Practices of members' involvement in multi-stakeholder cooperatives

Supervisors: Frédéric Dufays
Faculty: Louvain School of Management
Degree label: Master [120] en sciences de gestion
Abstract: This research focuses on cooperatives and particularly on the involvement of members within these. The cooperative is a form of company the specificity of which is to place the human being at the heart of its project. This concept is a model of social enterprise based on the values of democracy, equality and collaboration. The main mission of a cooperative is to encourage the participation of the various actors, called cooperators, and to promote collaboration throughout the achievement of the project. A physical or moral person (companies, financial sponsors or institutional investors) can become a cooperator by acquiring shares in a cooperative. The distinctive feature of cooperators lies in the fact that they must be involved in the project in a concrete manner. The thesis will first analyse the literature on stakeholder engagement, the characteristics and functioning of cooperatives as well as the motivations of cooperators to become involved in such organisations. This will lead us to discuss more specifically the question of members' involvement in multi-stakeholder cooperatives. In this specific case, the topic of members’ involvement remains even more of a challenge as it involves different categories of cooperators and there is only little information available in this area so far. On top of that, the interest in studying these cooperatives also lies in the fact that they respond to more than a single goal. The second section will cover the empirical research carried out within selected multi-stakeholder cooperatives and the analysis of interviews conducted with their coordinator. The comparative analysis of the organisations and their practices will help us to identify the key elements of involvement mechanisms. Finally, the last section will offer ground for discussion, draw research conclusions and make recommendations to the cooperatives we studied. During the analysis, we have made some recommendation for companies. Firstly, we have found that involvement is not self-sufficient; for a successful achievement, it is essential to take the time to support cooperators in their tasks and to give them accurate and timely information. Transparency and frequent communication with the cooperators are also factors of success. Then we have seen that individuals do not necessarily have the appropriate training and tools needed to understand how a cooperative works or to identify the issues arising from its practices. Thirdly, some cooperatives highlighted the need of having a focused approach; in other words, ensuring a robust structure before setting it up so that it matches perfectly the cooperative's needs. A governance framework must also be put in place to achieve the cooperative's social purpose. Especially in the case of multi-stakeholder cooperatives, it is vital to thoroughly think about how to articulate the different categories of shares as well as the cooperators’ rights and obligations in each of these categories. Also, treating cooperators equally and put them on an equal footing are key. Finally, working groups or brainstorming sessions are an efficient and entertaining solution to involve cooperators into working and debating on particular topics.