IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/agribz/v35y2019i2p249-264.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Measuring the cost of capital in cooperative businesses

Author

Listed:
  • Jeffrey S. Royer

Abstract

Cooperatives usually cannot employ market‐based methods for valuating equity capital and must rely instead on accounting‐based methods. This paper assesses several approaches for valuating cooperative equity and suggests that the rate of return on equity is an appropriate measure of the opportunity cost of equity because it determines the levels of cash patronage refunds, equity retirement, and growth a cooperative can maintain. Simulations are used to explore the relationship between various measures and the rate of growth and demonstrate that the rate of return on equity is the only measure invariant with respect to changes in the growth rate. Calculations for US cooperatives show that the rate of return on equity results in a higher cost of equity than estimates based on the opportunity cost of funds and confirm that equity is more expensive than borrowed capital. A numerical example illustrates the early redemption of member equities at a discount.

Suggested Citation

  • Jeffrey S. Royer, 2019. "Measuring the cost of capital in cooperative businesses," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 35(2), pages 249-264, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:agribz:v:35:y:2019:i:2:p:249-264
    DOI: 10.1002/agr.21594
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/agr.21594
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/agr.21594?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pederson, Glenn, 1998. "Cost of Capital for Agricultural Cooperatives," Research Reports 280007, United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development.
    2. Eversull, E. Eldon, 2011. "Cooperative Financial Profile, 2008," Research Reports 280110, United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development.
    3. Royer, Jeffrey S., 1992. "Cooperative Principles and Equity Financing: A Critical Discussion," Journal of Agricultural Cooperation, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, vol. 7, pages 1-20.
    4. Cobia, David W. & Royer, Jeffrey S. & Wissman, Roger A. & Smith, Dennis Paul & Davidson, Donald R. & Lurya, Stephen D. & Mather, J. Warren & Brown, Phillip F. & Krueger, Kenneth P., 1982. "Equity Redemption: Issues and Alternatives for Farmer Cooperatives," Research Reports 180969, United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development.
    5. Rathbone, Robert C. & Wissman, Roger A., 1993. "Equity Redemption and Member Equity Allocation Practices of Agricultural Cooperatives," Research Reports 257202, United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Royer, Jeffrey S., 2012. "Implications of the Cooperative Organizational Form for Vertical Expansion," Journal of Rural Cooperation, Hebrew University, Center for Agricultural Economic Research, vol. 40(2), pages 1-20.
    2. Xiaoyan Qian & Tava Lennon Olsen, 2020. "Operational and Financial Decisions Within Proportional Investment Cooperatives," Manufacturing & Service Operations Management, INFORMS, vol. 22(3), pages 545-561, May.
    3. Royer, Jeffrey S., 2022. "Comparative Performance of Cooperative Equity Retirement Plans," Journal of Cooperatives, NCERA-210, vol. 36.
    4. Curtiss, Jarmila, 2012. "Determinants of Financial Capital Use: Review of theories and implications for rural businesses," Factor Markets Working Papers 123, Centre for European Policy Studies.
    5. Royer, Jeffrey S., 2016. "Assessing the Ability of Rural Electric Cooperatives to Retire Capital Credits," Journal of Cooperatives, NCERA-210, vol. 31.
    6. Dinesh Dhakal & David O’Brien & Peter Mueser, 2021. "Government Policy and Performance of Agricultural Cooperatives: A Case Study in Chitwan District, Nepal," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-20, November.
    7. Rathbone, Robert C. & Davidson, Donald R., 1995. "Base Capital Financing of Cooperatives," Cooperative Information Reports (CIR) 280593, United States Department of Agriculture, Rural Development.
    8. Jeffrey S. Royer, 1995. "Potential for cooperative involvement in vertical coordination and value-added activities," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(5), pages 473-481.
    9. Justyna Franc-Dąbrowska & Magdalena Mądra-Sawicka & Joanna Bereżnicka, 2018. "Cost of Agricultural Business Equity Capital—A Theoretical and Empirical Study for Poland," Economies, MDPI, vol. 6(3), pages 1-15, June.
    10. Holstenkamp, Lars & Degenhart, Heinrich, 2013. "Bürgerbeteiligungsmodelle für erneuerbare Energien - Eine Begriffsbestimmung aus finanzwirtschaftlicher Perspektive [Citizen Participation Schemes for Renewable Energies - A Definition from a Finan," MPRA Paper 81263, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    11. Aulová, R. & Frydlova, M., 2012. "EVA and its Determinants for Selected Groups of Farms: Conventional and Organic Farming," AGRIS on-line Papers in Economics and Informatics, Czech University of Life Sciences Prague, Faculty of Economics and Management, vol. 4(3), pages 1-11, September.
    12. Parliament, Claudia & Lerman, Zvi & Fulton, Joan R., 1990. "Performance of Cooperatives and Investor-Owned Firms in the Dairy Industry," Journal of Agricultural Cooperation, National Council of Farmer Cooperatives, vol. 5, pages 1-16.
    13. Chaddad, Fabio Ribas & Cook, Michael L., 2002. "An Ownership Rights Typology Of Cooperative Models," Working Papers 26032, University of Missouri Columbia, Department of Agricultural Economics.
    14. Rey, Patrick & Tirole, Jean, 2007. "Financing and access in cooperatives," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 25(5), pages 1061-1088, October.
    15. Barton, David G., 2004. "A Comparison of Traditional and Newly Emerging Forms of Cooperative Capitalization," 2004 Annual Meeting, November 2-3 31794, NCERA-194 Research on Cooperatives.
    16. Royer, Jeffery S., 1987. "Cash Flow Comparisons Of Two Methods Of Allocating Cooperative Pa Tron Age Refunds," 1987 Annual Meeting, August 2-5, East Lansing, Michigan 270120, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    17. Qiao Liang & George Hendrikse & Zuhui Huang & Xuchu Xu, 2015. "Governance Structure of Chinese Farmer Cooperatives: Evidence From Zhejiang Province," Agribusiness, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 198-214, April.
    18. Liang, Q.X. & Hendrikse, G.W.J. & Huang, Z. & Xu, X., 2012. "Core and Common Members in Chinese Farmer Cooperatives," ERIM Report Series Research in Management ERS-2012-002-STR, Erasmus Research Institute of Management (ERIM), ERIM is the joint research institute of the Rotterdam School of Management, Erasmus University and the Erasmus School of Economics (ESE) at Erasmus University Rotterdam.
    19. Peter Foreman & David A. Whetten, 2002. "Members' Identification with Multiple-Identity Organizations," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 13(6), pages 618-635, December.
    20. Giannakas, Konstantinos & Fulton, Murray & Sesmero, Juan, 2016. "Horizon and Free-Rider Problems in Cooperative Organizations," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 41(3), pages 1-21.

    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:wly:agribz:v:35:y:2019:i:2:p:249-264. 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.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1002/(ISSN)1520-6297 .

    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.