This is a new publication on Cooperatives that I found very useful.
Neal
ANNOUNCING THE OCTOBER 1996 PUBLICATION OF
Cooperation Works!
How people are using Cooperative Action
to rebuild communities and revitalize the economy
by E.G. Nadeau and David J. Thompson
• Cooperative Development Services • 608-258-4396
• Thompson Consulting • 916-757-2233
• Lone Oak Press, Ltd. • 507-280-6557
Retail price of Cooperation Works! is $16.95 per copy. Discounts are
available for multiple copy purchases.
Cooperation Works!
Table of Contents
Foreword....................................................................
............................
Acknowledgments.............................................................
.........................
Introduction................................................................
.............................
Part I Cooperative Approaches to Business
Chapter 1. Value-added Agricultural Cooperatives: Revitalizing the Family
Farm ...........
Chapter 2. The Cooperative Behind the Small Business on Main
Street.......................
Chapter 3. Consumer Co-ops: Around the Corner and Across the Country
.................
Chapter 4. Businesses Owned by Their
Employees..............................................
Part II Meeting Human Needs Cooperatively
Chapter 5. Cooperative Housing Brings the Dream Home
....................................
Chapter 6. Senior Co-op Housing: Focusing on Community, Health Care and
Services
Chapter 7. The Consumer Movement Among People with Disabilities
.......................
Chapter 8. Community Development Credit Unions: Citizens Investing in
Their
Communities.................................................................
............
Part III Cooperative Approaches to Community Development
Chapter 9. Giving Communities a Sporting Chance
...........................................
Chapter 10. Providing Power to Rural Communities
...........................................
Chapter 11. Development As If People Mattered
................................................
Chapter 12. Local Governments Leaving Old Rivalries Behind
...............................
Conclusion
............................................................................
................
COOPERATIVE Business Journal Book Review
August 1996
Cooperation Works! explores cooperative success
At last! A practical, easy-to-read book which explores the huge potential
of cooperatives in the 90s.
For years, researchers, undergraduates, instructors, public policy
analysts and co-op leaders have decried the lack of text and quality
analysis on cooperatives. Cooperation Works will help fill that void.
This is the book which many who share an expansive vision of what
cooperatives can be have been waiting for.
By examining examples of cooperatives in 50 real-life
situations--ranging from Bookpeople, an employee owned book publishing and
distributing organization which grew out of the California counter-culture
of the 60s to the Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative, a value-added
farmer cooperative--authors E.G. Nadeau and David Thompson cast a spotlight
on one of the most quiet, current success stories in the American economy.
In so doing, they may have made a significant contribution to expanding the
awareness of the versatility and value of cooperatives in meeting modern day
economic, social and community needs.
Those who work in cooperatives have long known about their
effectiveness in meeting people’s real needs. What has often perplexed and
frustrated many cooperators is why cooperative successes aren’t more widely
known and utilized. The questions are familiar:
Why don’t American farmer schools teach courses in the cooperative
business form?
Why don’t state and federal governments utilize the local ownership
and proven democratic control that cooperatives provide to address needs in
housing, child care and welfare?
Why aren’t labor unions and consumer groups championing worker and
consumer cooperatives as practical ways to empower American workers and
combat ever increasing concentrations of corporate power?
Why don’t Main Street small businesses take a page out of the farmer
co-ops book and utilize co-op models to expand their buying and marketing
power?
And, in a time of huge government deficits and budget cuts, why
don’t more governmental units work together in co-ops to utilize proven ways
to reduce costs and improve coordination?
Cooperation Works doesn’t pretend that co-ops have the answer to
every societal problem. And, because of the broad-ranging scope of this
work, covering over fifty different cooperative examples, the reader is
often left wishing for more in-depth analysis. Yet few who read this fine
new work will be disappointed. Even the most experienced cooperator will
find his/her cooperative knowledge and understanding expanded.
For this reason, and because of its eminent readability, I would
urge cooperatives and co-op associations of all kinds to strongly consider
making Cooperation Works a standard part of their director and employee
training and orientation programs. How many times have you heard (or said)
"Our people just don’t understand the cooperative model. I wish I could
open their eyes to what cooperative really means."
Because Cooperation Works uses great real-life examples and the
words and voices of actual people rather than the dry techno-speak and
graphs of the economist, employers, directors, students and elected
officials can readily relate to and appreciate its message. If this work
gathers the interest and attention it deserves, it may have a lasting
impact. Cooperatives may no longer be such a well kept secret!
Cooperation Works!
can be ordered from:
Cooperative Development Services
30 West Mifflin St., Suite 401
Madison, WI 53703
608-258-4396
Cornelia Flora
North Central Regional Center for Rural Development
317 East Hall
Iowa State University
Ames, IA 50011-1070
phone 515 294 1329
fax 515 294 2303
cflora@iastate.edu
http://www.ag.iastate.edu/centers/rdev/RuralDev.html