Etude de la coopération au sein d’une coopérative artisanale

This paper suggests studying the cooperation between craftsmen, who have been led to gather within a craft cooperative of purchases to mutualize their supplies in goods, materials and products, essential to the well-being of their activity, in order to cope with the difficulties regarding the negotiations with the materials' suppliers. This cooperative includes members who are involved in woodcraft and collectively share the same identity. The craftsmen were led to choose this structure to meet the demands of central purchasing. These organizations, coming from social solidarity economy (SSE), are often qualified as hybrid in their endeavour to deal with the tensions generated by the conflicting forces at stake. An exploratory research based on an interpretative methodology was led through 18 semi-directive interviews with the Region's Trade and Crafts Chamber representatives, and with the cooperative's leader and managers, its member craftsmen and employees. In this research we suggest answering the following question : which kinds of cooperation can be developed within the hybrid structure of cooperatives, in order to reconcile the economic and identity challenges at stake ? Based on the case study, we shall show why and how the cooperative's structure of governance, the services which are put at the craftsmen's disposal, its management system as well as its organization are at the same time at the origin of performance for craftsmen and a factor of social cohesion in the ability to strengthen the solidarity between craftsmen. The results show an original form of cooperation which is based on a duality between community and complementary cooperation. This duality is explained by both a very strong sense of identity in the woodcraft world and the hybrid character of cooperatives. The results show that these two logics, instead of developing at the expense of each other, set up a dynamic and positive model leading to a balance. The co-op structure has made the cooperation between its members and the management of its paradoxical situations easier.