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16 Learning to swim against the tide

Crises and co-operative credibility – some international and historical examples
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Abstract

This chapter is concerned with how co-operatives cope with arguably the greatest threat to staking a claim to the economic mainstream: the crises which emerge from time to time within co-operatives and events which threaten to undermine the credibility of co-operation as a viable economic, business and social model. Its’ main focus is on the recent crisis of The Co-operative Group in Britain and its historical roots since the 1950s, but also draws on the postwar experiences of several European co-operative movements.

Abstract

This chapter is concerned with how co-operatives cope with arguably the greatest threat to staking a claim to the economic mainstream: the crises which emerge from time to time within co-operatives and events which threaten to undermine the credibility of co-operation as a viable economic, business and social model. Its’ main focus is on the recent crisis of The Co-operative Group in Britain and its historical roots since the 1950s, but also draws on the postwar experiences of several European co-operative movements.

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of figures, tables and boxes vii
  4. List of contributors ix
  5. Acknowledgements xiii
  6. 1 Introduction 1
  7. 2 Mainstreaming co-operatives after the global financial crisis 14
  8. 3 Our agencies 31
  9. 4 G. J. Holyoake (1807–1906) 46
  10. 5 History, citizenship and co-operative education, c. 1895–1930 69
  11. 6 ‘The unit of the co-operative movement … is a woman’ 90
  12. 7 A continuing challenge 111
  13. 8 The wasted years? 131
  14. 9 New models of ownership and governance 151
  15. 10 Co-operatives in health care 169
  16. 11 The re-emergence of the co-operative model for architects 183
  17. 12 Co-operatives and climate protection 201
  18. 13 The co-operative identity 221
  19. 14 What do we really know about workers’ co-operatives? 239
  20. 15 The impact of the co-operative ethos on the creation of shared value 261
  21. 16 Learning to swim against the tide 280
  22. Index 305
Mainstreaming co-operation
This chapter is in the book Mainstreaming co-operation
https://doi.org/10.7765/9781526100993.00021

Chapters in this book

  1. Front matter i
  2. Contents v
  3. List of figures, tables and boxes vii
  4. List of contributors ix
  5. Acknowledgements xiii
  6. 1 Introduction 1
  7. 2 Mainstreaming co-operatives after the global financial crisis 14
  8. 3 Our agencies 31
  9. 4 G. J. Holyoake (1807–1906) 46
  10. 5 History, citizenship and co-operative education, c. 1895–1930 69
  11. 6 ‘The unit of the co-operative movement … is a woman’ 90
  12. 7 A continuing challenge 111
  13. 8 The wasted years? 131
  14. 9 New models of ownership and governance 151
  15. 10 Co-operatives in health care 169
  16. 11 The re-emergence of the co-operative model for architects 183
  17. 12 Co-operatives and climate protection 201
  18. 13 The co-operative identity 221
  19. 14 What do we really know about workers’ co-operatives? 239
  20. 15 The impact of the co-operative ethos on the creation of shared value 261
  21. 16 Learning to swim against the tide 280
  22. Index 305
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