A cooperative (also co-operative or co-op) is a business organization owned and operated by a group of individuals for their mutual benefit.

[1] A cooperative is defined by the International Cooperative Alliance's Statement on the Cooperative Identity as "an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise".[2] A cooperative may also be defined as a business owned and controlled equally by the people who use its services or by the people who work there. Various aspects regarding cooperative enterprise are the focus of study in the field of cooperative economics. Identity Cooperatives are based on the cooperative values of "self-help, self-responsibility, democracy and equality, equity and solidarity" and the seven cooperative principles: 1. Voluntary and Open Membership 2. Democratic Member Control 3. Member Economic Participation 4. Autonomy and Independence 5. Education, Training and Information 6. Cooperation among Cooperatives 7. Concern for Community

Cooperatives are dedicated to the values of openness, social responsibility and caring for others. Such legal entities have a range of social characteristics. Membership is open, meaning that anyone who satisfies certain non-discriminatory conditions may join. Economic benefits are distributed proportionally to each member's level of participation in the cooperative, for instance by a dividend on sales or purchases, rather than according to capital invested. Cooperatives may be classified as worker, consumer, producer, purchasing or housingcooperatives.[15] They are distinguished from other forms of incorporation in that profit-making or economic stability are balanced by the interests of the community.[14] Co-ops can sometimes be identified on the Internet through the use of the .coop gTLD. Organizations using .coop domain names must adhere to the basic co-op values.

Types of COOPERATIVE Housing cooperative A housing cooperative is a legal mechanism for ownership of housing where residents either own shares (share capital co-op) reflecting their equity in the cooperative's real estate, or have membership and occupancy rights in a not-for-profit cooperative (nonshare capital co-op), and they underwrite their housing through paying subscriptions or rent. Housing cooperatives come in three basic equity structures:

In Market-rate housing cooperatives, members may sell their shares in the cooperative whenever they like for whatever price the market will bear, much like any other residential property. Market-rate co-ops are very common in New York City. Limited equity housing cooperatives, which are often used by affordable housing developers, allow members to own some equity in their home, but limit the sale price of their membership share to that which they paid. Group equity or Zero equity housing cooperatives do not allow members to own equity in their residences and often have rental agreements well below market rates.

Members of a building cooperative (in Britain known as a self-build housing cooperative) pool resources to build housing, normally using a high proportion of their own labor. When the building is finished, each member is the sole owner of a homestead, and the cooperative may be dissolved. This collective effort was at the origin of many of Britain's building societies, which however developed into "permanent" mutual savings and loan organizations, a term which persisted in some of their names (such as the former Leeds Permanent). Nowadays such self-building may be financed using a step-by-step mortgage which is released in stages as the building is completed Utility cooperative

A utility cooperative is a type of consumers' cooperative that is tasked with the delivery of a public utility such as electricity, water or telecommunications services to its members. Profits are either reinvested into infrastructure or distributed to members in the form of "patronage" or "capital credits", which are essentially dividends paid on a member's investment into the cooperative. In the United States, many cooperatives were formed to provide rural electrical and telephone service as part of the New Deal. See Rural Utilities Service. In the case of electricity, cooperatives are generally either generation and transmission (G&T) co-ops that create and send power via the transmission grid or local distribution co-ops that gather electricity from a variety of sources and send it along to homes and businesses.[29] In Tanzania, it has been proven that the cooperative method is helpful in water distribution. When the people are involved with their own water, they care more because the quality of their work has a direct effect on the quality of their water. Agricultural cooperative Agricultural cooperatives or farmers' cooperatives are cooperatives where farmers pool their resources for mutual economic benefit. Agricultural cooperatives are broadly divided into agricultural service cooperatives, which provide various services to their individual farming members, and agricultural production cooperatives, where production resources such as land or machinery are pooled and members farm jointly.[31] Agricultural production cooperatives are relatively rare in the world, and known examples are limited to collective farms in former socialist countries and the kibbutzim in Israel. Agricultural supply cooperatives aggregate purchases, storage, and distribution of farm inputs for their members. By taking advantage of volume discounts and utilizing other economies of scale, supply cooperatives bring down members' costs. Supply cooperatives may provide seeds, fertilizers, chemicals, fuel, and farm machinery. Some supply cooperatives also operate machinery pools that provide mechanical field services (e.g., plowing, harvesting) to their members. Agricultural marketing cooperatives provide the services involved in moving a product from the point of production to the point of consumption. Agricultural marketing includes a series of inter-connected activities involving planning production, growing and harvesting, grading, packing, transport, storage, food processing, distribution and sale. Agricultural marketing cooperatives are often formed to promote specific commodities. Credit unions and cooperative banking Credit unions are cooperative financial institutions that are owned and controlled by their members. Credit unions provide the same financial services as banks but are considered not-for-profit organizations and adhere to cooperative principles. Credit unions originated in mid-19th century Germany through the efforts of pioneers Franz Hermann SchulzeDelitzsch and Friedrich Wilhelm Raiffeisen. The concept of financial cooperatives crossed the Atlantic at the turn of the 20th century, when the caisse populaire movement was started by Alphonse Desjardins in Quebec, Canada. In 1900, from his home in Lvis, he opened North America's first credit union, marking the beginning of the Mouvement Desjardins.[32] Eight years later, Desjardins provided guidance for the first credit union in the United States,[33]where there are now about 7,950 active status federally insured credit unions, with almost 90 million members and more than $679 billion on deposit.[34] While they have not taken root so deeply as in Ireland, credit unions are also established in the UK. The largest are work-based, but many are now offering services in the wider community. The Association of British Credit Unions Ltd (ABCUL) represents the majority of British Credit Unions. British Building Societies developed into general-purpose savings & banking institutions with "one member, one vote" ownership and can be seen as a form of financial cooperative (although nine 'de-mutualised' into conventionally owned banks in the 1980s & 1990s). The UK Cooperative Group includes both an insurance provider CIS and the Co-operative Bank, both noted for promoting ethical investment.

Other important European banking cooperatives include the Crdit Agricole in France, Migros and Coop Bank in Switzerland and the Raiffeisensystem in many Central and Eastern European countries. The Netherlands, Spain, Italy and various European countries also have strong cooperative banks. They play an important part in mortgage credit and professional (i.e. farming) credit. Cooperative banking networks, which were nationalized in Eastern Europe, work now as real cooperative institutions. A remarkable development has taken place in Poland, where the SKOK (Spldzielcze Kasy OszczednosciowoKredytowe) network has grown to serve over 1 million members via 13,000 branches, and is larger than the countrys largest conventional bank. In Scandinavia, there is a clear distinction between mutual savings banks (Sparbank) and true credit unions (Andelsbank). The oldest cooperative banks in Europe, based on the ideas of Friedrich Raiffeisen, are joined together in the 'Urgenossen'.

Federal or secondary cooperatives In some cases, cooperative societies find it advantageous to form cooperative federations in which all of the members are themselves cooperatives. Historically, these have predominantly come in the form of cooperative wholesale societies, and cooperative unions.[35] Cooperative federations are a means through which cooperative societies can fulfill the sixth Rochdale Principle, cooperation among cooperatives, with the ICA noting that "Cooperatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the cooperative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures."[36]

Cooperative wholesale society According to cooperative economist Charles Gide, the aim of a cooperative wholesale society is to arrange bulk purchases, and, if possible, organize production.[35] The best historical example of this was the English CWS and the Scottish CWS, which were the forerunners to the modern Co-operative Group. Cooperative Union A second common form of cooperative federation is a cooperative union, whose objective (according to Gide) is to develop the spirit of solidarity among societies and... in a word, to exercise the functions of a government whose authority, it is needless to say, is purely moral.[35] Co-operatives UK and the International Cooperative Alliance are examples of such arrangements.

Cooperative party In some countries with a strong cooperative sector, such as the UK, cooperatives may find it advantageous to form a parliamentary political party to represent their interests. The British Cooperative and the Canadian Cooperative Commonwealth Federation are prime examples of such arrangements.[citation needed] The British cooperative movement formed the Cooperative Party in the early 20th century to represent members of consumers' cooperatives in Parliament. The Cooperative Party now has a permanent electoral pact with the Labor Party, and has 29 members of parliament who were elected at the 2005 general election as Labor Cooperative MPs. UK

cooperatives retain a significant market share in food retail, insurance, banking, funeral services, and the travel industry in many parts of the country.

Cooperative learning or student- centered instruction is not a new concept. It has been utilized in nearly all academic settings and grade levels for the past decade. This group approach to learning promotes improved academic achievement, better attendance, higher motivation, and an increased interest for the subject and classmates. Industry specialists have deemed the ability to work well with others one of the most important skills necessary for success. Research and studies have proven its effectiveness; however the process is not without its critics. Students often resist the responsibility for learning that is placed upon their shoulders. They may resent the active role that they are expected to take on. Personality conflicts within the group may also contribute to a general feeling of malcontent. It is the role of the instructor to initially guide the groups, and then monitor their progress in order to ensure maximum learning. The cooperative approach to learning is not intended to replace direct instruction from the teacher. It should be used to complement the direct instruction by affording the students the opportunity to respond to open-ended questions, role-play, and brainstorm. When several students tackle the same problem, they may use a variety of methods. Watching someone arrive at a solution in a differing manner is beneficial as a learner. When students explain the process that they used to arrive at a solution, they not only teach the other members of the group, but they reinforce their own knowledge. Studies have proven that the best way to retain information is to teach it to others. Not only is the direct instruction received, but it is practiced, processed and further understood. Students often question the concept of being forced to work with others to achieve a goal that they feel they could easily achieve alone. Those who are academically gifted or are extremely shy are difficult to convince. The facts however state that most employers require team work to resolve issues. Many occupations revolve their practices around working together. If a student has never been guided through this method, he/she may fall short of being competent enough to do the job well. Intelligence is simply not enough in real world occupations. There are a limited number of university courses that solely instruct students on the etiquette of working cooperatively. It is necessary therefore, to teach these skills within the framework of all content areas. High achieving and shy students will also find that their grades may improve by being involved in a cooperative process. There are many road blocks that may occur throughout the journey to cooperative learning. Not all students take their responsibilities seriously enough. Many feel that their slack will be picked up by the others in the group. Some students may be too strong of leaders and stifle the contributions of the other members of the team. Conflict is a natural by-product of cooperation. When students are asked to work together, it is with the intent that they will each provide a differing view and /or opinion. When differing opinions are joined together to create one product, conflict is sure to arise. Conflict can be a very healthy springboard to learning. When students dialogue and debate their opinions they might reinforce their ideas or dismiss them. The ability to listen and be flexible to new views is absolutely essential to the success of a group. Assigning roles may also help to ease the imbalance of effort. The students who dont contribute enough effort should first be encouraged by their groups. If this proves unsuccessful, the instructor should step in and mediate. It is absolutely unfair to punish a group for the ineffectiveness of one member. Students should do everything possible to remain a cooperative and cohesive unit, but if all attempts fail they should be allowed a chance to rebuild a new unit. It should also never be the responsibility of the strongest member of the team to carry the others. The instructor cannot assume that all group conflicts should be resolved alone. Classroom modeling of effective group work and role-playing of conflict situations should be directed by the instructor. Many years of research and numerous studies cannot be denied. Cooperative learning is an effective method for understanding and retaining information. Industry experts cannot be ignored when they state that being able to work effectively in a team is an imperative skill. Cooperative learning is not a replacement for the classroom teacher.

Example Essays

1. The World is changing. Any time, any day, we are testimonies of the global crisis and its effects. This global phenomenon has caused people to be more and more selective; therefore the competition inside each market is higher than ever. Companies need to diversify themselves in order to face the crisis and win over their competitors. One of the instruments they might use is communication. The aim of this essay is to demonstrate that an effective communication and awareness of discourse can contribute to the success of a company, both in terms of sales and in terms of internal relationship with its employees. After observing some examples of bad use of discourse and its effects, I will identify the positive sides of the elements of discourse applied to business, in order to reach the conclusion that a targeted and studied communication can help organizations and individuals to be successful. Rhetoric and tropes are a part of our everyday interactions. We use them to emphasize what we say or write or simply to express our thoughts in a way that is visible and easily understood...

2. When some people join hands to solve some common difficulty, they are said to be working in co-operation. It may be defined as that form of organization in which some people combine for some common economic purpose. Co-Operative associations are formed voluntarily. A co-operative society works on some fundamental principles. First, members join it of their own sweet will. Secondly, all the members are treated as equals. Thirdly, cooperative societies work according to a democratic constitution. Fourthly, they are meant to bring members closer to each other. For these reasons, such societies are started in small localities so that all the members of a particular locality may know each other well. Lastly, co-operation teaches economy. The scope of co-operation has become very wide in modern times. We find co-operative societies for nearly every Agricultural Credit Societies. They help in financing the agriculturist. Marketing Co-operative Societies help the farmers in disposing off their crops in the Mandies. Tubewells have been constructed by irrigation co-operatives. In cities and industrial towns, we have housing co-operatives, in handloom and khadi industry, the weavers' cooperatives are helping their members. Recently, a new type of co-operative society, known as the multipurpose co-operative society, has been started to re-organize the co-operative movement in India. As the name suggests, such co-operatives cater to more than one need of their members. The advantages of co-operation are numerous. It eliminates the middle man. In this way it helps the farmers in getting credit at a low rate of interest. Moreover, the members work very economically as they know that the gain of the society will be their own gain. Apart from this, co-operation proves morally advantageous. Members have to be very honest and of high character. Dishonest persons, gamblers, drunkards, etc., are not allowed to be the members of a co-operative. So the members try keep themselves morally high. Besides this, co-operation has many educational and social advantages also. Thus, its advantages for a poor and backward country like India cannot be over-emphasized. In spite of so many advantages, Co-operation has not made much headway in India. It has always faced difficulties. The illiteracy of the members is one of them. They fail to understand its basic principles. They do not take as much interest in the working of the societies as educated members. Not much attention has been paid towards the non-credit co-operative societies. This has left a large number of people out of the scope of cooperation. It cannot be successful without the active and voluntary work of the members. But in our country cooperation is governed by the Government. Besides, no proper and strict check has been kept on the accounts of co-operatives. This and many other drawbacks have been responsible for the slow growth of the movement. Some suggestions may now be made for the rapid progress of the co-operative movement. In the first place, credit should be advanced only for productive purpose. Strict check should be kept, so that credit facilities are not misused for any other purpose except that for which the credit has been taken. Members should be educated so that they may understand the basic principles of co-operation. Multipurpose co-operatives should replace single purpose societies. This will help in promoting the movement.

Keeping in view the vast scope of co-operation and favorable conditions available in our country for it, every effort should be made to make the movement a success.

COOP
A Co-operative is a group of people who have voluntarily come together with a common interest such as starting a business. These businesses provide them with products and services at the lowest prices possible. This is done through pooling the resources of the members together. Co-operatives are controlled through democratic control. Each member has one vote only. No matter what their standing in the business is, rich or poor, each person gets only one vote. This means, through their involvement in the Co-op business, they become owners/members of the business. Being an owner/member, means that because they invest capital, and help to make decisions about the control of the business, they become owners of the business as well as members. There are no restrictions as to who can be a Co-operative member, the members just have to be willing to assume some monetary responsibility for the operation of the business in which they are investing. Everyone who belongs to the Cooperative is the owner. They all share the responsibility for its survival. People, who invest in the Co-operative, must also shop there or use the services they provide in order to make it to work. The members invest money in the Co-operatives business and stays within in the community. This helps to stimulate the economy, by producing jobs and providing a service. Some of the businesses that Co-operatives are involved in are retail grocery stores, funeral homes, and banking and credit institutions and insurance. The Co-operative principles are the guidelines by which Co-operatives put their values into practice. It is the economic philosophy they live by which they operate. During my research, I found a list of seven principles which are to do with the economic philosophy. These principles are 1) voluntary and open membership, 2) democratic member control, 3) member economic participation, 4) autonomy and independence, 5) education, training and information, 6) co-operation among Cooperatives, and 7) concern for community. The first principle of Co-operatives is voluntary and open membership. Co-operatives are voluntary organizations. No one is forced to join. People join when they want to, and can leave when there is a change in their circumstances. People come together because they wish to have an easier and less expensive way of buying products and services. People who want to become members equally share costs with other people through working together, and combining their interests join together to form this Co-operative. An open membership means that Co-operatives are open to all people to join, it does not discriminate whether you have a racial or religious background, or your gender. This is an important part of the Co-operative economic philosophy. The fact that it is open to everyone, means that it is better able to work. Different people bring different experiences and lifestyles to the Co-operative. Having an open membership can help make this happen. A variety of people are welcome to join and contribute different ideas to their Co-operative. Different ideas keep a company alive and up with the times. The second principle of Co-operatives is democratic member control. This means that what happens with the Cooperative, is controlled by its members, with each member getting one vote. This is a democratic way of doing things. There is a board, to which people are democratically elected to serve for a certain time frame. These people are the members representatives. These elected representatives are accountable to the membership for any decisions that are made by them. Not one person can make a decision all by themselves which will affect the whole business. All of the people who are members/owners, have control over the business, if not directly, then through their democratically elected representatives, whom they nominate and then vote into the position. The third principle of the Co-operative economic philosophy is member economic participation. The money held in the Co-operative is contributed too equally by all the members. The members have a say in how it is used. Each member of the Co-operative, contributes the same amount as any other member. People with a lot of money, do not get any more control than those with less money than them. Everyone is equal. The amount that is paid into the Co-operative varies depending on where the Co-operative is, and how it was set up. The fourth principle of the economic philosophy is autonomy and independence. Co-operatives are all independent. They control their own future. They do not depend on a main company to make all their decisions for them. Their elected representatives make choices that will affect the Co-operative, not some large business controlling them. Sobeys are an example of this where the stockholders not the local memberships have a voice in the operation. If the main part of Sobeys were to go out of business, all their stores would also go out of business, since they all depend on the parent company to survive. The Co-ops are individual, each separate from the others.

The fifth economic philosophy principle is education, training and information. Members, elected representatives and employees are provided with education, training and information on Co-operatives and how they work. When people are better educated about the Co-operative movement, they understand the meaning behind Co-operatives. This education, training and information, provides the people dealing with the Co-operative with the information needed to make their Cooperative a better business through their involvement. By knowing about the Co-operative to which they belong, they are better able to make decisions on the direction the business will go to be competitive. It is also very important to educate young people on the importance of Co-operatives in society. Most young people today, dont know much about, or understand Co-operatives. Young people are the future, they must be educated on Cooperatives in order for them to become involved, and make the Co-operative successful in the years to come. They have to educate people about what a co-op is really all about. When people dont understand something, they are sometimes scared of it; this could possibly keep people from shopping. There has to be more of an effort to educate young people on Co-operatives. Most of my friends dont know anything about them. I grew up my whole life with the Co-op that is why I understand it. In order for the co-ops to survive, more young people need to be involved and understand the business. Ways youth can get involved are to hold more co-op camps, so more young people of co-op members can get the experience. I think that learning about Co-operatives should be made more of an effort to become part of the classroom curriculum. I also think there should be more junior board members, to give more experience of Co-ops to the young people. The sixth economic philosophy principle is co-operation among Co-operatives. Working together with other Co-operatives will make the individual Co-operatives stronger. Working together gives them strength in numbers. A Co-operative all by itself, is all alone with the other big companies. When the Co-operative joins with others, they have the strength of their combined numbers to help them compete with the other, larger businesses. The seventh economic philosophy principle is concern for community. Co-operatives work toward development of their communities on the economic front. Co-operatives have a major impact on the communities they are in, especially in smaller areas. Co-operatives guarantee competitive prices, since they compete with the other businesses, and bring the prices down. Co-operatives are concerned with community interests, not the interests of individual people. In order to survive in the future, Co-operatives are going to have to be more competitive with larger stores, and also get the youth more involved. The Co-op stores cant be afraid to advertise. Some people in the Co-operative movement believe that advertising might get the other larger stores upset. They feel right now that they are being left alone because Sobeys has the other big stores to deal with, and if Co-op threatens them, people feel they might come after the Co-op as well. Co-ops dont have as much money to put into marketing as the big stores do to compete. I think co-ops need to find other ways to advertise and make them stand out. To better compete with the big business, the Co-ops have to learn to think on the wider more competitive scale. They cant be thinking only in the near future, they have to plan ahead, and make decisions for the future. Co-ops have to begin thinking differently. They have to expand, and become bigger. The larger they become, the more buying power that would give them, and the more competitive they can be in the marketplace. The Co-op cant continue to think of itself as the little guy, who, if he keeps quiet, the big bully will leave him alone. This hardly ever happens. The bully takes care of its competitors, and then comes after those who are smaller than they, and devours them. If the Co-ops want to keep from being eaten up by the monster big stores, it has to be just as competitive. The Co-op has to go after getting more, new customers, by spreading the word to the people of the community that the Co-op is a good competitive place to shop, where their money will not go to waste. The Co-op has to work toward getting new blood into the business from shoppers to Board members, to keep it young and competitive. The larger businesses know what it is they have to do to be competitive. It is working for them. The Co-op should use some form of their strategy, and use it to apply to their business. The exact thing they do, probably wouldnt work, because its two separate businesses, two ideas of operations, but something similar could be adopted. Being competitive in todays market is very important. People are no longer loyal to companies because of sentimental value, just look at Eatons. People today are monitoring their dollars and cents. They dont frequent a business just because their parents went to the place to shop. They go where the cheapest, most competitive prices can be found. The larger a business is, the more competitive it is in the marketplace. The businesses, which are more competitive, have greater buying power. More buying power means they can buy more products at one time. Buying more products at one time means they can probably lower their prices. Co-operatives cant be afraid to advertise. They have to know that in order to be more competitive they have to be ambitious, and move forward to the future, wherever that might take them.