Cooperative Firms and the Sustainable Development Goals

Jae Myong KOH is Dean of Education at Korea National Diplomatic Academy. Previously, he served as Vice-chair of the Development Assistance Committee, and Co-chair of the Community of Practice on Private Finance for Sustainable Development at the OECD. He is the author of Green Infrastructure Financing (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).

Contents

Introduction

The approach of the book

The structure of the book

Literature survey

Part I. What is a cooperative?

1. A cooperative is a firm

The most important identifying aspects of a cooperative

The five characteristics of cooperatives based on the ICA principles

Conclusion

2. The seven strengths of cooperatives

The seven strengths of cooperatives

Two strengths of conventional companies

The competition between cooperatives and conventional companies

Skepticism about cooperatives

Conclusion

3. The six types of cooperatives

The criteria for classifying cooperatives

The classification of cooperatives

A supplementary classification of cooperatives based on their strength

Successes and limitations of cooperatives

Conclusion

Part II. Why cooperatives in the 21st century?

4. Widening inequality and the importance of decent work

The negative impacts of inequality on human society

The need for government intervention in addressing inequality

Causes of outcome inequality deriving from labor income issues

Countermeasures to the causes of outcome inequality deriving from labor income issues

Labor market policies to support worker cooperatives

Conclusion

5. The resilience of cooperatives in time of crises

Crises aggravate inequality

Cooperatives, resilience and ‘global crises’

Cooperatives, resilience and ‘local crises’

Conclusion

6. The role of cooperatives in supporting ageing societies

Population ageing and threats to fiscal sustainability

Countermeasures to ensure fiscal sustainability

Cooperatives and the expansion of the tax base

Cooperatives and the promotion of healthy ageing

Conclusion

7. An overview of cooperatives’ contributions to the SDGs

Cooperatives’ significant contributions to the SDGs

The history of policy discussions on the cooperative movement

Progress in mainstreaming cooperatives in UN policy discussions

Conclusion

Part III. Scaling up the cooperative movement

8. Promoting cooperatives through decentralized public support mechanisms

The benefits of decentralized public support mechanisms

Benefits of cooperatives for local communities

The ‘structures’ of decentralized public support mechanisms for cooperatives

The ‘contents’ of decentralized public support mechanisms for cooperatives

The significant contribution of cooperatives to local governance

Conclusion

9. Digitalizing cooperatives

Impacts of digitalization on the market economy

The digitalization of cooperatives

Prototype business models

Challenges

Conclusion

10. The symbiotic potential between cooperatives and developing countries

Developing countries and job creation in labor-intensive sector

Developing countries and ‘effective’ decentralized public supporting mechanisms for cooperatives

Cooperatives and migrant workers in developed countries

Promoting cooperatives with Official Development Aid

Conclusion

The Way Forward