Pathology of Public Policy Concerning Iran’s Cooperatives: Bridging Local Challenges and Global Alternatives

The cooperative sector in Iran holds a distinctive position within the nation's constitutional framework and official documents. However, despite concerted efforts, it presents a duality in its performance. While demonstrating relative acceptability compared to peers within the Middle East, it remains notably distant from the prescribed standards delineated in foundational documents. Notably, in 2013, an amendment bill addressing the Cooperative Sector Law, aiming for substantial revisions, was presented by the Executive branch to Parliament. This Bill, however, failed to garner the necessary attention from stakeholders and legislative bodies, prompting a critical evaluation of its necessity. This evaluative process encompassed meticulous scrutiny of the sector's standing, involving an alignment of definitions with legal frameworks and a comprehensive assessment of goal achievement utilizing official statistical data. A systematic review of antecedent research on cooperatives was also conducted to unearth and comprehend the critical operational barriers. The findings of this comprehensive analysis unveiled a spectrum of challenges afflicting Iran's cooperative sector, ranging from ambiguity in defining cooperatives to inadequate competitiveness vis-à-vis private enterprises, lack of member awareness, deficiencies in human resources and administrative capacities, financial constraints, overreliance on governmental support, and inefficiencies within supervisory institutions. A series of strategic alternatives have emerged to address these multifaceted challenges effectively. These include redefining cooperatives in alignment with international benchmarks, harnessing the potential of New-Generation Cooperatives (NGCs), diversifying shareholding structures, deploying Crowdfunding tools, establishing Cooperatives Credit Unions, fortifying internal supervisory entities, revising founding member prerequisites, reinstating cooperative education within legal frameworks, integrating specialized expertise on cooperative boards, and rejuvenating cooperative management certifications.