Jae Myong Koh

Cooperative Firms and the Sustainable Development Goals

Pursuing Decent Work and Reducing Inequality

• Broschiertes Buch

Produktbeschreibung

With growing economic inequality and threats to the sustainability of human societies, Koh argues that cooperatives can play an important role in promoting decent work and reducing economic inequality in the 21st century, and thus urges policy makers to reignite policy discussions on cooperatives.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Routledge
• Seitenzahl: 202
• Erscheinungstermin: 29. August 2025
• Englisch
• Abmessung: 234mm x 156mm x 11mm
• Gewicht: 316g
• ISBN-13: 9781032601021
• ISBN-10: 1032601027
• Artikelnr.: 74979284

Autorenporträt

Jae Myong KOH is Dean of Education at Korea National Diplomatic Academy. Previously, he served as Vice-chair of the Development Assistance Committee, and Co-chair of the Community of Practice on Private Finance for Sustainable Development at the OECD. He is the author of Green Infrastructure Financing (Palgrave Macmillan, 2018).

Inhaltsangabe

Contents
Introduction
The approach of the book
The structure of the book
Literature survey
Part I. What is a cooperative?
1. A cooperative is a firm
The most important identifying aspects of a cooperative
The five characteristics of cooperatives based on the ICA principles
Conclusion
2. The seven strengths of cooperatives
The seven strengths of cooperatives
Two strengths of conventional companies
The competition between cooperatives and conventional companies
Skepticism about cooperatives
Conclusion
3. The six types of cooperatives
The criteria for classifying cooperatives
The classification of cooperatives
A supplementary classification of cooperatives based on their strength
Successes and limitations of cooperatives
Conclusion
Part II. Why cooperatives in the 21st century?
4. Widening inequality and the importance of decent work
The negative impacts of inequality on human society
The need for government intervention in addressing inequality
Causes of outcome inequality deriving from labor income issues
Countermeasures to the causes of outcome inequality deriving from labor
income issues
Labor market policies to support worker cooperatives
Conclusion
5. The resilience of cooperatives in time of crises
Crises aggravate inequality
Cooperatives, resilience and 'global crises'
Cooperatives, resilience and 'local crises'
Conclusion
6. The role of cooperatives in supporting ageing societies
Population ageing and threats to fiscal sustainability
Countermeasures to ensure fiscal sustainability
Cooperatives and the expansion of the tax base
Cooperatives and the promotion of healthy ageing
Conclusion
7. An overview of cooperatives' contributions to the SDGs
Cooperatives' significant contributions to the SDGs
The history of policy discussions on the cooperative movement
Progress in mainstreaming cooperatives in UN policy discussions
Conclusion
Part III. Scaling up the cooperative movement
8. Promoting cooperatives through decentralized public support mechanisms
The benefits of decentralized public support mechanisms
Benefits of cooperatives for local communities
The 'structures' of decentralized public support mechanisms for
cooperatives
The 'contents' of decentralized public support mechanisms for cooperatives
The significant contribution of cooperatives to local governance
Conclusion
9. Digitalizing cooperatives
Impacts of digitalization on the market economy
The digitalization of cooperatives
Prototype business models
Challenges
Conclusion
10. The symbiotic potential between cooperatives and developing countries
Developing countries and job creation in labor-intensive sector
Developing countries and 'effective' decentralized public supporting
mechanisms for cooperatives
Cooperatives and migrant workers in developed countries
Promoting cooperatives with Official Development Aid
Conclusion
The Way Forward

---

Contents

Introduction

The approach of the book

The structure of the book

Literature survey

Part I. What is a cooperative?

1. A cooperative is a firm

The most important identifying aspects of a cooperative

The five characteristics of cooperatives based on the ICA principles

Conclusion

2. The seven strengths of cooperatives

The seven strengths of cooperatives

Two strengths of conventional companies

The competition between cooperatives and conventional companies

Skepticism about cooperatives

Conclusion

3. The six types of cooperatives

The criteria for classifying cooperatives

The classification of cooperatives

A supplementary classification of cooperatives based on their strength

Successes and limitations of cooperatives

Conclusion

Part II. Why cooperatives in the 21^st century?

4. Widening inequality and the importance of decent work

The negative impacts of inequality on human society

The need for government intervention in addressing inequality

Causes of outcome inequality deriving from labor income issues

Countermeasures to the causes of outcome inequality deriving from labor income issues

Labor market policies to support worker cooperatives

Conclusion

5. The resilience of cooperatives in time of crises

Crises aggravate inequality

Cooperatives, resilience and 'global crises'

Cooperatives, resilience and 'local crises'

Conclusion

6. The role of cooperatives in supporting ageing societies

Population ageing and threats to fiscal sustainability

Countermeasures to ensure fiscal sustainability

Cooperatives and the expansion of the tax base

Cooperatives and the promotion of healthy ageing

Conclusion

7. An overview of cooperatives' contributions to the SDGs

Cooperatives' significant contributions to the SDGs

The history of policy discussions on the cooperative movement

Progress in mainstreaming cooperatives in UN policy discussions

Conclusion





Part III. Scaling up the cooperative movement

8. Promoting cooperatives through decentralized public support mechanisms

The benefits of decentralized public support mechanisms

Benefits of cooperatives for local communities

The 'structures' of decentralized public support mechanisms for cooperatives

The 'contents' of decentralized public support mechanisms for cooperatives

The significant contribution of cooperatives to local governance

Conclusion

9. Digitalizing cooperatives

Impacts of digitalization on the market economy

The digitalization of cooperatives

Prototype business models

Challenges

Conclusion

10. The symbiotic potential between cooperatives and developing countries

Developing countries and job creation in labor-intensive sector

Developing countries and 'effective' decentralized public supporting mechanisms for cooperatives

Cooperatives and migrant workers in developed countries

Promoting cooperatives with Official Development Aid

Conclusion

The Way Forward