This field involves the study of management practices and decision-making within cooperatives, including organizational structure, governance, and leadership.
Cooperative principles and values: These are the guiding beliefs that cooperatives follow, including voluntary and open membership, democratic control, economic participation, autonomy, education, and cooperation among cooperatives.
Legal and regulatory requirements: This topic covers the legal structures and rules that govern cooperatives, including registration, governance, accounting, and tax regulations.
Cooperative governance: This involves the mechanisms by which a cooperative is managed and controlled, including the board of directors, committees, and membership participation.
Financing and capitalization: This covers the various methods by which cooperatives can raise and manage capital, including member shares, loans, grants, and retained earnings.
Cooperative entrepreneurship: This is the process of identifying and starting cooperative ventures, including market assessments, feasibility studies, business planning, and resource mobilization.
Marketing and sales: This focuses on promoting and selling cooperative products and services, including branding, advertising, distribution, and customer relations.
Cooperative network and alliance building: This involves the creation of partnerships and collaborations among cooperatives, including joint ventures, alliances, and networks.
Cooperative education and training: This covers the methods by which cooperatives educate and train their members, staff, and stakeholders, including workshops, seminars, and online resources.
Cooperative impact and evaluation: This topic concerns the measurement and assessment of cooperative performance, including social, economic, and environmental impact indicators.
Cooperative innovation and technology: This covers the use of modern technology and innovation in cooperative management, including e-commerce, digital platforms, and big data analytics.
Consumer cooperatives: These are cooperatives that are owned and managed by their customers or members. The members have equal voting rights, regardless of the amount of money they have invested in the cooperative.
Worker cooperatives: These are cooperatives that are owned and managed by their employees. The employees participate in the decision-making process and share in the profits.
Producer cooperatives: These are cooperatives that are owned and managed by their producers. The producers pool their resources to produce and market their goods.
Housing cooperatives: These are cooperatives that are owned and managed by their residents. The residents own a share in the housing complex and participate in the management and upkeep of the property.
Agriculture cooperatives: These are cooperatives that are owned and managed by farmers. The farmers pool their resources to buy inputs, market their products, and share in the profits.
Credit unions: These are cooperatives that are owned and managed by their members who are savers and borrowers. Members pool their savings to provide loans to other members.
Health care cooperatives: These are cooperatives that provide health care services and are owned and managed by their members who are providers and patients.
Energy cooperatives: These are cooperatives that are owned and managed by their members who are production or distribution of energy.
Multi-stakeholder cooperatives: These are cooperatives that have multiple categories of members, such as consumers, workers, and producers. Each category of members has equal voting rights and participates in the management of the cooperative.
Platform cooperatives: These are cooperatives that are owned and managed by the users of an online platform. The users participate in the decision-making process and share in the profits.