Organizational performance and management constraints of sheep and wool producers' co-operatives in Karnataka

Abstract

Co-operatives are democratic institution which brings together people across all section of the society having common economic and social interests. However, majority of the co-operatives failed to perform their basic roles and look towards government patronage. The present study was undertaken to examine the issues of performance and constraints of primary sheep and wool producers' co-operatives in the state of Karnataka. A sample of 50 randomly selected primary sheep co-operatives was studied in the Mysuru and Bengaluru region of Karnataka. The results revealed that sheep co-operatives were poor performers in providing service to members, cooperative production and market linkages. However, their performance was moderate in the domains of planning and administrative procedures, human resource management, financial management and membership strategies. Overall performance of the co-operatives although average but was more close towards red line of poor performance. Sheep co-operatives performance was constrained by so many endogenous as well as exogenous factors viz. lack of resource, poor market participation, lack of income, poor management, lack of communication etc.Thus these primary co-operatives have failed to perform effectively which was evident from the findings of the study. In order to make them function as viable and sustainable institutions, these co-operatives need to concentrate their energy to increase their market presence in near future and in long run they can also federate at the state level which provides them strategic advantage in mobilizing resources using this statewide network for the wellbeing of their members and larger community.