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Beyond focus: Exploring variability of service provision of agricultural cooperatives
Author(s) -
Sebhatu Kifle T.,
Taheri Fatemeh,
Berhanu Tekeste,
Maertens Miet,
Van Passel Steven,
D'Haese Marijke
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
annals of public and cooperative economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.526
H-Index - 37
eISSN - 1467-8292
pISSN - 1370-4788
DOI - 10.1111/apce.12301
Subject(s) - tobit model , portfolio , business , service (business) , agriculture , government (linguistics) , marketing , finance , economics , geography , linguistics , philosophy , archaeology , econometrics
The wide array of services provided by agricultural cooperatives for their members is often not considered in academic studies. Addressing this gap in the literature, our paper explores the wide array of services provided by agricultural cooperatives and how these extend beyond those they were initially intended to provide. We study the extent and characteristics of service portfolios from 511 agricultural cooperatives in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. Results from two‐limit Tobit models confirm that government and NGO‐initiated cooperatives have a wide service portfolio compared to member‐initiated cooperatives. In many of the studied cooperatives, the services they provide and their portfolios are more diverse than expected. Cooperatives seem to go beyond their focal areas of intervention. Also, those cooperatives that are more outward‐oriented and where the chair has contact with other cooperatives or businesses, have a wider service portfolio. These results may help to explain the mixed findings on the impact of cooperative membership.