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Are cooperatives more productive than investor-owned firms? Cross-industry evidence from Portugal

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Abstract

We analyse empirically whether cooperatives and investor-owned fims differ in terms of productive efficiency. Using rich Portuguese panel data covering a wide range of industries, we apply two different empirical approaches to estimate potential diffferences in total factor productivity between the two groups of fi rms. The results from our benchmark random-effects model show that cooperatives are signi cantly less productive, on average, than investor-owned fi rms. This conclusion is to a large extent confi rmed by the results from System-GMM estimations. The lower productivity of cooperatives applies to a wide spectrum of industries. In six out of thirteen industries, cooperatives are outperformed by investor-owned firms in all empirical speci cations considered, while there is no industry in which cooperatives are consistently found to be the more productive type of firm.

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  • Natália P. Monteiro & Odd Rune Straume, 2016. "Are cooperatives more productive than investor-owned firms? Cross-industry evidence from Portugal," NIPE Working Papers 9/2016, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    • Handle: RePEc:nip:nipewp:09/2016
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    Cited by:

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    2. Carmen GUZMAN & Francisco J. SANTOS & María de la O BARROSO, 2020. "Cooperative Essence And Entrepreneurial Quality: A Comparative Contextual Analysis," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 91(1), pages 95-118, March.
    3. Elena Meliá-Martí & Guillermina Tormo-Carbó & Juan Francisco Juliá-Igual, 2020. "Does Gender Diversity Affect Performance in Agri-Food Cooperatives? A Moderated Model," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(16), pages 1-27, August.
    4. Zsuzsanna Kispál-Vitai & Yann Regnard & Klara Kövesi & Claude-André Guillotte, 2019. "Cooperative case studies from three countries: Is membership a problem or a solution in the 21st century?," Society and Economy, Akadémiai Kiadó, Hungary, vol. 41(4), pages 467-485, December.
    5. Zsuzsanna Kispál-Vitai & Yann Regnard & Klara Kövesi & Claude-André Guillotte, 2019. "Cooperative case studies from three countries: Is membership a problem or a solution in the 21 st century?," Post-Print hal-02351404, HAL.
    6. Pablo Blanchard & Gabriel Burdín & Andrés Dean, 2023. "Property Rights and Effort Supply," Documentos de Trabajo (working papers) 23-01, Instituto de Economía - IECON.
    7. Andreea Preluca & Karin Hakelius & Cecilia Mark-Herbert, 2022. "Sustainability of Worker Co-Operatives," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-20, September.
    8. Marcelo Ferreira & Clea Macagnan & Daniel Vancin & Ana Toaldo, 2021. "Technical assistance: A determinant of cooperative member loyalty," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 92(4), pages 649-668, December.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Cooperatives; investor-owned fi rms; productive effiiciency;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D24 - Microeconomics - - Production and Organizations - - - Production; Cost; Capital; Capital, Total Factor, and Multifactor Productivity; Capacity
    • 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
    • P13 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Cooperative Enterprises

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