Co-operation and Globalisation. The British co-operative wholesales, the Co-operative Group and the world since 1863

Notes:

Deals with the development and nature of the international supply networks created by the co-operative wholesale societies - notably the Co-operative Wholesale Society and the Scottish Co-operative Wholesale Society - via which they obtained commodities for processing and sale to local co-operative retail societies on a competitive basis. Considers such issues as sources of competitive advantage; decline in later 20th century; relations with foreign co-operative movements; etc. Chapters include: 'Industrialisation, consumerism, overseas trade and British co-operation, 1800-1890 - an overview'; 'Butter, dried fruit and the big apple - the rise of the CWS/SCWS as a global business 1863-90'; 'Indian cuppas, West African soap and Irish failures - the maturing of a global supply network? - the CWS' international trade, British co-operation and the British state, 1890-1918; 'Dealing with dictators and developing the Empire - the Zenith of British co-operation and the world, 1918-45?'; 'Retreat and deconstruction - the decline of the global British co-operative wholesale networks, 1945-80, and West Africa and South Asia - two case studies of the wholesales overseas; 'Rebuilding global networks and moral regeneration? Evaluating the emergence of the Co-operative Group, 1980-2018, within the global history of British wholesale co-operation'