Abstract

This chapter studies economics, social and environmental performance of cooperatives in China. The authors develop an integrative research framework covering internal and external environment, production operation, governance structure and performance. Applying the structure equation modeling, the authors discovered that external industrial environment and good cooperation relationship between cooperatives and the local leading enterprisesLeading enterprises will significantly improve economic and social performance of cooperatives in China via the effect of governance structure. Furthermore, the level of services provided by the cooperatives and level of unified management will contribute to the environmental performance of cooperatives. The chapter ended with several suggestions for the sustainable development of cooperatives in China.