Dr. Jang is Professor of the Department of Management of Cooperatives at the Graduate School, Sungkonghoe University, Korea. Professor Jang earned his PhD in organization theory from Lancaster University Management School, UK. He is the editor-in-chief of the Korean Journal of Cooperative Studies and has been involves in various research projects on organizational change and development in Fair Trade organizations and social economy organizations.
How did you get involved in the book?
In the ICA AP research conference 2015 at Pune, India, the research team of my department had presented the case studies of Korea’s agricultural cooperatives, consumer cooperatives, and worker cooperatives. Then, the leaders of APCRP have invited me as a member of editorial team of the book in the ICA AP research conference 2017 at Seoul, Korea. I was glad to accept the offer. Since then, I have been working with other editors of the book.
What was your experience as you interacted with the editors and authors on the book?
It was a wonderful experience for me to communicate and share my ideas with the editors and the authors of the book. I’ve learned a lot about the current state of cooperatives in the Asia Pacific region. It's important that each and every country has its own history and issues. The learning became useful in teaching my students and managers in Korea, and doing research on cooperative management. Furthermore, the editing the book based on international case studies takes every participants’ passion and energy for cooperation and coordination.
What are the key takeaways from the Asian cooperatives experience?
Every country has its own unique history. The political, economic, social and cultural systems all differ. Therefore, there can be different ways of understanding cooperatives depending on the country. There is no single best way to make good cooperatives, but to learn better way to make better cooperatives. Doing so, we have to share many stories of better cooperative cases with other Asia Pacific cooperators. And we are able to collaborate with each other in doing cooperative businesses and movement, and to let young cooperators and researchers work together. This book will be the first step towards collaborating efforts in comparative research and building the research network in the Asia and Pacific.
What are the core lessons from the case studies from Korea regarding the role of cooperatives?
In order to understand Korea’s cooperatives, there needs to be an understanding of its past and present. You would need to understand the legal, political, economic and social systems of Korea first. Cooperatives in Korea matured as the country underwent major social changes. It's important to grasp the dynamics between the state, market and civil society. Since the 1960s when Korea was a developing country suffering the Korean War, agricultural cooperatives and credit unions have been playing a significant role for eliminating the poverty in rural and urban communities. And since 1980s, Korea’s consumer cooperatives have been developing to address socio-economic challenges in promoting environmentally friendly farming, raising consumers’ environmental awareness, and leading civil right movement based on civil society organizations. In addition, Korea’s worker cooperatives are formed to be human-centred enterprises as employee-owned and democratically controlled businesses for responding the issues of widening the gap between the poor and the rich. In short, Korea’s cooperatives have been moving towards a better society for all Koreas.
How have cooperatives in Korea evolved over time?
Cooperatives in Korea have evolved over the past hundred year since 1919. The duration and method depend on what kind of cooperatives we're discussing. Agricultural cooperatives evolved with the support and control of the state. Established in 1961, Nonghyup (NACF, National Agricultural Cooperative Federation) is the multi-purpose cooperative with a major presence in the country's financial sector. Consumer cooperatives have been playing bigger roles in our society alongside the growth of civil society since 1980s. Worker cooperative is somehow a new comer, and we’re seeing a recent growth. The enactment of the Framework Act on Cooperatives in 2012, ‘new’ cooperatives including worker cooperatives have been created and this growing number of cooperatives will be continued.
Where do you see opportunities for cooperatives during these times? Could you locate this 1) in the Korea context and 2) for cooperatives in the region?
It is worrisome to witness the societal and economic inequality between the classes and the communities in Korea. I believe cooperatives will contribute to resolving many socio-economic challenges. Cooperatives in the Asia Pacific region can and must all play a major role in this regard. My hope is for cooperation between all cooperatives in the region to explore the possible options we have, and to share the solutions for the issues that face all of us.
