Competitiveness and Sustainability of the Co-Operative Enterprise

The interest in this study arose from the great attention currently being given to the role of co-operative enterprises in achieving the United Nation’s goals of reducing poverty, promoting gender equality, providing health care services and ensuring environmental sustainability. The study investigated co-operative enterprises’ strategic planning intentions and processes and their impact on the ecosystems, societies, and environments of the future. Although survey questionnaires were the main instrument for primary data collection, semi-structured follow-up interviews were also conducted to supplement the method. The study found out that co-operative enterprises integrate environmental and social policies in their business model thereby representing a fundamentally distinct type of the modern firm characterized by a governance structure that in addition to financial performance, accounts for the environmental and social impact. The study established that co-operative enterprises also seek to promote the fullest possible participation in the economic and social development of groups of people who have hitherto encountered economic difficulties within the existing economic infrastructure that is not able to provide them with opportunities. Seventy nine percent of the co-operatives enterprises surveyed rated their performance as either satisfactory or exemplary.