Vertikale Kooperation im Oligopol Die Gestaltung der Genossenschaftsorganisation als strategischer Zug

In cooperatives, allocation of competences results in an organizational form which differs from other enterprises. The members partly remain independent in doing their business and delegate only a part of their competence to the jointly owned firm. Therefore a cooperative is neither a single firm nor a group of fully independent entities. In this paper the conduct of the hybrid organization is characterized by the concept of "conjectural variations". I show for two different objectives of the cooperative that it is possible to patronise members in competition with a profit maximizing firm. The choice of decentralization of decision making is crucial for the results. It can be seen as a credible commitment to the behaviour of the cooperative and it has therefore important influence on the outcomes: In a mixed duopoly with a cooperative patronizing their members the results are more competitive than in a pure duopoly.