The purpose of consumer co-operation: implications for the management and governance of co-operatives
Tuominen, Pasi (2012-11-30)
Väitöskirja
Tuominen, Pasi
30.11.2012
Lappeenranta University of Technology
Acta Universitatis Lappeenrantaensis
Julkaisun pysyvä osoite on
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-265-309-3
https://urn.fi/URN:ISBN:978-952-265-309-3
Tiivistelmä
Extant research on consumer co-operation has acknowledged that the corporate purpose of
consumer co-operatives deviates significantly from the purpose of investor-owned firms
(IOFs – the dominant form in market economies and in theory development in the field of
business economics) and also suggested that the management of consumer co-operatives
differs from the management of IOFs. Despite this, there is a scarcity of research focusing on
the management of consumer co-operatives in general and the ways this different purpose
manifests in their management in particular. In other words, research on consumer cooperatives
has only started to discover the importance of identifying the premises of these
organizations and generating management and organization theories that take them into
account.
The overall objective of this study is to map out some of the implications that the purpose of
consumer co-operation has for the management and governance of consumer co-operatives.
To put it more precisely, by combining interview data gathered from Finnish consumer cooperatives
(S Group, OP Bank Group and POP Bank) and extant literature, this study aims to
generate or elaborate on definitions and outlines of the features that co-operative purpose
poses for the strategic management, governance and managerial competence needed for
consumer co-operatives.
The study consists of two parts. The first part introduces the research topic, methods and
publications, as well as discusses the overall outcomes. The second part consists of four
publications that address the research questions from different viewpoints. The analyses of
this study indicate that due to the purpose of consumer co-operation, the roles of locality and
regionality become emphasized in their management. While locality and regionality are
potential sources of competitive advantage for consumer co-operatives, geographic boundness
sets significant boundary conditions for the strategic management of these organizations.
Further, the purpose of consumer co-operation may pose several challenges to governance and
set specific competence demands for the managers of these organizations. Associating the
observations from various streams of research on management and governance with the
purpose of consumer co-operation and examining these issues further, the thesis contributes to
elaboration of theory in the field. While the thesis is by no means comprehensive (but instead
reflects a co-operative research project in its early stages), it does shed light on some key
ideas of management and governance and offers leads to theory and, thereby, will prove
useful to elaborators, disseminators and appliers of knowledge on co-operation.
consumer co-operatives deviates significantly from the purpose of investor-owned firms
(IOFs – the dominant form in market economies and in theory development in the field of
business economics) and also suggested that the management of consumer co-operatives
differs from the management of IOFs. Despite this, there is a scarcity of research focusing on
the management of consumer co-operatives in general and the ways this different purpose
manifests in their management in particular. In other words, research on consumer cooperatives
has only started to discover the importance of identifying the premises of these
organizations and generating management and organization theories that take them into
account.
The overall objective of this study is to map out some of the implications that the purpose of
consumer co-operation has for the management and governance of consumer co-operatives.
To put it more precisely, by combining interview data gathered from Finnish consumer cooperatives
(S Group, OP Bank Group and POP Bank) and extant literature, this study aims to
generate or elaborate on definitions and outlines of the features that co-operative purpose
poses for the strategic management, governance and managerial competence needed for
consumer co-operatives.
The study consists of two parts. The first part introduces the research topic, methods and
publications, as well as discusses the overall outcomes. The second part consists of four
publications that address the research questions from different viewpoints. The analyses of
this study indicate that due to the purpose of consumer co-operation, the roles of locality and
regionality become emphasized in their management. While locality and regionality are
potential sources of competitive advantage for consumer co-operatives, geographic boundness
sets significant boundary conditions for the strategic management of these organizations.
Further, the purpose of consumer co-operation may pose several challenges to governance and
set specific competence demands for the managers of these organizations. Associating the
observations from various streams of research on management and governance with the
purpose of consumer co-operation and examining these issues further, the thesis contributes to
elaboration of theory in the field. While the thesis is by no means comprehensive (but instead
reflects a co-operative research project in its early stages), it does shed light on some key
ideas of management and governance and offers leads to theory and, thereby, will prove
useful to elaborators, disseminators and appliers of knowledge on co-operation.
Kokoelmat
- Väitöskirjat [1036]