Co-operative Business: the role of co-operative principles and values

Sonja Novkovic

This paper results from an online survey of managers and board members of predominantly Canadian co‑operatives, where the role of co-operative principles and values has been examined, in an attempt to document their relevance to co‑operative business practices. Co-operative management literature has emphasised the importance of bringing the co-operative difference into the marketing and management strategy of co-operatives, but in practice few co‑operatives do that. We examine the differences across different types of co‑operatives, and while our results are preliminary, they do indicate that some patterns emerge. There are differences in perceptions of managers and board members regarding both their acquaintance with, and application of, the co‑operative principles. And while co-operative size matters in shaping the answers, so does the type of co-operative, the length of respondents’ relation with the co‑operative, and whether they are the manager or the board member. The most important value to all types of co-operatives in our sample is democracy, while the principle of concern for the community carries a lot of weight in defining the co-operative difference.