The strategic value of cooperatives
cooperatives, if managed properly, could generate large amounts of revenue. Many of the companies listed above are very popular and successful companies. Yet, one can see that the company that is owned by cooperative societies has sales in some cases that are more than double that of the other companies.
Complex organization
Another company of interest is the Rabobank. The Rabobank is headquartered in the Netherlands and is the biggest agricultural bank with operations in over 45 countries worldwide. The Rabobank is proud to report that it emerged from small agricultural cooperative banks that were set up by farmers and horticulturists in the late nineteenth century. Today, the Rabobank is a complex organization made up of 106 local banks in the Netherlands and several subsidiaries and affiliates around the world.
The Rabobank has 8.6 million customers worldwide with 7.4 million in the Netherlands. With a population of about 16 million, nearly half of the population is a customer of the bank. The Rabobank has a membership of 2 million which is 28 per cent of its customer base and close to 13 per cent of the country’s population.
Value of cooperative
The value of the cooperative to market growth and economic stability is seen also in the market size and reach of the Rabobank. Table 2 below shows that the Rabobank compares favourably with some big names in the investor-owned firms.
As could be seen from the table, sales revenue of Rabobank is higher than some popular companies. This shows that cooperatives can help to grow businesses and to increase market share.