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STRUGGLING! THE BOARD OF DIRECTORS IN ACHIEVING THE

GOALS AND TARGETS

(A STUDY OF CONSUMER CO-OPERATIVE SOCIETIES IN THE STATE

OF KUWAIT)

By

Ayoub Al-Muzaini

Dr. Ahmed Al-Zamil

Dr. Talal Al-Azimi

INTRODUCTION

Consumer Co-operative Societies are central to the Kuwait Society. They play an

important socio-economic role that cannot be isolated from the general economicalactivity. They form an important part of the social life of Kuwait because of their

concern with both economic and social objectives. The societies enable consumers to

buy a wide range of goods and services. In recent years, they have contributed to the

progress and achievement of national industry by influencing trade, employment,

investments as well as strengthening production and demand. A large numbers of

private supermarkets that are in existence in the State of Kuwait, find it difficult to

compete with the cooperative societies because of the advantages of the Co-operative

system. The most important merits of the system include the return on buying, profits,

the cheap prices, varieties of goods, and more importantly the extension and

establishment of cooperative societies in the residential areas in the form of centers

and branches. Indeed, these incentives encourage consumers to buy from cooperatives

and accrue benefits to the economy as a whole.

Today, co-operatives operate successfully in every country and they are involved in

every form of activity, viz agriculture, fisheries, manufacturing, banking, insurance,

retail and wholesale trade and increasingly in such areas as health and social care

(Langmore, 1997). Consumer researches show that people value cooperatives and

believe that cooperatives offer quality goods and services (Benander, 1999). Among

the distinguishing features of Co-operative form of organization, are its voluntary and

democratic character, participatory nature and above all its commitment to high

ethical standards such as honesty, openness and social responsiveness and above allcaring in all its dealings and activities (Krishan, 1998).

Consumer Co-operative Societies are very important to the countrys economy,

because of their concern with the social and economic objectives. Co-operatives draw

community business into regional and national network and they are based on true

value and self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity as well as

solidarity. Following the tradition of their followers, members of the co-operative

believe in ethical values of openess, social responsibility and caring for others (ICA

1996). Infact, the co-operative uniqueness with its own customers as owners, gives

the cooperative vital advantages in the market through member oriented activities and

benefits to the members who are becoming more and more loyal customers a

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tendency which has given birth to the idea of members club among the private

competitors (Sivertsen, 1996).

In this paper an attempt has been made to measure the managerial effectiveness of

Board of Directors while achieving the goals and targets.