Consumer Co-operatives and Retail Internationalisation: problems and prospects

Abstract

Purpose – Explores the retail internationalisation activities of consumer co-operatives. Findings – A survey of the available information on these internationalisation activities shows that they have been restricted to a relatively small number of co-operatives and that the ‘failure’ rate has been very high. Some suggestions are made as to why the co-operatives have been unable to convert their early-mover advantages into sustainable retail networks. Research limitations – The restricted nature of the sample means that these exploratory findings are primarily descriptive. Further, in-depth work with a sample of these co-operatives would help us to better understand the reasons for the moves into and out of various international activities. Practical Implications – Expands the literature on retail failure in general and also provides some more depth to the literature on the internationalisation of co-operatives. Originality/ Value – Whilst there have been significant volumes of research into the internationalisation of investor-owned retailers and of producer co-operatives, particularly the ‘new generation’ co-operatives, there has been very little prior work undertaken in this area.