Rural Supply and Marketing Cooperatives in China: Historical Development, Problems, and Reform
The historical development and performance of rural supply and marketing cooperatives (SMCs) in China are examined and linked to various reform periods. SMCs suffered a loss of focus on members as well as member control during several periods of reform and experienced declining financial performance during the most recent reform period. A number of factors related to this decline are presented, including ineffective reforms, lack of accountability and transparency, limited focus on member needs, a negative image for cooperatives, and poor understanding of contemporary cooperative management and governance practices.
New model rural cooperatives in Gansu: a case study
Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to examine the development of new model farmer cooperatives set up with Aid agency assistance in Shandan County, Gansu Province, China, focusing on enterprise management and training, and the monitoring and evaluation issues and outcomes.Design/methodology/approach – The paper is a case study of two projects that integrated participatory monitoring and evaluation (PM&E) methodology into both field practice and institutional development. The project evaluation data were collected from semi‐structured interviews, observation and secondary sources.Findings – The cooperatives increased community income through collectively improving members' production and marketing capabilities. As well as economic benefits, the Shandan cooperatives show improvements in social collaboration that include enhanced inter‐ and intra‐family relationships, community harmony and raised status for women.Research limitations/implications – The cooperatives have only operated since the new co‐op ...
Industrial Relations in 1988
Undoubtedly, the election of the Hawke Labor Government in 1983 marked a turning point in Australian industrial relations. To a large extent industrial turbulence receded, helped along by global econ omic instability and the influence ofthe Prices and Incomes Accord between the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Council of Trade Union (ACTU). Arguably, the apparent success of the Accord owed something to a widespread concern within unions that the election of a Liberal-National Party government at the federal level would have resulted in a major pro gram of economic regulation, especially in relation to the institutions ofthe labour market. During 1988, despite an increasingly buoyant economy, the continuing influence of these economic and political conditions ensured that the level of industrial disputation remained subdued by historical stan dards, though those opposed to the nascent corporate state or centralised wage fixing may have been heartened by signs that wage restraint was fraying at the...