TY - JOUR

T1 - Avoiding lock-in

T2 - Cooperative creameries in Denmark, 1882-1903

AU - Henriksen, Ingrid

N1 - JEL Classification: N53, L22

PY - 1999

Y1 - 1999

N2 - The paper investigates the initial phase of the cooperative organisation of agricultural processing firms in Denmark. It argues that the variations observed can be explained within the framework of the theory of industrial organisation. The focus is on the success of cooperative creameries. In 1903, twenty years after the first establishments, the owners of about 80 per cent of all Danish milch cows supplied their product to a cooperative. The success of cooperatives within other fields of production was smaller by comparison. The point is that dairying cooperatives, given the existing technology of gathering information and of preserving and transporting a perishable product, were ideally suited to overcome the problems of potential lock-in and of asymmetric information

AB - The paper investigates the initial phase of the cooperative organisation of agricultural processing firms in Denmark. It argues that the variations observed can be explained within the framework of the theory of industrial organisation. The focus is on the success of cooperative creameries. In 1903, twenty years after the first establishments, the owners of about 80 per cent of all Danish milch cows supplied their product to a cooperative. The success of cooperatives within other fields of production was smaller by comparison. The point is that dairying cooperatives, given the existing technology of gathering information and of preserving and transporting a perishable product, were ideally suited to overcome the problems of potential lock-in and of asymmetric information

U2 - 10.1017/S1361491699000039

DO - 10.1017/S1361491699000039

M3 - Journal article

VL - 3

SP - 57

EP - 78

JO - European Review of Economic History

JF - European Review of Economic History

SN - 1361-4916

IS - 1

ER -