Croatian co-operatives’ story of revival: Overcoming external obstacles

Scientific paper - Original scientific paper

• Author: Jasmina Božić
• Author: Ivan Šprajc
• Author: Armano Srbljinović
• Author's institution: University of Zagreb; Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; (Department of Sociology)
• Scientific / art field, discipline and subdiscipline: SOCIAL SCIENCES; Sociology

Abstract (english)

While in many European countries co-operative entrepreneurship manages to fulfill its economic and social functions successfully, in Croatia a large majority of almost 1200 registered co-operatives struggle hard to accomplish in demanding market conditions while sustaining their social dimension and few succeed. Only 19% of co-operatives accounted for 96% of overall income earned by Croatian co-operatives in 2015. We critically examine obstacles related to external legal, policy, infrastructural and other conditions that are either insufficient, completely missing or, if existent, adversely affect co-operatives. The obstacles were indicated by co-operatives themselves in a qualitative research project conducted between September 2017 and March 2018. We offer two possible explanations for the existence of the obstacles: one concerning immaturity of the Croatian institutional system, the other related to cronyism pervading the system. We see bottom-up integration of the co-operative sector, based on the principle of co-operation among co-operatives, as the best way of moving forward.

• Keywords (english): Co-operatives; Crony capitalism; Institutional development; Qualitative research; Transitional economies
• Language: english
• Publication type: Scientific paper - Original scientific paper
• Publication status: Published
• Peer review: Peer review - international
• Publication version: Accepted version
• Journal title: Journal of Co-operative Organization and Management
• Numbering: vol. 7, no. 2, 100090
• p-ISSN: 2213-297X
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcom.2019.100090
• URN:NBN: urn:nbn:hr:131:236751
• Publication: 2019-10-26
• Document URL: https://linkinghub.elsevier.com/retrieve/pii/S2213297X19300047
• Type of resource: Text
• Access conditions: Open access; Embargo expiration date: 2021-10-26
• Created on: 2020-01-20 13:57:47