marketing their milk under the brand "Rhody Fresh." (See Figure 1-D, Livingston 2005)
Lian (2002) recommends promoting the cooperative brand as a trusted alternative to
investor-owned businesses in a globalized world. He points out that "a customer of a
[consumer] co-operative shares in the profits. If the co-operative is successful a larger
profit is distributed to customers. If a profit oriented company is successful, its profit is
distributed to shareholders. If it is foreign-owned, the profits are sent overseas.
Furthermore, the fact that co-operatives fulfill a social mission is not a handicap. It
distinguishes co-operatives from other commercial entities."
Figure 1: Examples of Coop Logos
Cooperation among cooperatives may be more than an attractive option, however. It may
be necessary for coops to survive in an era of globalization. Lian (2002) recommends that
cooperatives build strategic alliances amongst themselves and with private sector
companies to achieve economies of scale and compete successfully. Brazda and
Schediwy (2001), historians writing about the typical life-cycle of cooperative
movements, describe the phase that includes cooperation on market terms: "After the
initial isolated flowering of cooperatives, networks and larger structures have to form in
order to reap bigger economies of scale."
It is important, when thinking of ways for cooperatives to cooperate among themselves,
to guard against the potential dangers of cooperation: namely, detrimental hierarchical
management. Brazda and Schediwy (2001) write, "Mergers and the development of
federative units often tend to favour quasihierarchical institutions." And Davidmann
(1996) emphasizes that "Co-operation has to be direct between co-ops without use of