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This study analyzes supplier development investment decisions under a triadic setting (two buyers and a common supplier). In a triadic setting, the supplier development investment decision of one buyer can have a spillover effect of the benefits on other buyer. Therefore, it is utmost important for the investing buyer to understand the impact of benefit spillover on other competing buyers'. Therefore, one of the purposes of this study to analyze the supplier development investment decision of buyers under two scenarios. First, under cooperative development structure where both buyers jointly invest in supplier and share equal benefits. Second, non-cooperative investment structure where both buyers individually invest in supplier development and share unequal benefits.

In order to assess the impact of supplier development investment decisions on the profitability of buyers and the common supplier, the authors used game-theoretic approach. The authors design a Stackelberg leader-follower game where the supplier acts as Stackelberg leader and buyers follow the supplier's pricing decision to maximize their profit level. Additionally, both buyers decide either to cooperate or non-cooperate while investing in supplier development.

The results show that the cooperative investment is always an optimal strategy for buyers and supplier. Interestingly, the efficient buyer's share of investment level is lower under non-cooperative investment structure and he is better-off due to its capability of taking advantage from the other buyer's investment. However, the inefficient buyer, on the other hand, is worse-off under non-cooperative investment. Furthermore, comparative analysis between the two shows that initially, the buyer who extracts more profit because of the other buyers' development investment tends to prefer the non-cooperative development investment set up. However, after a certain point, the same buyer is better-off under cooperative development investment through cooperation, and sharing equal benefit of the supplier's development, as the supplier in turn, starts charging a higher wholesale price under non-cooperative investment case.

To the best of authors’ knowledge, extant literature on supplier development has mostly focused on. One supplier-one buyer; thus, the learning spillover effect has almost been unexplored. In real-life, different buyers often purchase from the shared supplier. Therefore, it is important to analyze the spillover of supplier development benefits due to investment of one buyer on other buyer and deriving the condition under which buyers would be incentivized to invest jointly or individually.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationships between relationship commitment, cooperative behavior and alliance performance in agricultural supply chains. By investigating dyadic relationships between companies and their contract farmers (hereafter denoted by C+F), this study aims to investigate how relationship commitment influences cooperative behavior and how such behavior further influences alliance performance in C+F agricultural supply chains in China.

Based on data collected from 202 companies and 462 farmers in China, this study uses the structural equation modeling approach to test the conceptual model and related hypotheses.

For both companies and contract farmers, normative relationship commitment is a necessity for economically and socially cooperative behavior (i.e. specific investment and communication, respectively), while instrumental relationship commitment has no relationship with specific investment. Only socially cooperative behavior (communication) can improve alliance performance, while economically cooperative behavior (specific investment) has no relationship with alliance performance. For companies, instrumental relationship commitment reduces communication, but specific investment increases communication. For farmers, both instrumental relationship commitment and specific investment have no relationship with communication.

This study contributes to the literature on supply chain management by adopting a bilateral perspective and examining relationships among relationship commitment, cooperative behavior and alliance performance in the C+F context. It provides agricultural companies and contract farmers with valuable guidance to use relationship commitment and cooperative behavior to improve alliance performance in agricultural supply chains in China.

The particular characteristics of agri-food cooperatives reduce their ability to access external financial resources. The purpose of this paper is to explore the factors influencing the agri-food cooperatives' trade credit operations by measuring their accounts receivable and comparing the results with agri-food investor-owned firms (IOFs).

The authors apply a partial adjustment model (PAM) estimated using a dynamic panel model with a two-step general method of moments (GMM) estimator to a sample of 11,930 Spanish agri-food cooperatives and IOFs for the period 2011–2018.

The study concludes that cooperatives and IOFs have an accounts receivable target, which they attempt to achieve rapidly. Cooperatives tend to behave as IOFs do, but they present lower adjustment coefficients. This difference seems to be explained by the unique characteristics of cooperatives which set different economic and social goals, not just profit maximization as IOFs. The findings show differences between the financial and commercial purposes of the cooperatives and IOFs as a result of their internal management policies. Larger cooperatives with access to external financial sources, positive cash flows and operational necessities will grant trade credit.

This study gives interesting implications for cooperative managers and policymakers to help them to understand the strategies behind trade credit policies. Previous empirical studies on the agri-food sector are scarce and focus on IOFs without considering the role of trade credit in European cooperatives.

The purpose of this paper is to explore the recent financial trends affecting grain and farm supply cooperatives.

Review of and descriptive analysis of current cooperative finance topics.

In recent years three important trends have become apparent among grain marketing and farm supply cooperatives. These farmer-owned firms have been rapidly investing in infrastructure, reformulating profit distribution and equity strategies, and have pursued consolidation with other cooperatives.

Grain and farm supply cooperatives are changing at a rapid clip to meet the needs of their evolving and growing farmer-owners. New research is needed to help these cooperatives meet these needs, and this paper identifies new areas of research in cooperative finance.

This paper seeks to critically review developments in the literature spanning personnel management, HRM, learning organization and intellectual capital approaches to employee utilization and development. The purpose being to identify the benefits, limitations and lessons for the management of people in the co‐operative and mutual sectors.

The problem of inadequate Personnel or HRM systems in the majority of co‐operatives has been established by the author over a period of seven years, field work with co‐operative organizations including the international co‐operative alliance (ICA), asian confederation of credit unions (ACCU), and the British society for co‐operative studies. Direct interviews and a sample of HRM and Membership Relations audit forms developed as part of the ongoing field research and special project work have been applied to various co‐operative contexts in all the regions of the ICA.

The findings are that co‐operatives generally are lagging behind the private sector in their application of all four approaches. Mostly smaller co‐operatives lack effective basic personnel systems and few of the larger co‐operatives go beyond HRM. This failure to develop clear programs for the utilization and development of their people is a missed opportunity.

The membership base and its roots in a community of shared interests means that, whilst co‐operatives have lessons to learn from all four approaches, they can and must go beyond them if they are to optimize their people‐centered business advantage in the marketplace.

The paper suggests a new strategy for co‐operatives of Co‐operative Social Capital Management to help them compete, whilst retaining their co‐operative difference.

Building on the property rights framework, the purpose of this paper is to frame the cooperative business model in terms of strategic options held either by the board or by members. Options that are analyzed include growth and restructuring, dividend allocation, member entry and exit, and member embedded value options.

Empirical estimates of the options' financial value, as well as sensitivity analyses, are presented for a stylized example using historical data and Monte Carlo option‐pricing methods. Attention is paid to the effect of member age, discount rate and business operation size.

Results suggest that the board's growth options can be substantial, while member options generally have small but nontrivial value. Implications for the stability of membership are drawn.

The financial or economic value of strategic options in agricultural cooperatives can be significant, and decision makers may benefit from accounting for their presence.

Cooperatives play an important role in agribusiness but have undergone significant changes in the past two decades in terms of organizational and financial structure. This paper contributes to an understanding of the value of control and residual rights associated with the Board and members of cooperatives.

The purpose of this paper, based on first-hand data from 255 chairmen of planting cooperatives in Sichuan province, is threefold: to understand their social network heterogeneity; to understand the significance for members of marketing innovation in farmers' cooperatives and to understand the effects of chairmen's social network heterogeneity on cooperative marketing innovation.

The research employs an empirical survey of the chairmen of planting cooperatives in rural Sichuan province. The researchers use the ordinary least squares method to conduct regression on the data and the generalized linear model to process the data and avoid errors in the model setting. In the study, the following two hypotheses are examined: (1) The heterogeneity of chairmen's social networks has positive effects on cooperative marketing innovation; (2) The effects of heterogeneous external and internal social networks on cooperative marketing innovation are different.

The results show that both external and internal social network heterogeneity has positive effects on cooperative marketing innovation, and the effects of internal heterogeneity are greater than that of external heterogeneity.

This paper contributes to improving the income of farmers, the innovation of farmers' cooperatives and the development of agriculture in China. It provides a new way of managing and serving members to enable the long-term sustainable development of farmers' cooperatives.

The purpose of this paper is to examine how various transaction-cost characteristics influence the choice of vertical coordination (VC) structures (e.g. different contract types) and horizontal coordination (HC) structures (e.g. different farmer organization types) to link smallholder farmers efficiently with buyers. It analyzes the relationship between vertical and horizontal structures, and the economic sustainability of different structure combinations.

The paper develops a conceptual framework to predict coordination structures as a function of transaction-cost characteristics, compares predictions for the Malian cereals market to empirical evidence using 15 case studies, and then analyzes structure combinations.

Asymmetric scale between farmers and buyers; uncertainty in production, prices, policy, and contract enforcement; and quality and quantity debasement lead to selections of structures with high levels of control. Vertical and horizontal structures demonstrate a complementary relationship in certain core coordination roles, while exhibiting substitutability in the provision of other coordination activities. The marketing cooperative and marketing contract pairing is the most prevalent combination.

The conceptual framework is useful for explaining the selection of coordination structures, and can be applied in other contexts to strengthen external validity.

The framework facilitates predictions and explanation of both VC and HC structures, with empirical application on a country and value chains receiving little attention in the literature.

This paper explores the causes of political intervention in foreign firms' operations and provides a framework for the development of risk reducing strategies. Specific suggestions for the management of the political environment in host countries are presented. Developing strategically appropriate responses for reducing political risk sustains a firm through periods of uncertain environmental development and helps it maintain its competitive market position.

This paper aims to examine a strategic alliance between a large shipper and a freight forwarder to provide an intermodal service to and from the port of Gothenburg. The supply chain literature discusses various models of supply chain collaboration and integration. When applied to logistics, each has been shown to exhibit different levels of success depending on particular factors.

The methodology is a single in-depth case paper based on action research, interviews and document analysis.

According to this innovative model, a new entity is not set up but an open-book basis is established, long-term contracts with other parties are signed, risks and profits are shared and the shipper makes several investments specific to the service. Thus, the benefits of a joint venture are obtained without needing to establish a new organisation, thereby sacrificing flexibility and independence.

A limitation of this study is that it is based on a single case of best practice; it may be difficult to replicate the high levels of trust in other situations. Nevertheless, the evident success of this “virtual joint venture” suggests that some elements are transferable to other cases, and the model may be refined through additional case analysis.

Results indicate several advantages of this “virtual joint venture” model, including risk sharing, knowledge development, long-term service stability and diversification of activities, which all contribute to facilitating the shift of a large customer from road haulage to intermodal transport. Potential challenges mainly relate to contractual complexity.

This paper identifies an innovative business model for logistics integration that can be used in future in other cases to make modal shift more attractive and successful, which is a key aim of government policy in many countries.