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Activities
Co-operatives cover a wide scope of activities and group various trades and professions.
The variety of legal forms they have chosen helps them adopt their mode of operation and enter the economy of the 21st century.
The fields of activity
Co-operatives are created either by consumers of goods and services who have a say in the design of products and the allocation of income, or by producers and self-employed workers who want to retain their autonomy while grouping their competencies and financial resources, or by employees who want to join forces in order to become entrepreneurs.
The categories
A distinction is made between four categories of co-operatives according to the nature of their members. Each of these categories groups in turn various types of activities:
- users’ co-operatives (for instance, consumer co-operatives, social housing co-operatives)
- professional co-operatives (crafts workers, farmers, fishermen, carriers, retailers)
- employees’ co-operatives (Scop)
- credit co-operatives (Banques Populaires, Crédit Agricole, Crédit Coopératif, Crédit Maritime, Crédit Mutuel, etc.)
The activities
• Agriculture
Nine farms out of ten are members of a co-operative. Formed by farmers to organise their procurement and the marketing of their products, co-operatives are one of the mainstays of agricultural policy, with a turnover of FRF 400 billion.
• Banking
Co-operative banks have a mode of operation which is decentralised and federated, thus involving member/clients in management. Co-operative banks offer all types of banking services. 12.5 million French people are members of a co-operative bank.
• Crafts
More than 75,000 businesses (construction, food and services) representing about 9% of the total production of the crafts sector are grouped in co-operatives and share the purchasing, production, marketing or services functions.
• Retail
The philosophy of retailers’ co-operatives is based on two key ideas : independence and association of their resources. Co-operatives which are members of UFCC now count 100,000 employees, 12,300 stores, achieving a yearly turnover of FRF 100 billion.
• Consumers
Consumers’ co-operatives have initiated the consumers’ movement and have always been among the first to defend consumers. 1,500,000 families are members.
• Housing
Social housing co-operatives are small, flexible and diversified units which have two essential strengths: they are rooted in the community, and their financial management is transparent.
• Fisheries
Maritime co-operation and maritime interest co-operation cover fisheries, shipping, fish farming, processing and marketing of sea products and harbour businesses.
• Road transportation
More than 700 road transportation businesses with 4,000 employees have united to form 30 co-operatives. Managers of transportation businesses find that co-operatives provide economic benefits, commercial dynamism and safer working conditions.
• Scop
Production co-operatives are engaged in all trades all over France. The 30,000 employees of the 1,350 production co-operatives are partners who have a share of the capital and a say in management. Together they are in charge of their business and share the savings and the income. Out of ten production co-operatives, seven were created less than ten years ago.
Services
• Services in all fields
Co-operatives provide all forms of services: in the fields of training, engineering, cleaning, advertising. Co-operatives may act as surveyors, architects, management consultants, translators, musicians, garage mechanics, owners of hotels and restaurants, publishers, graphic artists, film producers or taxi companies.
Workers in these co-operatives manage our cultural heritage, conduct market surveys, sell meal vouchers, travel, and run moving services. In everyday life, everybody meets, trades, and exchanges with co-operatives, often without knowing their status and specific features.
• Producing and distributing
Co-operative businesses meet all requirements of entrepreneurs and crafts workers by enabling them to acquire the necessary resources at more competitive prices and by freeing them from certain management tasks so that they may devote all their attention to producing and selling.
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