A Co-operative Dilemma. Converting Organizational Form.

Sometimes, as organizations evolve, stakeholders change, or envi- ronments and contexts shift, the original organizational form becomes, or appears to become, less suitable for achieving the objectives of the enterprise. If that happens, the stakeholders may choose to re-evaluate the appropriateness of the existing form and make an adjustment to, or undertake a complete conversion of, the organization’s structure. This book examines these processes from a variety of perspectives. But first, it provides a brief overview of the organizations at the core of the dilemma — co-operatives and mutuals — and a discussion of co-oper- ative identity, which we have used as a foundation for our examination of organizational conversion.

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