THE BUCHAREST UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC STUDIES. Economy II Doctoral School PHD THESIS RESUME: THE COOPERATIVE STRUCTURES ROLE IN THE KNOWLEDGE MARKET

Transcription

1 THE BUCHAREST UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMIC STUDIES Economy II Doctoral School PHD THESIS RESUME: THE COOPERATIVE STRUCTURES ROLE IN THE KNOWLEDGE MARKET Publicly presented by the author: Maria Claudia C.V. Preda Scientific coordinator: PhD Professor Gabriel Popescu Bucharest, 2017

2 Contents INTRODUCTION.11 Research scope Main objective Secondary objectives 14 Research hypothesis 14 Methodological frame 16 Chapter 1: The role and importance of cooperative structures in the rural area economy, with an accent on agricultural cooperatives Cooperative structures conceptual approaches Types of cooperative structures The history of cooperative structures Fundamental principles of the cooperative structures Legislative framework of agricultural cooperatives European legislative construction Harmonization of the Romanian legislation with the European one Critical analysis of the informal discourse on agricultural cooperatives Statistical analysis of the agricultural cooperative sector Best practices in developing the cooperative sector 90 Chapter 2: Developing the agricultural cooperative sector by enhancing knowledge transfer activities Knowledge as an economic resource The knowledge transfer market - conceptual approaches..110

3 2.2.1 The components of the knowledge transfer market Informational goods and the price of information The information consumers profile Case study The online activity of the information consumer The information producer Shortcomings and obstacles in developing the knowledge market Education; Training Farmers' incomes; Labour productivity Case study The analysis of Agrifood and Environmental Economy School from The Bucharest University of Economic Studies as a formal knowledge transfer vector Nonconventional knowledge transfer via online environment The agricultural European Innovation Partnership The results of the lack of a knowledge transfer market at rural level Changes in the demands of the agricultural sector towards its employees..177 Chapter 3: The evolution of the sustainability concept Sustainability in agriculture - a challenge for the knowledge transfer The importance of sustainable agriculture in scientific research..184 Chapter 4: The availability of the population to participate in financing sustainable agriculture Mining the scientific approaches to public goods management through game theory Population availability to contribute to the financing of agriculture as a public good - experimental approach Experiment results..205

4 4.2.2 Experiment findings and limits..215 Chapter 5 Sustainable agricultural cooperatives - a solution for developing the Romanian rural area Case study Establishing an agricultural cooperative of vegetable growing The business plan objectives A short analysis of the Romanian vegetable market Current and potential customers of the agricultural cooperative Current and potential competitors of the agricultural cooperative Marketing activities in the agricultural cooperative SWOT analysis of the agricultural cooperative "In grandmother's garden" Action plan of the agricultural cooperative The product range of the agricultural cooperative "In grandmother's garden" The responsibilities of the work participants, others than the cooperative members Income and expense budget Conclusions and evaluation of the business plan..247 CONCLUSIONS. IMPLICATIONS AND LIMITS OF THE RESEARCH REFERENCES..261 LIST OF FIGURES..282 LIST OF TABLES..285 LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS..286 LIST OF ANNEXES..288 ANNEXES..289

5 Key words: cooperative structures; agricultural cooperatives; knowledge transfer; sustainable development Summary: The paper has an interdisciplinary approach, leaving the pure economical circumscription through its social, behavioural and adaptive facets. Agricultural cooperatives are capable of responding both to the members needs, according to their principles and to the researchers projections of sustainable rural development. The involvement of the rural area in the knowledge market is generally wanted. The present paper proves that cooperative structures have a significant role in achieving that goal, under some restrictions. Knowledge transfer isn t an objective itself, it is a process approached on two sections: for the authorities, the scope of the process should be favoring the sustainable development in the agrifood sector, and for the farmers it helps with the understanding sustainable agriculture as an opportunity of a long term activity. These results can be achieved through medium and large size farmers cooperation, capable of engaging the informational resource in the decisional process. For this reason the rural development policies should be differentiated considering the farms size.