La violación del modelo de gestión democrático en las cooperativas oleícolas

The aim of the work presented here is to show how the problems of organisation and power represent a serious hindrance on the business development of agricultural co-operatives. It should be pointed out that this work is based on a field study which focuses on studying cooperativism in firms producing olive oil. Using a structured questionnaire, personal interviews were held with over 86% of the presidents of the olive oil co-operatives in Jaén (southern Spain), the world’s largest area of olive oil production. The work describes the basic characteristics of the oil-producing industry and highlights the importance of cooperativism in the sector. Subsequently, the distinctive characteristics of the power structure in these firms are analysed among the following collectives: partners, boards of managers and non-member managers.