Industry WIKI

A co-operative wholesale society (CWS) is a form of co-operative federation (that is, a co-operative in which all the members are co-operatives), in this case, the members are usually consumers' co-operatives.

Community ownership is a broad term that refers to shared ownership and decision making over local assets, resources, or services, typically for the purpose of ensuring economic, cultural, and social benefits for its users. The forms of community ownership and concepts about what constitutes “ownership” are diverse and depend greatly on context. However, generally in cases of community o

Cooperative federalism is a school of thought in the field of cooperative economics. Historically, its proponents have included J.T.W. Mitchell, Charles Gide, Paul Lambert, and Beatrice Webb (who coined the term in her book The Co-operative Movement in Great Britain).

Demutualization is the process by which a customer-owned mutual organization (mutual) or co-operative changes legal form to a joint stock company. It is sometimes called stocking or privatization. As part of the demutualization process, members of a mutual usually receive a "windfall" payout, in the form of shares in the successor company, a cash payment, or a mixture of both. Mutualizat

A mutual insurance company is an insurance company that is people centric, jointly owned and democratically controlled by its policyholders. It is a form of consumers' co-operative that as of 2013 accounted for 27.3% of the global insurance market helping protect 915 million policy holders globally. From a financial perspective, surpluses that are experienced by the mutual are either ret

A purchasing cooperative is a type of cooperative arrangement, often among businesses or governments, to agree to aggregate demand to get lower prices from selected suppliers. Retailers' cooperatives are a form of purchasing cooperative. Cooperatives are often used by businesses or government agencies to reduce costs of procurement. One such organization is Sourcewell, a Minnesota-based

Social cooperatives exist to provide social services such as the care of children, elderly and disabled people, and the integration of unemployed people into the workforce. The phenomenon is most developed in Italy, but exists in various forms in many countries. In countries such as Sweden and Britain they exist without any special legislation, while elements of the Italian model have be