What is a Cooperative and what is the secret of its success?

Hello!Do you know what a Cooperative is? How many types of Cooperatives are there? Why are they created? What is the secret of your success or failure?Throughout this article I will try to answer all these questions in the simplest and most objective way I know how, I hope you find it interesting.

What is a Cooperative?

A Cooperative is a company formed by a group of people under a voluntary membership and withdrawal regime that any member can use.

In each Cooperative Society, statutes are established that all members must comply with; they must be subject to the laws of the regional governments and, where appropriate, depending on the scope of application of the Cooperative, at the national level.

Its operation and administration must be subject to Law 27/1999, which contemplates each and every one of the most important points that a Cooperative must have.

How many types of Cooperatives are there?

There are mainly two types of Cooperatives, first degree and second degree, the latter are made up of first degree Cooperatives, this means that their partners are other Cooperatives.

First degree Cooperatives can be classified into:

Associated work cooperatives
Consumer and user cooperatives
Housing cooperatives
Agri-food cooperatives
Community land exploitation cooperatives
Service cooperatives
Sea cooperatives
Transport cooperatives
Insurance cooperatives
Health cooperatives
Teaching cooperatives
Credit unions

Bodegas La Aurora or rather, Sociedad Cooperativa Agrícola Nuestra Señora de La Aurora, is a first-class agri-food cooperative.

Why is a Cooperative created?

A Cooperative’s objective is to carry out business activities aimed at benefiting its members, through the sale of their products or services.

Bodegas La Aurora, was the first Cooperative dedicated to the production of wine, which was founded in the city of Montilla.

Its creation was fundamentally due to the bad practices (so to speak) of the private wineries that at that time (1960) were in charge of purchasing all the grapes produced by the farmers in the area.

The main reason for its creation was to produce quality wines, to sell them at a better price and to be able to benefit as much as possible all the brave farmers who took the risk during those difficult years to set up a company.

What is the success or failure of a Cooperative?

The success or failure of a Cooperative lies mainly in the people who make it up.

The main body is the administrator and is composed, depending on the volume and activity, of the same partners.

The Governing Council is the one in charge of making decisions in our Cooperative. This Council has been elected through a General Assembly by all the members that make up Bodegas La Aurora, and is made up of nine of them.

The most important issues are decided in the General Assemblies, which are put to a vote, one member, one vote, no matter the purchasing power they have within the Cooperative.

If there is good management, 50% of the success is assured in a Cooperative, the other 50% falls on the rest of the members.

I hate to say it, but in this area some farmers do not comply with the laws established by the statutes, and do not contribute 100% of their harvest to the Cooperative, this becomes a detriment to the amortization of investments that are made in the itself and can lead to large losses that cause the dissolution of the Cooperative.

Gone are those years in which loyalty and fidelity were very much in mind; if a member is loyal and faithful, a Cooperative has 50% of its success assured.

At Bodegas La Aurora we are aware that we have 100% success, because fortunately we have an extraordinary management body and we have the support of loyal and faithful partners, we cannot ask for more.

I hope I have resolved the questions raised at the beginning and if you have anything to contribute on this topic, you can do so through the comments below or through our social networks, Facebook and Google+. Greetings and see you soon!

By Rafael Espejo.