Co-operative case study: Death of a co-operative
26th Aug 2010
Professor Frank Clarke
The University of Sydney
This preliminary case study challenges the generally claimed proposition that The Newcastle and Suburban Co-operative Society was overwhelmed in the 1970s, after nearly a century of operations, by the size of its largest competitors. The theme pursued here is that the Store was beaten at its own game. Its management badly misread the extent of members' loyalty to the Rochdale ethos, and were less adept in handling power to bulk-purchase than were its small competitors. Newcastle's corner shops, home-wares and white-goods retailers were more successful at bulk-purchasing than were their teachers, the Store and its partner the Co-operative Wholesale Society.
