The Russian top-down organised co-operatives – reasons behind the failure

Abstract

Studies show that the co-operatives that have been established by governmental officials in Russia have not been successful. This study seeks to explore whether the government decision makers are badly informed about the conditions for running co-operative enterprises. The study is based on surveys within Kurgan region with agricultural producers who are not co-operative members, members of the co-operatives at the formation stage, the same members at a later point in time and a sample of government officials. The findings indicate that the government officials have poor knowledge about the socio-psychological conditions among agricultural producers.