The Role of Integration Processes in the Development of the Cooperative Sector of the Russian Economy

Abstract

The need to develop a conceptual approach to the study of modern cooperation and integration problems, in our opinion, is caused by the ongoing search for stabilizing factors in the cooperative sector of the economy. The cooperative management system was formed in the Soviet period. Its elements were agricultural production cooperatives in the form of collective farms, consumer cooperatives represented by the consumer cooperation system of the Central Union of the USSR, and other cooperative organizations, including housing, garage, gardening, and other cooperatives. However, after the start of market transformations, the cooperative management system suffered significant losses and lost its position in the national economy. However, the cooperative sector still exists. Also, in recent years, there has been a trend towards its revival by providing an alternative form of business activity. The revival of the cooperative sector of the Russian economy should be accompanied by the development of previously proven areas, the most important of which is the functioning of cooperating participants based on economic integration. The authors analyze the conditions for improving the socio-economic efficiency of particular cooperative organizations and the cooperative system as a whole based on the resumption and intensification of integration processes in the agricultural sector. In this paper, the authors identify the main problems that exist in the cooperative sector of the economy, present their view on the factors constraining the development of this sector, and discuss their definition of the “cooperative sector of the economy.” As a result of the study, the authors proposed directions for the development of the cooperative sector of the economy, including based on the revival of the procurement institution and procurement organizations.