Cooperation in Cooperatives: Contributions of Risk, Resources and Skills

Abstract

"The question most basic to any discussion on cooperatives is? why is it, that elites in most cooperatives neglect the task of fostering cooperation amongst different classes of poolers of resources and instead, concentrate (some) only on cooperation between enterprise and its members? It is assumed that the latter can substitute the former. Decrying the tendency for reification in social science literature, we argue for more pointed analysis and communication in issues involving value positions of the analysts. Finally three parameters viz: Risk, resources and skills are used to provide a framework for appraising the utility of any value a adding enterprise for the socially disadvantaged."