatives are financially constrained because they are unable to acquire sufficient risk capital to invest in productive assets. This study examines whether agricultural cooperatives' investment is constrained by estimating neoclassical and cash flow augmented Q investment models. Panel d...

We develop an endogenous growth model with R&D spillovers to study the long-run consequences of offshoring with firm heterogeneity and incomplete contracts. In so doing, we model offshoring as the geographical fragmentation of a firm's production chain between a home upstream division and a foreign downstream division. While there is always a posit...

The purpose of this article is to proffer a comparative conceptual framework that examines efficiency implications for contracting parties depending on the ownership structure of the contractor. New institutional economics theories of contracting, agency, and property rights allocation suggest that cooperative contractors may be able to design cont...

This paper introduces the concept of netchain analysis. A netchain is a set of networks comprised of horizontal ties between firms within a particular industry or group, which are sequentially arranged based on vertical ties between firms in different layers. Netchain analysis interprets supply chain and network perspectives on inter-organizational...

In this paper, we address the issue of financial constraints in agricultural cooperatives. We estimate an augmented Q investment model for a large sample of US agricultural cooperatives and test whether cooperative investment is sensitive to cash flow. Empirical results suggest that agricultural cooperatives are indeed financially constrained when...

Our purpose in this paper is to highlight the role of organizational structure and incentives in the design of contracts between buyers and sellers of agricultural products. In particular, we consider how differences between investor-owned (IOF) and producer-oriented (POF) firms, and differences between alternate types of POFs, may affect the types...

This paper examines the agroindustrialization process from two supposedly disparate views: development economics and agribusiness research. The evolution of conceptual and methodological approaches emanating from these fields is explored and general observations are made concerning farm economic interdependence, institutional and organizational cha...

Influence costs arguments explain the level of efficiency attained by internal capital markets in investor-oriented firms (IOFs). Using these developments in the theory of economic organization we study internal capital markets in diversified customer-owned firms. In such firms, influence costs may be considerably higher than in IOFs of comparable...

This article offers an overview for a special issue on agroindustrialization. It reviews eleven articles analyzing the agroindustrialization process in Latin America and Asia. It sets out a conceptual framework from the organizational economics and strategic management literature to enhance the understanding of the process of agroindustrialization...

The objective of this paper is threefold: 1) to introduce the recent emergence of a nontraditional form of collective action in rural United States, 2) to explore tha path-dependent instituional environment from which this nontraditional-new generation cooperative surfaced, and 3) to examone the unique organizational attributes-especially the prope...

Influence costs arguments explain the level of efficiency attained by internal capital markets in investor-oriented firms (IOFs). Using these developments in the theory of economic organization we study internal capital markets in diversified customer-owned firms. In such firms, influence costs may be considerably higher than in IOFs of comparable...

Mintzburg’s managerial working role model is used to explore the ways roles and behavior of the general manager of a user-oriented firm differ from those of the manager of an investor-owned firm (IOF). It is argued that, in the roles of conflict resolution, resource allocation, information spokesperson, and leadership, the challenges of a user-or...

In a revised definition of the Davis-Goldberg concept of agribusiness, Sonka and Hudson suggest that the food and agribusiness sector might be thought of as a sequence of interrelated subsectors made up of: (1) genetics and seedstock firms, (2) input suppliers, (3) agricultural producers, (4) merchandisers or first handlers, (5) processors, (6) ret...

Royer's paper explores hypothesized impacts of the "principles ofcooper­ ation" on the current practices of voting, equity acquisition, and equity redemption in U.S. agricultural cooperatives. The author argues that prac­ ticing traditional cooperative principles may lead to an increasingly incom­ patible conflict between the investor-owner role, t...

Modern, multidisciplinary models of strategic management are presented. Model types and the planning process used at the functional, strategic business unit, and corporate portfolio levels are contrasted. Applicability of traditional research areas in agricultural economics to strategic management and planning is high and should be exploited. A res...

The earliest state cooperative laws in the United States were stock laws modeled upon the Rochdale experience and were adaptations of basic corporate laws of incorporation to the cooperative form of organization. They emphasized stock as the basis of membership and the distribution of profits to members in proportion to patronage. After 1911, the d...