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- Title
Designing Organizations for a Globalized World: Calavo's Transition from Cooperative to Corporation.
- Authors
Stanford, Lois; Hogeland, Julie A.
- Abstract
The article presents a study which examines reasons for the response of the avocado marketing cooperative, Calavo to the challenges of global marketing by demutualzation or conversion to a for-profit firm. It scrutinizes the Calavo demutualization to identify what factors made conversion seem inevitable. Calavo's conversion from a producer cooperative to a for-profit firm can only be understood by examining the organization's evolution over time. During the 1930s, Calavo represented more than 95 percent of California avocado growers. As growers with other varieties entered production, Calavo was never quite able to restore its prior prominence. The cooperative structure restricts nonmember business which exacerbated Calavo's drive for growth. When public debate erupted over possible pest contamination from imported Mexican avocados, Calavo was neutral because free trade gave the cooperative the potential for greater volume. These actions represented a gradual disengagement from the geographic or territorial concerns that generally bind agricultural cooperatives to their members. Calavo's loyalty was to the brand, no longer to the member producer.
- Subjects
MARKETING cooperatives; DEMUTUALIZATION; CORPORATE profits; GOING public (Securities); AVOCADO; GLOBALIZATION
- Publication
American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 2004, Vol 86, Issue 5, p1269
- ISSN
0002-9092
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.0002-9092.2004.00676.x