THE FORMATION OF NEW COOPERATIVES - THEORY AND THE SWEDISH CASE

The article presents a model of the formation process of new cooperati ves, primarily based on studies of the Swedish organizational populati on. The predominance of pragmatically oriented cooperatives provides a n opportunity to study the process's organizational aspects, in relati ve isolation from ideological factors and the impact of movements. Coo perative formation is seen as an act of collective entrepreneurship, a nd a key event in the process is the emergence and crystallization of a social bearer for the cooperative project. A review of concrete case s of cooperative formation points to the importance of a prior history , and suggests four bases for the definition of a social bearer: commu nity, need, idea and enterprise. The article closes with a review of t he implications of the model for waves of cooperative formation, and f or the cooperative's continued life path.