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Resistance Is Not Futile: Co-operatives, Demutualization, Agriculture, and Neoliberalism in Australia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  22 July 2021

Greg Patmore Open the ORCID record for Greg Patmore [Opens in a new window] ,
Nikola Balnave  and
Olivera Marjanovic
Greg Patmore*
Affiliation:
Work and Organisational Studies, The University of Sydney Business School, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia
Nikola Balnave
Affiliation:
Macquarie University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Olivera Marjanovic
Affiliation:
University of Technology, Sydney, Sydney, NSW, Australia
*
*Corresponding Author: Greg Patmore; Email: [email protected]
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Abstract

Recognition of co-operatives as a legitimate business model and form of economic participation was significantly challenged by the rise of neo-liberalism in the 1980s with its emphasis on individuals and markets. This fueled an externally and internally driven push to demutualize co-operatives and convert them into Investor Owned Businesses (IOB). While the international trend to demutualize emerged from the end of the Second World War, evidence indicates it accelerated from the late 1980s until the onset of the Global Financial Crisis. Drawing on an ongoing project of historical data collection and visual analysis of Australian co-operatives, this paper explores the Australian experience with demutualization, particularly with regard to agriculture. In line with the international experience, there has been a surge in Australian demutualization since the 1980s. However, while demutualization continues to be a feature of the Australian landscape post-GFC as co-operatives tackle with the changed political and economic environment, the paper also challenges the view that demutualization is inevitable for agricultural co-operatives. Co-operative managers can make strategic choices to avoid demutualization and retain member control. Further, co-operative culture and the persistence of co-operative clusters in particular regions can blunt the push to demutualize.

Keywords

Co-operativesDemutualizationAgricultureNeo-LiberalismAustralia
Type
Research Article
Information
Business and Politics , Volume 23 , Issue 4 , December 2021 , pp. 510 - 528
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of V.K. Aggarwal

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