Differentiated voting and membership composition – the case of a large Swedish dairy cooperative

Abstract

This study comprises theoretical and empirical analyses of differentiated voting rights in the governance of agricultural cooperatives with self-interest seeking members. A survey was conducted among representative samples of members and General Assembly delegates of a large Swedish dairy cooperative while two important decisions were under consideration. Because of the equal voting rights regime, the majority of small-scale farmers encouraged the General Assembly to reject both efficiency-raising measures. However, if the large-scale farmers had had more voting power, both proposals would have been accepted. Because of limited spatial competition, the large-scale members could not “voting by their feet”.