IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agecon/v6y1991i1p15-29.html

Size and industry effects in the performance of agricultural cooperatives

Author

Listed:
  • Lerman, Zvi
  • Parliament, Claudia

Abstract

The objective of this study is to determine if there are important size and industry effects on financial pertormance of agricultural cooperatives. The performance of 43 dairy, food, grain, and farm supply cooperatives in the US was analyzed over the period 1970-1987 using financial ratios derived from accounting data. The analysis revealed significant size and industry effects. Large regional cooperatives are more efficient in utilizing their assets to generate sales, while small regional cooperatives have higher profitability. The findings suggest that the emphasis on growth may not always produce· beneficial results among agricultural cooperatives. Among the four industries studies, the dairy regional cooperatives appear to be the strongest performers, while the food marketing cooperatives are characterized by the lowest performance measures. Since both dairy and food cooperatives engage in value-added processing, this difference in performance makes it difficult to reach clear conclusions about possible advantages or disadvantages of. vertical integration relative to traditional cooperative activities. Trend analysis indicates that the profitability of the agricultural cooperatives in all industry and size categories declined in response to the downturn in US agriculture after 1980. While the decline in profitability was at similar rates for both large and small cooperatives, the variation of efficiency and leverage was in opposite directions. Large cooperatives may be expected to continue improving their asset utilization without relative improvement in profitability, and increasing the level of their debt in relation to equity.
(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Suggested Citation

  • Lerman, Zvi & Parliament, Claudia, 1991. "Size and industry effects in the performance of agricultural cooperatives," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 6(1), pages 15-29, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agecon:v:6:y:1991:i:1:p:15-29
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/0169-5150(91)90013-B
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or

    for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Zivkovic, Sanja & Hudson, Darren, 2015. "Impact of the relationship between managers and the board of directors on economic performance of agricultural cooperatives," 2015 Annual Meeting, January 31-February 3, 2015, Atlanta, Georgia 196888, Southern Agricultural Economics Association.
    2. Grashuis, Jasper & Cook, Michael, 2016. "Capital, Ownership, and Governance: Analyzing the Structure of U.S. Farmer Cooperatives," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235677, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    3. Isidoro Guzmán Raja & Narciso Arcas Lario & Domingo García Pérez de Lema, 2006. "La eficiencia técnica como medida de rendimiento de las cooperativas agrarias," CIRIEC-España, revista de economía pública, social y cooperativa, CIRIEC-España, issue 55, pages 289-311, August.
    4. Caetano Luiz Beber & Sebastian Lakner & Ioannis Skevas, 2021. "Organizational forms and technical efficiency of the dairy processing industry in Southern Brazil," Agricultural and Food Economics, Springer;Italian Society of Agricultural Economics (SIDEA), vol. 9(1), pages 1-22, December.
    5. A. M. Hind, 1994. "Cooperatives – Under Performers By Nature? An Exploratory Analysis Of Cooperative And Non‐Cooperative Companies In The Agri‐Business Sector," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 45(2), pages 213-219, May.
    6. Thembi Xaba & Nyankomo Marwa & Babita Mathur-Helm, 2018. "Efficiency and Profitability Analysis of Agricultural Cooperatives in Mpumalanga, South Africa," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 10(6), pages 1-10.
    7. Chiara Carini & Ericka Costa, 2013. "Exploring the performance of social cooperatives during the economic crisis: the Italian case," Euricse Working Papers 1359, Euricse (European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises).
    8. Lehenchuk, Serhii & Raboshuk, Alina & Zhyhlei, Iryna & Zakharov, Dmytro & Fedoryshyna, Lidiia, 2023. "Financial performance determinants of Ukrainian agricultural companies in the pre-war period," Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, Agricultural and Resource Economics: International Scientific E-Journal, vol. 9(4), December.
    9. Allan P. Bacho & Olga I. Murova, 2017. "Financial Performance Analysis of Corn-based Ethanol Enterprises in the U.S," Business and Economic Research, Macrothink Institute, vol. 7(1), pages 242-260, June.
    10. Isidoro GUZMÁN & Narciso ARCAS, 2008. "The Usefulness Of Accounting Information In The Measurement Of Technical Efficiency In Agricultural Cooperatives," Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 79(1), pages 107-131, March.
    11. Ericka Costa & Michele Andreaus & Chiara Carini & Maurizio Carpita, 2012. "Exploring the efficiency of Italian social cooperatives by descriptive and principal component analysis," Service Business, Springer;Pan-Pacific Business Association, vol. 6(1), pages 117-136, March.
    12. Chiara Carini & Ericka Costa & Maurizio Carpita & Michele Andreaus, 2012. "The Italian Social Cooperatives in 2008: A Portrait Using Descriptive and Principal Component Analysis," Euricse Working Papers 1235, Euricse (European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises).
    13. Narciso Arcas Lario, 2002. "Contribución de las cooperativas agrarias de segundo grado a la orientación al mercado de sus cooperativas asociadas: efectos en el desempeño de la relación," CIRIEC-España, revista de economía pública, social y cooperativa, CIRIEC-España, issue 41, pages 139-161, August.
    14. Kakulia, Nino & Kochlamazashvili, Irakli & Mamardashvili, Mamardashvili, "undated". "Size and Sector Effects in the Performance of Agricultural Cooperatives: The Case of Georgia," Samarkand Conference 2016, November 2-4, Samarkand, Uzbekistan 249974, Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO).
    15. Jan Falkowski & Pavel Ciaian, 2016. "Factors Supporting the Development of Producer Organizations and their Impacts in the Light of Ongoing Changes in Food Supply Chains: A Literature Review," JRC Research Reports JRC101617, Joint Research Centre.
    16. Chen, Andrew & Hwang, Yuhchang & Shao, Benjamin, 2005. "Measurement and sources of overall and input inefficiencies: Evidences and implications in hospital services," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 161(2), pages 447-468, March.
    17. MCarmen Martínez†Victoria & Narciso Arcas Lario & Mariluz Maté Sánchez Val, 2018. "Financial behavior of cooperatives and investor†owned firms: An empirical analysis of the Spanish fruit and vegetable sector," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(2), pages 456-471, March.
    18. Theo Benos & Nikos Kalogeras & Martin Wetzels & Ko De Ruyter & Joost M. E. Pennings, 2018. "Harnessing a ‘Currency Matrix’ for Performance Measurement in Cooperatives: A Multi-Phased Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(12), pages 1-38, December.
    19. Parliament, Claudia & Lerman, Zvi, 1993. "Risk and Equity in Agricultural Cooperatives," Journal of Agricultural Cooperation, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, vol. 8, pages 1-14.
    20. Carmen María Hernández‐Nicolás & Juan Francisco Martín‐Ugedo & Antonio Mínguez‐Vera, 2019. "The effect of gender diversity on the board of Spanish agricultural cooperatives on returns and debt: An empirical analysis," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(4), pages 639-656, October.
    21. Matyja, Małgorzata, . "A Comparative Study of Profitability of Agricultural Cooperatives in Poland and Around the World," Problems of World Agriculture / Problemy Rolnictwa Światowego, Warsaw University of Life Sciences, vol. 17(32, Part ).
    22. Qiao Liang & Rongrong Bai & Zhi Jin & Linlin Fu, 2023. "Big and strong or small and beautiful: Effects of organization size on the performance of farmer cooperatives in China," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 39(1), pages 196-213, January.
    23. Matyja, Małgorzata, . "Profitability of agricultural cooperatives. Selected methodical aspects of measurement and analysis," Journal of Agribusiness and Rural Development, University of Life Sciences, Poznan, Poland, vol. 49(3).
    24. Arcas-Lario, Narciso & Martín-Ugedo, Juan Francisco & Mínguez-Vera, Antonio, . "Farmers’ Satisfaction with Fresh Fruit and Vegetable Marketing Spanish Cooperatives: An Explanation from Agency Theory," International Food and Agribusiness Management Review, International Food and Agribusiness Management Association, vol. 17(01), pages 1-20.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agecon:v:6:y:1991:i:1:p:15-29. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/loi/agec .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.