Facilitating organizational action regarding a co-operative's governance system in a developing country using the viable systems model

Studies in developing countries have demonstrated that co-operatives have the potential to become an important economic factor. However, these studies have revealed deficient management practices that could hinder co-operative's possibilities of playing this role in the economy. There are recurrent calls to study this issue and generate knowledge that could improve prospects for co-operatives. This paper advances current research by applying an already tested methodology inspired on the viable systems model to provide a better understanding on co-operatives' governance systems, in the context of developing countries. The results show positive evidence for how a participatory and facilitated systemic intervention could support the implementation of actions aiming to improve a co-operative governance system. The approach and methodology used in the project represent a promising toolkit to work on governance systems within co-operatives and provide new academic perspectives to address governance issues within these organizations.