Περίληψη σε άλλη γλώσσα
This dissertation aims to shed light on co-operative (co-op) distinctive characteristics (e.g., their social aspects, their idiosyncratic performance measurement) and confront them with business features ingrained in conventional or other organizational forms that also blend business with social components (e.g., social enterprises). In so doing, this dissertation advocates a dual outlook, deliberating upon co-ops’ capacity and proclivity to attend to (often contradictory) business and social demands. It assembles four empirical essays, the primary links of which are the analysis of co-op-specific issues that condition co-op viability and their synthesis with business aspects entrenched in conventional or other forms of enterprise. Essay 1 examines the inter-relationships between internal organization, strategies, and performance. It reveals that co-ops need to embrace customer-focused strategies (e.g., market and brand orientation) while centering on organizational restructuring that ...
This dissertation aims to shed light on co-operative (co-op) distinctive characteristics (e.g., their social aspects, their idiosyncratic performance measurement) and confront them with business features ingrained in conventional or other organizational forms that also blend business with social components (e.g., social enterprises). In so doing, this dissertation advocates a dual outlook, deliberating upon co-ops’ capacity and proclivity to attend to (often contradictory) business and social demands. It assembles four empirical essays, the primary links of which are the analysis of co-op-specific issues that condition co-op viability and their synthesis with business aspects entrenched in conventional or other forms of enterprise. Essay 1 examines the inter-relationships between internal organization, strategies, and performance. It reveals that co-ops need to embrace customer-focused strategies (e.g., market and brand orientation) while centering on organizational restructuring that secures member commitment (e.g., exit barriers). Essay 2 delivers a new comprehensive dashboard for co-op performance assessment that reflects co-op specificities (e.g., accounting for both business and social-membership aspects), advancing the current debate on how to best appraise it. Essay 3 explores a core co-op threat (i.e., member-customer ostracism), which primarily relates to co-ops’ social environment but also involves business aspects (e.g., member-customer participation in decision-making). In Essay 3, a reliable and valid diagnostic tool for this co-op threat is also developed. Essay 4 delves into member-customer ostracism’s “poisonous” effects, empirically assessing its’ influence on critical membership outcomes, as well as providing an “antidote” (a coping strategy to attenuate its toxic effects). Overall, this dissertation builds on prominent co-op studies and distinctive paradigms of the marketing and management literature, fuses rich data collection procedures and analyses, and, eventually, illuminates co-op idiosyncrasies that, together with mainstream business features, shelter unique co-op assets and enhance co-op management. Accordingly, this dissertation may help co-op leaders and managers make informed decisions about organizational and strategic attributes, document and communicate co-ops’ socioeconomic impact consistently, and manage relations with co-op members effectively.
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