This paper presents a place-based case of some of the social and economic effects that globalization, and specifically international trade, can have on rural development. Using a historical description and semi-structured interviews, it focuses on a member led organic and fair-trade organization in Southern Belize. Our understanding of how globalization can affect rural people in the global South, specifically how opportunities can be exploited and pitfalls avoided, is lacking. This paper argues that the creation of a grassroots co-operative structure contributed to the development of a stable income generating strategy and reduced vulnerability to the risks involved in international trade for the members of the organization.
This study examined the financial performance of agricultural cooperative societies in Ibadan Metropolis, Oyo State; this as a way of ensuring impact on members and the communities of location. Primary data were collected from thirty (30) cooperatives through interview of principal officers using well structured questionnaire while secondary data were from the cooperatives annual reports. The analytical techniques used include descriptive statistics applied to financial aggregates and ratios and regression analysis. The financial aggregates analysed include current assets, current liabilities, cash and account receivable, and owners’ equity. The financial ratios were current ratio, acid test, equity to assets, debt to equity, debt to assets and current debt to equity. Cooperative’s structural and financial elements were hypothesized as determinants of cooperative financial performance. All variables except cooperative size had significant effect on financial performance. But years of operation, and number of loans beneficiaries only had negative effect on performance. The study concluded on appropriate measures needed to improve cooperative financial performance.
Saving and Credit Cooperatives (SACCOs) have been playing a distinct and important role in rural areas of Ethiopia in terms of outreach, volume of operation and the purpose they serve. The performance of rural financial cooperatives in the mobilization of savings and provision of credit has been inadequate. Therefore, greater degrees of efficiency among rural SACCOs would result in greater access to finance, higher profitability and increased financial services to rural people. In this study we apply the Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) method to evaluate the relative efficiency of SACCOs in Tigrai region of Ethiopia. Data were collected from 329 rural SACCOs during the year 2012. The result showed that the extent of technical efficiency varies across geographical location and scale size of the cooperatives. From the total of 329 SACCOs, compared to their respective peers, only 18 (5.5%) were identified as relatively efficient with the maximum efficiency score of one. The remaining SACCOs were found to be relatively inefficient with efficiency score of less than one. The average efficiency was 21.3% which indicates that there is substantial amount of inefficiency among rural SACCOs in the study area. Technical efficiency was high for larger SACCOs. In terms of geographical location, the highest mean efficiency has been observed in southern and western zones of the region with a mean score of 0.276 and 0.259 respectively. The most interesting aspect of this study was that most of the efficient rural SACCOs are the ones that received reward from the regional government for their best performance, during the year 2012.
Cooperatives have been a feature of New Zealand agricultural scene since late 19th century. Although cooperatives did arise in a greater degree in the agricultural sector in New Zealand, evidence show that it has been not too different to that found in other jurisdictions. Using a case study methodology, this study analyses the history and development of cooperative business and explores the establishment and demise of Allied Farmers Limited in New Zealand. Using agency-theoretical perspective and hubris it is argued that Allied Finance Limited’s expansion was of concern from the start and was most likely to cause financial crisis. The evidence supports the view that the managerial overconfidence was the key factors leading to the demise of Allied Farmers Company Limited.
Micro and Small enterprises (henceforth, MSEs) play a key role in economic growth and industrial development of a country. They make vital contributions in improving economic and social sectors of a country through stimulating large scale employment, investment, development of indigenous skill and technology, promotion of entrepreneurship and innovativeness, enhancing exports, and also building an industrial base at different scales. However, Ugandan micro- and small enterprises (MSEs) still perform poorly as a result of a combination of factors ranging from internal to external factors. The paper relies on data collected from selected MSEs for the period of October 2011 to February 2012 in Mbarara municipality. Using a stratified random sampling, a sample of 60 MSEs were surveyed. These included fabrication industry, Milling industry, carpentry and small roadside shops. The paper examines the extent to which the growth of MSEs is associated with environmental constraints. The results reveal that MSEs’ growth potential is negatively affected by limited access to productive resources (finance and business services), by high taxes, lack of market access, erratic and costly electricity, lack of infrastructure, lack of human resources, and competitive practices that were dysfunctionally imitative rather than innovative.
