Did you know that almost a third of cooperatives in Germany were recently founded?
Since the turn of the millennium, more than 2,400 new cooperatives have been founded, so that today almost 8,000 companies exist in Germany in the legal form of cooperatives. Nevertheless, the total number of cooperatives has almost halved since 1970, while at the same time the number of memberships has almost doubled. This overall decline in the number of companies despite the many new start-ups is by no means due to insolvencies - on the contrary, the cooperatives are rightly regarded as particularly insolvency-proof. Mergers in the credit cooperative sector in particular have often led to comparatively large cooperative companies. Nevertheless, as in the entire cooperative sector, regional roots and proximity to members and customers continue to be part of the brand.
Results of the study
The new foundations since the turn of the millennium strengthen the cooperative sector. Interestingly, by far the majority of cooperative founders chose this legal form to occupy new business models and areas. The economic sectors traditionally occupied by cooperatives, such as the banking industry, agriculture, trade, crafts and housing, play only a minor role in the establishment of new companies. Most new foundations can be found in the energy cooperatives, but also medical and social cooperatives as well as other community-oriented cooperatives are entering new cooperative business areas.
In 2014, this boom in new cooperatives was the occasion for a study on the potentials and obstacles to entrepreneurial activity in the legal form of a cooperative, which was carried out by ISS researchers Johannes Blome Drees, Philipp Degens and Clemens Schimmele together with employees of the management consultancy Kienbaum. Among other things, it had to be examined whether the amendment to the cooperative law implemented in 2006 actually led to the establishment of new cooperatives. The study showed that the new legislation does not provide an appropriate legal framework for all cooperative projects. As a result, the Cooperatives Act was further amended.
Why are there so many new companies?
The hallmark of many new foundations is often a very high level of civil society commitment on the part of the members in order to achieve the goals of their joint project. Cooperatives are valued for their needs-economic orientation - they do not produce for an anonymous market, but are oriented towards the needs of their members - as well as personal democracy. In addition, there is the identity of the owners with the customers, suppliers or, in the case of productive cooperatives, with the employees. Thus cooperatives correspond in a central aspect to what today characterizes the change of the consumer role under terms such as prosuming, collaborative consumption or co-production.Proven examples of these phenomena can be found in the tradition of consumer or producer-consumer cooperatives; new forms such as solidary agriculture or special housing projects are being added, in some cases with opportunities for working together. Digital platforms in cooperative hands could ensure that the revenues of the platform operators benefit the users. In contrast to the large platforms of sharing (Uber or Airbnb) that have become established in recent years, the profits of cooperative companies remain in the cooperative company or are distributed to the members and thus to the users.
Did you know that …?
On the website of the Institute of Sociology and Social Psychology (ISS) researchers report regularly on their latest results.