Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-94fs2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T08:33:57.044Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Resistance Is Not Futile: Co-operatives, Demutualization, Agriculture, and Neoliberalism in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2021

Greg Patmore Open the ORCID record for Greg Patmore [Opens in a new window] ,
Nikola Balnave  and
Olivera Marjanovic
Greg Patmore*
Affiliation:
Work and Organisational Studies, The University of Sydney Business School, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Nikola Balnave
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Olivera Marjanovic
Affiliation:
University of Technology, Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
*
*Corresponding Author: Greg Patmore; Email: greg.patmore@sydney.edu.au
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recognition of co-operatives as a legitimate business model and form of economic participation was significantly challenged by the rise of neo-liberalism in the 1980s with its emphasis on individuals and markets. This fueled an externally and internally driven push to demutualize co-operatives and convert them into Investor Owned Businesses (IOB). While the international trend to demutualize emerged from the end of the Second World War, evidence indicates it accelerated from the late 1980s until the onset of the Global Financial Crisis. Drawing on an ongoing project of historical data collection and visual analysis of Australian co-operatives, this paper explores the Australian experience with demutualization, particularly with regard to agriculture. In line with the international experience, there has been a surge in Australian demutualization since the 1980s. However, while demutualization continues to be a feature of the Australian landscape post-GFC as co-operatives tackle with the changed political and economic environment, the paper also challenges the view that demutualization is inevitable for agricultural co-operatives. Co-operative managers can make strategic choices to avoid demutualization and retain member control. Further, co-operative culture and the persistence of co-operative clusters in particular regions can blunt the push to demutualize.

Keywords

Co-operativesDemutualizationAgricultureNeo-LiberalismAustralia
Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , December 2021 , pp. 510 - 528
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of V.K. Aggarwal

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Albaladejo, Francisco and Menzani, Tito. 2017. “Co-operative Wineries in Italy and Spain in the Second Half of the Twentieth Century: Success or Failure of the Co-operative Business Model?” Enterprise and Society 18 (1): 32–71.10.1017/eso.2016.17CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ammirato, Piero. 2018. The Growth of Italian Co-operatives: Innovation, Resilience and Social Responsibility. Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Australian Broadcasting Commission. 2015. “Close Run Bega Cheese AGM Voting Pits Farmers Against Corporate.” Accessed 17 March 2020, https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2015-10-29/close-run-bega-cheese-agm-voting-pits-farmers-against-corporate/6896568Google Scholar
Australian Government. Department of Agriculture, Water and Environment. 2020. “Snapshot of Australian Agriculture 2020.” Accessed 17 March 2020, https://www.agriculture.gov.au/abares/publications/insights/snapshot-of-australian-agriculture-2020#around-70-of-agricultural-output-is-exportedGoogle Scholar
Ayris, Cyril. 1999. A Heritage Ingrained: A History of Co-operative Bulk Handling Ltd. 1933–2009. CBH.Google Scholar
Balnave, Nikola and Patmore, Greg. 2012. “Rochdale Consumer Co-operatives in Australia: Decline and Survival.” Business History 54 (6): 986–1003.10.1080/00076791.2012.706899CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barton, David. 1989. “What Is a Co-operative?” In Co-operatives in Agriculture edited by Cobia, David. Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Battilani, Patrizia and Schröter, Harm. 2012. “Demutualization and Its Problems.” In The Co-operative Business Movement, 1950 to the Present, edited by Battilani, Patrizia and Schröter, Harm. Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139237208CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Birchall, Johnston. 1994. Co-op: the People's Business. Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Birchall, Johnston. 1997. The International Co-operative Movement. University of Manchester Press.Google Scholar
Birchall, Johnston. 2011. People-Centered Businesses: Co-operatives, Mutuals and the Idea of Membership. Palgrave Macmillan.10.1057/9780230295292CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals. 2020. “Co-operative Conversations: Episode 2.” Accessed 17 March 2020, https://bccm.coop/project/co-operative-conversations-episode-2/Google Scholar
CBH. 1992. Annual Report 1992. CBH.Google Scholar
CBH. 1993. Annual Report 1993. CBH.Google Scholar
CBH. 1998. Annual Report 1998. CBH.Google Scholar
CBH. 2000. Annual Report 2000. CBH.Google Scholar
CBH. 2002. Annual Report 2002. CBH.Google Scholar
CBH. 2019. Annual Report 2019. CBH.Google Scholar
Chaddad, Fernando and Cook, Michael. 2004. “The Economics of Organization Structure Changes: A US Perspective on Demutualization.” Annals of Public and Co-operative Economics 75 (4): 575–94.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cheong, Elizabeth. 2006. “The Agricultural Co-operative Business Structure in Context: A Western Australian Study.” Accessed 17 March 2020, http://ro.ecu.edu.au/theses/56Google Scholar
Co-operatives Research Group, The University of Sydney, 2021. “Visual Historical Atlas of Australian Co-operatives.” Accessed 8 March 2021, https://www.sydney.edu.au/content/dam/corporate/documents/business-school/research/research-groups/visual-historical-atlas-of-australian-co-operatives.pdfGoogle Scholar
Commonwealth of Australia, Parliamentary Debates, 1998. House of Representatives. Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 1998–99. Second Reading Speech. Tuesday 12 May 1998. Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Commonwealth of Australia, Senate, Economics References Committee. 2016. Co-operative, Mutual and Member-Owned Firms. Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Cook, Michael, 1995. “The Future of US Agricultural Co-operatives: A Neo-Institutional Approach.” American Journal of Agricultural Economics 77 (5): 1153–9.10.2307/1243338CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cook, Michael and Burress, Molly. 2009. “A Co-operative Life Cycle Framework.” Accessed 10 March 2020, http://departments.agri.huji.ac.il/economics/en/events/p-cook.pdf 10.2202/1558-4291.1058CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Kevin. 2001. “Credit Union Governance and the Survival of the Cooperative Form.” Journal of Financial Services Research 19 (2/3): 197–210.10.1023/A:1011115623180CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Kevin. 2005. “Credit Unions and Demutualisation.” Managerial Finance 31(11): 6–25.10.1108/03074350510769938CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dibden, Jacqui, Potter, Clive and Cocklin, Chris. 2009. “Contesting the Neoliberal Project for Agriculture: Productivist and Multifunctional Trajectories in the European Union and Australia.” Journal of Rural Studies 25: 299–308.10.1016/j.jrurstud.2008.12.003CrossRefGoogle Scholar
DiMaggio, Paul and Powell, Wally. 1983. “The Iron Cage Revisited: Institutional Isomorphism and Collective Rationality in Organisational Fields.” American Sociological Review 48 (2): 148–60.10.2307/2095101CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goldfinch, Richenda. 2003. Legends of the Grain Game. CBH.Google Scholar
Gresham Partners. 2002. “Gresham Partners.” Accessed 10 March 2020, https://webarchive.nla.gov.au/awa/20010115141000/http://www.gresham.com.au/live/foodpartners_mn.htmlGoogle Scholar
Gurney, Peter. 1996. Co-operative Culture and the Politics of Consumption in England, 1870–1930. Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
Hadfield, Miles. 2018. “Murray Goulburn Shareholders Approve Sale to Canadian Dairy Saputo.” Accessed 3 February 2020, https://www.thenews.coop/127785/sector/murray-goulburn-shareholders-approve-sale-canadian-dairy-saputo/Google Scholar
Hansmann, Henry. 1980. “The Role of the Non-Profit Enterprise.” The Yale Law Journal 89 (5): 835–901.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hansmann, Henry. 1996. The Ownership of the Enterprise. Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Helmberger, Peter. 1966. “Future Roles for Agricultural Co-operatives.” Journal of Farm Economics 48 (5): 1427–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hilson, Mary. 2017. “Co-operative History: Movements and Businesses.” In A Global History of Consumer Co-operation since 1850: Movements and Businesses, edited by Hilson, Mary, Neunsinger, Silke and Patmore, Greg. Brill.10.1163/9789004336551CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hind, Abigail. 1999. “Co-operative Life Cycles and Goals.” Journal of Agricultural Economics 50 (3): 536–48.10.1111/j.1477-9552.1999.tb00897.xCrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kalmi, Panu. 2007. “The Disappearance of Cooperatives from Economics Textbooks.” Cambridge Journal of Economics 31 (4): 625–47.10.1093/cje/bem005CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Keillor, Steven. 2000. Co-operative Commonwealth: Co-ops in Rural Minnesota, 1859–1939. Minnesota Historical Society Press.Google Scholar
Lewis, Gary. 1992. A Middle Way. Rochdale Co-operatives in New South Wales 1859–1986. Australian Association of Co-operatives.Google Scholar
Lewis, Gary. 2006. The Democracy Principle. Farmer Co-operatives in Twentieth Century Australia. Author.Google Scholar
Mack, David. 1994. The Village Settlements on the River Murray in South Australia 1894–1909: A Chronicle of Communal life and Hardship. Author.Google Scholar
MacPherson, Ian. 1979. Each for All: A History of the Co-operative Movement in English Canada, 1900–1945. Macmillan.Google Scholar
Magarey, Donald. 1994. Guide to the NSW Co-operatives Law. CCH.Google Scholar
Mazzarol, Tim, Limnios, Elena Mamouni and Simmons, Richard. 2014. “To Be or Not to Be a Co-op? The Case of Australia's Grain Co-operatives CBH and ABB Grain.” In Research Handbook on Sustainable Co-operative Enterprise: Case Studies of Organisational Resilience in the Co-operative Business Model, edited by Mazzarol, Tim, Reboud, Sophie, Limnios, Elana Mamouni and Clark, Delwyn. Elgar: 113–39.Google Scholar
NORCO. 2006. Annual Report 2006. NORCO.Google Scholar
NORCO. 2009. Annual Report 2009. NORCO.Google Scholar
NSW Office of Fair Trading. 2007. Co-operative Capital Units and Co-operative Principles Summary. NSW Office of Fair Trading.Google Scholar
Patmore, Greg. 2019. “Different Types of Societal Regulation: Coordinated Market Economy, Social Democracy, Aspiration of Worker Control.” In Handbook of the Politics of Labour, Work and Employment, edited by Gall, Gregor. Elgar: 127–43.10.4337/9781784715694.00012CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patmore, Greg. 2020. Innovative Consumer Co-operatives: The Rise and Fall of Berkeley. Routledge.10.4324/9780429464201CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patmore, Greg and Balnave, Nikola. 2018. A Global History of Co-operative Business. Routledge.10.4324/9781315638164CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patmore, Greg and Coates, David. 2005. “Labour Parties and the State in Australia and the UK.” Labour History 88: 121–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Patmore, Greg, Balnave, Nikola and Marjanovic, Olivera. 2019. “Visualising Organisations over Time and Space: The Visual Atlas of Australian Co-operatives.” In Contemporary Issues in Work and Organisations, edited by Lansbury, Russell, Johnson, Anya and van den Broek, Diane. Routledge: 143–55.10.4324/9780429439919-12CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Plunkett, Brad, Chaddad, Fernando and Cook, Michael. 2010. “Ownership Structures and Incentives to Invest: Dual-Structured Irrigation co-operatives in Australia.” Journal of Institutional Economics 6 (2): 261–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Reserve Bank of Australia. 1997. Privitisation in Australia. Accessed 23 March 2021, https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/1997/dec/2.htmlGoogle Scholar
Sayer, Rosemary. 2009. The CEO, the Chairman and the Board. Trevor Eastwood. Hardie Grant Books.Google Scholar
Southern Farmers Group. 1998. The First Century: Southern Farmers. Southern Farmers.Google Scholar
Telfer, John. 2012. Killarney Co-operative Limited: A History, 1922–2012: Killarney Co-operative.Google Scholar
Thomas, David. 2006. A Golden Era: Celebrating 50 years of Bulk Grain Handling in South Australia. ABB Grain.Google Scholar
Todd, Jan. 2001. More Than Milk: Dairy Farmers and the Co-operative Response to Industry Deregulation. Hale and Iremonger.Google Scholar
WAMMCO. 2020. “Brief History of WAMMCO.” Accessed 23 March 2021, https://www.wammco.com.au/about/brief-history-of-wammcoGoogle Scholar
Watson, Catherine. 2000. Just a Bunch of Cow Cockies: The Story of the Murray Goulburn Co-operative. Murray Goulburn Co-operative.Google Scholar
John, Wilson, Webster, Anthony and Vorberg-Rugh, Rachael. 2013. Building Co-operation: A Business History of the Co-operative Group, 1863–2013. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar