New Generation Co-operatives and Related Business Structures

To understand the concept of ‘new generation’ co-operatives it is useful to look first at ‘traditional’ co-operatives. This is because the new generation co-operatives have developed in response to perceived limitations associated with traditional co-operatives. The concept of a new generation co-operative can be somewhat elusive if not seen as a response to the limitations of traditional co-operatives. It is an evolving concept, and what might have been regarded as ‘new’ some ten years ago may now be seen as ‘old’. In this paper a distinction is made between new generation co-operatives and hybrid cooperatives. A distinction is also made between hybrid co-operatives which have members and investors within the one business entity (the co-operative), and multiple business structures where a co-operative holds a shareholding in an investor-oriented-firm (IOF) that undertakes value adding and consumer marketing. Some commentators group all of these alternative structures together as ‘new generation co-operatives’ on the basis that they are all attempts at overcoming limitations of traditional co-operatives. However, although they are sufficiently different to require separate analysis.