Scale, Scope and Survival: A Comparison of Cooperative and Capitalist Modes of Production

• Published in: Review of industrial organization Vol. 47; no. 1; pp. 91 - 118
• Main Authors: Monteiro, Natália Pimenta, Stewart, Geoff
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer 01-08-2015; Springer US; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Business models; Business ownership; Capitalism; Cooperatives; Econometrics; Economics; Economics and Finance; Equal rights; Industrial Organization; Limited liability companies; Microeconomics; Organizational structure; Production cooperatives; Studies; Suppliers; Portugal; P12; J54; Capitalist firms; Firm ownership; Cooperatives
• ISSN: 0889-938X; 1573-7160
• DOI: 10.1007/s11151-015-9464-1

This paper draws on a comprehensive data set from Portugal to investigate the activities, internal characteristics and survival prospects of cooperatives and capitalist enterprises. Consistent with theory, high levels of market concentration and low entry costs were shown to be conducive to cooperatives. Cooperatives were found to be, on average, older and to operate with a larger, more highly educated and more productive labour force than do their capitalist counterparts. Finally, we show that cooperatives have a markedly higher probability of survival than do capitalist enterprises due, in part, to differences in industry of operation and internal characteristics.