payment of money grants for quality and quantity produced); products (sterilized box
milk substituted the entire previous line of production);
Organization: modifications in Cosuel for example; its culture (revitalizing the
cooperative spirit in social and functional areas); structure (establishment of a minimum
of 20 liters milk/day by producer with a standard of high quality, which caused the
shutting down of cooperators which could not keep up with the process); systems
(reformulating of control systems); personnel (intensive entrainment, and substitute the
non-qualified ones).
The change’s cube can be identified both in concept and concretely. The process for
Double Complexity Cooperative (Pedrozo 1995), in Cosuel’s directors’ opinions
“cooperative company” (economic dimension) and that of the cooperators “solidarity
cooperative” (social dimension) giving it activities which are trustworthy and profitable,
and bettering its quality of life. The “cooperative entrepreneur” has already attained a
more comfortable economic and financial position.
The management implications that occured were:
- The technologic capacity Tetra Pak of packaging milk force the use of
“intercooperation principle”;
- The strategic alliance with Tetra Pak forced a change both in and out of the
cooperative. The bettering in the quality and quantity of production, and the bettering of
the cooperative’s market position by having the low profit products eliminated was
evident;
- The cooperative’s culture went through a transformation, becoming more professional,
searching for results, achieving goals, motivating employees and cooperators to keep
updated.
Towards an improved environmental reporting structure for companies in
food and agribusiness chains
Dr. H.J. Bremmers, S.W.F. Omta
The research question of the article is: Why do Dutch companies in food industry and
agribusiness chains have only a limited environmental performance? Are there possible
improvements with respect to the information and communication structure that
enhance environmental performance?
The study encompasses an empirical research with respect to a representative sample
of 498 companies in the Dutch Food Industry and agribusiness (out of a total of 2600
companies with 5 employees or more). The questions referred to the horizontal
information and communication structure (that is, between chain partners) as well as the
vertical structure (between companies and government).