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Scale, Scope and Survival: A Comparison of Cooperative and Capitalist Modes of Production

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  • Natália Monteiro
  • Geoff Stewart

Abstract

This paper draws on a comprehensive data set from Portugal to investigate the activities, internal characteristics and survival prospects of cooperatives and capitalist enterprises. Consistent with theory, high levels of market concentration and low entry costs were shown to be conducive to cooperatives. Cooperatives were found to be, on average, older and to operate with a larger, more highly educated and more productive labour force than do their capitalist counterparts. Finally, we show that cooperatives have a markedly higher probability of survival than do capitalist enterprises due, in part, to differences in industry of operation and internal characteristics. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015

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  • Natália Monteiro & Geoff Stewart, 2015. "Scale, Scope and Survival: A Comparison of Cooperative and Capitalist Modes of Production," Review of Industrial Organization, Springer;The Industrial Organization Society, vol. 47(1), pages 91-118, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:revind:v:47:y:2015:i:1:p:91-118
    DOI: 10.1007/s11151-015-9464-1
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    Cited by:

    1. Damien Rousselière, 2019. "A Flexible Approach to Age Dependence in Organizational Mortality: Comparing the Life Duration for Cooperative and Non-Cooperative Enterprises Using a Bayesian Generalized Additive Discrete Time Survi," Journal of Quantitative Economics, Springer;The Indian Econometric Society (TIES), vol. 17(4), pages 829-855, December.
    2. Maria Giovanna BRANDANO & Claudio DETOTTO & Marco VANNINI, 2019. "Comparative Efficiency Of Agricultural Cooperatives And Conventional Firms In A Sample Of Quasi‐Twin Companies," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 90(1), pages 53-76, March.
    3. Michael T. Rauh, 2014. "Incentives, wages, employment, and the division of labor in teams," RAND Journal of Economics, RAND Corporation, vol. 45(3), pages 533-552, September.
    4. Justine Valette & Paul Amadieu & Patrick Sentis, 2018. "Les coopératives résistent-elles mieux ? Une analyse de survie des coopératives agricoles françaises," Post-Print hal-01990418, HAL.
    5. Natalia P. MONTEIRO & Odd Rune STRAUME, 2018. "Are Cooperatives More Productive Than Investor-Owned Firms? Cross-Industry Evidence From Portugal," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 89(2), pages 377-414, June.
    6. Ho, Jerry & Hoang, Vincent & Wilson, Clevo, 2020. "Government R&D Subsidies and International Competitiveness of Labor-managed Firms," MPRA Paper 106896, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 09 Dec 2020.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cooperatives; Capitalist firms; Firm ownership; J54; P12;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J54 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Producer Cooperatives; Labor Managed Firms
    • P12 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Capitalist Enterprises

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