How do the agrarian cooperatives answer to the economic crisis. The case of the Andalusian cooperative olive-oil

Abstract

Due to the current environment, characterized by the economic crisis, the cooperative managerial model it presents itself as an option with success guarantees, to face the situation and power to compete on the market. The purpose of this paper is to verify of what form the Andalusian agrarian cooperatives are supported in this critical stage. We try to identify what factors, what resources allow the cooperative to be able to create certain capacities and maintain its competitiveness on the market in crisis. To obtain this purpose, the paper offers a qualitative vision of the effect of the crisis on the olive oil cooperatives in Andalusia based on the experience and the knowledge of the persons in charge of the different cooperatives. In the paper, we analyses in depth different aspects, fundamentally the characteristics, which for their own nature the cooperative has and the measurements that they have adopted to face to the current economic crisis.