Files
Abstract
Cooperative businesses have a wider range of objectives than investor-owned firms
from which to legitimately choose, some of which include difficult-to-quantify
member-centered goals. This paper reviews a technique adopted in the measurement of
stakeholders' aspirations and perceived performance for ten agricultural cooperatives
and farmer controlled businesses. Findings indicate that cooperative stakeholders
embrace a range of member- and corporate-centered aspirations, although the various
stakeholding groups may prioritize these alternative goals differently. Importantly, an
examination of the relationship between member- and corporate-centered performance
levels indicates that the achievement of one is not necessarily at the expense of the
other.