Finland is one of most cooperative countries in the world, with almost 4 million cooperative members out of a total population of 5.4 million. Over 1.9 million of them are members of the Suomen Osuuskauppojen Keskuskunta (SOK) Corporation, also known as the S Group, a union of 22 regional retail and service cooperatives. The S […]
SOK Corporation
The Suomen Osuuskauppojen Keskuskunta (SOK) Corporation, also known as the S Group, is a Finnish network of companies in the retail and service trades. A grouping of 22 regional and local cooperatives, the S Group has over 1.9 million members and 1,697 outlets, including four supermarket chains, service stations, hotels, restaurants and car dealerships, with […]
America’s Electric Cooperatives: Showing the Way to a Sustainable Future?
Martin Lowery believes cooperatives are responsible for what might be greatest engineering feat of the 20th century in the United States: bringing electricity to millions of rural homes after private companies refused to provide the infrastructure to extend power lines into the heart of the country. Lowery is the Executive Vice President for Member and […]
Diversifying Over 50 Years
Wedding catering, school uniform tailoring, expedited freight: just some of the diverse services offered by Koperasi Warga Semen Gresik (KWSG), one of Indonesia’s largest cooperatives. The cooperative’s unique history is closely intertwined with that of the country’s biggest cement producer, PT Semen Gresik (Persero) Tbk, recently renamed as Semen Indonesia, the first state-owned enterprise to […]
Seminary Co-op Bookstore
The Seminary Co-op Bookstore has been independent and member owned since 1961. Members are part-owners of the Co-op. Members not only invest in a local company; they become part of an intellectual community. Over the years, members have included authors, intellectuals, and public figures such as G. E. M. Anscombe, Saul Bellow, S. Chandrasekhar, Friedrich […]
Those who love Mondays, a book of the General Confederation of Scop in France
In 2008, just as the financial crisis was revealing the weaknesses in the capitalist system, the Futurscope National Congress in Poitiers passed a resolution to use communication to modernize the image of the “Scop” in France. A Scop (société cooperative et participative) is a cooperative enterprise in which the employees hold the majority of the […]
Les Scop
Scop endeavour to satisfy the individual and collective training needs of employees by offering technical, managerial and cooperative training programmes. Through employment and activity cooperatives (CAE – Cooperatives d’Activité et d’Emploi), the Scop network actively support and accompany individual entrepreneurs in the pursuit of their initiatives. In addition, the Scop network also promotes the creation […]
Cooperative Speech: The Power of Sound
1974 saw the founding members of Vancouver Cooperative Radio, CFRO-FM shoveling inches of pigeon droppings out of an abandoned building in a marginalized neighborhood. The Canadian Radio-Television and Telecommunications commission had just granted the co-op a license and the group hurried to move into its new home, a long-unused bank. They replaced dust and bird […]
The Bloom Becomes a Flower
In the late 1970s Martha Angélica Quezada died. A 17 year old Nicaraguan, Quezada was killed in the fight against the Samosa dictatorship. In 1979 a group of mothers, widowed in the revolution, formed a cooperative in an attempt to support their families. They named the cooperative in honor of the girl. More than thirty […]
Vancouver Co-operative Radio (Co-op Radio, CFRO, 100.5 FM)
Vancouver Co-operative Radio, CFRO, 100.5FM is a non-commercial, co-operatively-owned, listener-supported, community radio station. Located in the heart of Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside, Co-op Radio is a voice for the voiceless that strives to provide a space for under-represented and marginalized communities. Co-op Radio aims to increase community participation by encouraging examination of the social and political […]