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STRUCTURAL CHARACTERISTICS OF AGRICULTURAL CO‐OPERATIVES IN BRITAIN
Author(s) -
Oustapassidis K.
Publication year - 1988
Publication title -
journal of agricultural economics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.157
H-Index - 61
eISSN - 1477-9552
pISSN - 0021-857X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1477-9552.1988.tb00579.x
Subject(s) - diversification (marketing strategy) , agriculture , contrast (vision) , economics , relevance (law) , scale (ratio) , positive economics , classical economics , public economics , neoclassical economics , political science , marketing , business , law , history , geography , archaeology , artificial intelligence , computer science , cartography
The theory of the behaviour of the co‐operative firm has greatly advanced in recent years though this has not been accompanied by a major resurgence of empirical study. This paper is aimed at a basic investigation of some of the structural features of the British cooperative movement over the period 1975‐82. Using various concentration measures familiar in industrial economics it draws a sharp contrast between the requisite and marketing sides. It then focuses on economies of scale using Stigler's survivor technique concluding that there is little evidence of their existence in either sector. Diversification of activity is also considered, where again a contrast is evident. The paper concludes with a note on the policy relevance of the analysis.