Success and failure factors in agricultural cooperatives

Abstract

The paper presents an integrated framework of success and failure factors of agricultural cooperatives and its applicability based on a review of recent literature and an illustrative case study. We identify six categories of success and failure factors: the societal environment, quality of management, strategy, member base, commitment, and product aspects. Contrary to expectations that failure factors mirror success factors, the framework shows that the two represent distinctive features in at least some of the distinguished categories. The analysis of an agricultural cooperative in Peru, selected and presented as an illustrative case study, shows the applicability of the framework for the analysis of success and failure factors of cooperatives.