CO - OPERATION AND AGRICULTURE (TAAVON)
Year:2011 | Volume:21 | Issue:4|Papers Count:9

One of the general guidelines for reducing unemployment is creating jobs and participating people in economic activities and developing cooperatives. Enabling cooperative sector by relying on the academic capability of university graduates will increasingly lead to presence in global markets and opening economic borders. So among the three sectors of cooperation, public and private, cooperative companies can be an appropriate method for employment and attraction of graduates. The current study investigates the tendency of student groups to join Entrepreneur cooperatives and factors affecting this phenomenon in two universities of Islamic Azad University of Tabriz and Public University of Tabriz. For this purpose, after familiarity with cooperatives and related theories, sample size of 378 (Islamic Azad University of Tabriz) and 376 (University of Tabriz) was determined using the Cochran formula person with a stratified, systematic and randomsampling method. Survey and documents method were used for gathering data. Data were processed with SPSS software.The results show that there is a significant relationship between independent variables (social participation, social trust, social cohesion, needs satisfaction and individual characteristics) and dependent variable (tendency of student groups to join entrepreneur cooperatives). There is significant difference (with reliability of 99%) between the two groups (students of Azad and National University) in terms of tendency to join entrepreneur cooperatives. This tendency is higher among Azad university students in comparison with public university students.

The current study has investigated the effect of IT application on increasing or decreasing the efficiency of cooperative companies in 2010.Therefore, at first several related researches has been pointed out, and the necessity of IT application and investment in all organizations and companies, especially production companies has been emphasized.The statistical population encompasses the production-industrial cooperatives of Orumieh County. Simple sampling method was used to procure samples from the population. Sample size was calculated 68 units using Cochran formula. Questionnaires were used to gather data.The results of testing proposed hypotheses indicated that IT has an effect on increasing the efficiency of all value chain activities of the statistical population. The higher calculated mean than the total mean andhigher P-value (1.000) than error threshold (0.05) show the importance of IT application in increasing the efficiency of the value chain in these cooperatives. Also several problems in these cooperatives have been indicated that solving them will greatly improve efficiency in these cooperatives.

The sustainability of agricultural development in Iran depends on competent human resources in producing and processing of agricultural crops. One of the best methods to utilize these resources is establishing and developing agricultural graduate’s cooperatives.The purpose of this study was to determine & analyze the requirements for establishing agricultural graduates’ cooperatives with Delphi method. The statistical population of the study was the cooperation experts in Kermanshah Province in 2010. Delphi method was used in three stages to analyze their points of view. Data analysis was carried out by SPSS software. Based on the results, the most important requirements for establishing agricultural graduate cooperatives can be classified in four groups of professional-individualrequirements, economic requirements, socio-cultural requirements and administrative requirements.

The purpose of this study is to assess the efficiency of Shrimp cooperatives and non-cooperatives companies in Guatr site of Chabahar County in the province of Sistan and Baluchistan in 2010. Therefore technical efficiency of shrimp farms was obtained by using the primary model of Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA) and Free Disposal Hull (FDH) model. Considering the number of units, census was conducted, and eventually the questionnaires of the entire population (25 units) were collected. The results showed that only 12% of firms in the primary model and 16% in the FDH model are quite efficient, and the average of technical efficiency for units is 85 and 87 percent respectively. Strategic approach to issues and adopting fundamental changes in production process, such as adding aeration systems in the fields with assistance from government agencies can improve the efficiency of the inefficient firms.Due to heavy costs brought about by the frequent use of aeration systems, the demand for these systems is low in the farms; therefore it is recommended that relevant institutions such as Province Fishery Organization and Province Department of Cooperation make necessary arrangements for banks to provide managers of shrimp farms with lowinterest loans.

In order to be successful, organizations should be aware of their current conditions, predict the future status and provide suitable feedback to environmental variances. This requires compiling suitable strategies, correct implementations of these and accurate evaluation of this implementation. For this purpose, balanced scorecard technique implements and evaluates strategies of organization. This technique considers the organization from four different aspects including financial, customers, internal process and education & development and also the relations between these. The purpose of this study was to investigate and evaluate the application of balanced scorecard technique in performance of production and distribution cooperative companies in KhorasanProvince. The statistical population of this study was managers and shareholders of production and distribution cooperative companies in Khorasan Province. In order to gather data from the statistical population, questionnaires were used. Because the number of managers and shareholders under study were not distinguishable or when they were, the number was statistically too high, the statistical population is unlimited.In this study the statistical sample includes managers and shareholders who filled the questionnaires and were able to express their opinion.Simple sampling method was used and, after 23 preliminary test its size was calculated to be 124 according to Cronbach' sAlpha Coefficient.Indexes considered for improving performance were: income, expenses, customer satisfaction and efficiency.The current study, which was conducted in 2010 revealed that the four aspects of balance scorecard technique can improve the performance of production and distribution cooperative companies. Therefore it is recommended that production and distribution cooperative companies utilize this technique in order to improve their performance. Also the Ministry of Cooperation can take measures to extend and optimize the use of this technique.

In the world today, e-commerce is known as a major comparative advantage for many companies. Considering the administration of the Fifth National Development Plan and the Policies of Article 44 of Constitution, which allocates a share of 25 percent for cooperation sector in the national economy, and considering the fact that distributive cooperatives constitute a significant portion of companies in Iran, identifying problems and obstacles in applying e-commerce in such organizations would be of great importance. Therefore, this study aims to investigate these obstacles in distributive cooperatives in Tehran Province. The current study was carried out with the purpose of investigating the obstacles to apply e-commerce in distributive quantitative and retrospective. Questionnaires were used to gather data.Total number of distributive cooperatives in Tehran is 4000. Directing managers or one of the members of the board of directors were selected as the population of study, and by applying the Cochran formula the appropriate sample size was determined to be 187.Results show that financial deficits, technical problems, and behavioral-cultural barriers were the most important "Internal obstacles" and lack of necessary capabilities in business partners, lack of adequate competition in the market and lack of interest in customers were the most important "external obstacles" in applying e-commerce in distributive cooperatives in Tehran province.

The present study investigates the effectiveness of extension educational activities in promoting knowledge of the members of agriculture and production cooperatives in Semnan Province. This research is an applied research conducted in cause and effect correlative method. The dependant variable was the effectiveness of extension educational activities in promoting knowledge of members of the agriculture production cooperatives and the independent variables were established in 5 groups of personal, social, economical, extension educational activities and farming. Statistical population consisted of 3367 members of agriculture production cooperatives who had participated in the extension educational courses. By applying the Cochran formula the appropriate sample size was determined to be 209 questionnaires which were correctly completed. A field procedure wasemployed using the sample questionnaires and validity of the content of questionnaires was established by enquiring experts and professors. After applying necessary corrections and conducting a preliminary test, the acquired Cronbach' sAlpha Coefficient was %91. SPSS-16 Software was used to analyze the data. In order to determine the effect of independent variables on dependent ones, multiple regressions were used.The resulted acquired from the collective effect of independent variables on dependant variables through a multi-variable regression in a step by step method indicated that developmental roles of agriculture, educational resources, educational method, and crop production stages explained the %53.8 of changes in the dependent variable of knowledge.Considering the results of the study, it is suggested that the content of courses should be compatible with economical, social and technical issues & conditions of the cooperative members and aid them in their field of work and specialty in the cooperative. Also cooperative members and participants in the courses should be asked to help with planning, implementation and evaluation of educational programs and activities; so that members will participate in the planning according to their needs, and cooperation morale, which is the basis of cooperatives would be preserved.

Entrepreneurship, innovation and risky businesses fuel the engine of advanced economy. Global economy is about to evolve fundamentally and therefore so does production and service organizations and industries. Circumstances and rules of competitions are so cruel, complex, dynamic, and unreliable that organizations can’t no longer just survive by surface adaptations, such as changes in methods, systems, structures, technology and etc. Also they can’t overcome their small, agile, innovative, opportunist and low expense rivals with a few number of innovative or entrepreneur individuals or with a number of entrepreneurship plans. They must provide conditions so that every employee would find entrepreneur spirit and can implement their entrepreneurship activities easily, continuously and individually or collectively. This requires implementing an important phenomenon called organizational entrepreneurship. The purpose of this study is to select a suitable entrepreneurship model for Tehran Province Department of Cooperation. Data gathering tools were library studies, articles and questionnaires which were designed by Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) method. In AHP method the incompatibility rate of answers is calculated, and answers with high incompatibility rate are omitted. In a way, this also confirms the reliability of the answers. Expert Choice (EC) software was used to analyze collected data. After pair comparison and calculating relative weight of indexes and models, the index of objectives and strategies ranked the highest in organizational entrepreneurship, and in the end, the appropriate entrepreneurship model for the aforesaid department was selected to be the Kuratco interactive model.