Abstract

Farmer specialized cooperative is not only an economic organization pursuing profit， but also a mutual organization established by members with common needs. It is an ideal organizational form to bring small farmers into modern agriculture. However， most cooperatives in our country also have problems of inadequate participation and sharing of common members， which seriously restricts the sustainable development of cooperatives. Under the background of the continuous promotion of agricultural industrialization， cooperatives have been embedded in the market environment of the integration of agricultural industry chain since their inception. As the modern market competition expands from the competition among single enterprises to the competition of industrial chain， the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives plays an important role in both improving its own performance and improving the competitiveness of the whole agricultural industry chain. The vertical integration of the industrial chain is an important trend in the development of Chinese cooperatives.

According to the perspective of new institutional economics， the process of vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives is also a process of indepth organizational reform within cooperatives. With the transformation of cooperative operation strategy from production-oriented to value-adding， it is necessary to adjust the member relationship （membership participation） and internal system of cooperatives simultaneously， so as to ensure the realization of cooperative organizational goals. Therefore， in order to grasp the development trend of cooperatives more clearly， it is worth answering how the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives will affect the participation of members. The vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives and the influence of member participation on the performance of cooperatives provide theoretical basis for optimizing the public policy of cooperatives in our country.

In this paper， data of 331 sample cooperatives in 12 counties of Chengdu，Ya.an， Zigong and Meishan were obtained by questionnaire survey， covering three terrain types of mountain， hill and plain for empirical analysis. The cases of 3 sample cooperatives were obtained through interviews to verify the theoretical and empirical analysis results， and the extended research was carried out. The research content of this book includes the following three aspects：Firstly， the impact of vertical integration of the industrial chain of farmer specialized cooperatives on the participation of members. This book analyzes the interdependence between cooperatives and members in the context of vertical integration of the industrial chain， and analyzes how cooperatives promote the participation of members by improving the supplementary governance mechanism of contracts under the condition of incomplete contracts. Secondly， the effect of vertical integration of industrial chain on performance of cooperatives. This book constructs the double dimension of economic performance and social performance to establish the index system of cooperative performance， and uses the entropy method to evaluate the performance. This book analyzes the influence of vertical integration of industrial chain on the overall performance，economic performance and social performance of cooperatives. Thirdly， the influence of vertical integration of industrial chain and members.participation on cooperative performance. The mediating effect of membership participation in the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives on the performance of cooperatives is examined by the sequential test method and the self-help method. At the same time， the book analyzes whether the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives and the participation of members have interactive effects on the performance of cooperatives.

The main conclusions of this book include five aspects：

Firstly， the vertical integration of the industrial chain of farmer specialized cooperatives plays a significant positive role in the participation of ordinary members. From the perspective of different types of membership participation，the vertical integration of the industrial chain has the following effects on membership participation： investment participation， product participation and management participation. This shows that in the context of vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives， membership participation is in line with the common interests of both members and cooperatives. For cooperatives， membership participation can meet their needs for raw material control， risk prevention and internal financing. For members， participating in cooperatives can increase their earnings.

Secondly， considering the asset specificity， the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives has a dual relationship of both absorption and exclusion to the participation of members. On one hand， in the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives， asset specificity plays a positive mediating effect on members.participation in investment and management. This indicates that despite the increase of transaction costs， most cooperatives still choose bilateral governance structure instead of transforming into a unified governance structure （investors control enterprises）. By improving the complementary governance mechanism of the contract between cooperatives and members，the transaction costs can be reduced， thus enhancing the stability of the contract. On the other hand， in the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives on the impact of members.product participation， asset specificity plays an overshadowing effect. The reason is that in order to ensure the quality of agricultural products， cooperatives choose to build their own production bases to supply some high-end products， or only purchase high-quality agricultural products from members.farmers， which leads to a decline in members.participation in products.

Thirdly， the deepening process of vertical integration of industrial chain of farmer specialized cooperatives is also the deepening process of internal reform of cooperative organizations. The vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives requires the adjustment of the internal system of cooperatives. The supplementary guarantee mechanism of contracts plays an important role in stabilizing and optimizing the contractual relationship between cooperatives and members. The supplementary guarantee mechanism of contracts applicable to cooperatives includes： ① Setting up collateral. The empirical analysis results show that the setting of collateral （provident fund） is helpful to close the bilateral cooperative relationship between cooperatives and members. ② Institutional trust.The empirical analysis results show that institutional construction plays a significant mediating role in the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives. Based on the cases of 3 sample cooperatives in Chapter 8， system construction is helpful to strengthen members.trust and recognition of cooperatives.

Fourthly， the vertical integration of the industrial chain of farmer specialized cooperatives has a significant positive impact on the performance of cooperatives. From the comparison of economic performance and social performance of cooperatives， vertical integration of industrial chain of cooperatives has a more obvious impact on economic performance. Based on the case analysis in Chapter 8， vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives is helpful to strengthen value creation and enhance value sharing. At the same time， the tighter the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives， the more obvious the improvement effect of vertical integration of the industrial chain on the overall performance of cooperatives， economic performance and social performance.

Fifthly， the performance of farmer specialized cooperatives largely depends on the compatibility of vertical integration of industrial chain and membership participation. According to the empirical analysis results in Chapter 7， membership participation plays a strong mediating effect on the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives. Among the effects of vertical integration of industrial chain on the overall performance of cooperatives， the largest intermediary effect is the participation of members in management， followed by the participation of members in products， and then the participation of members in investment. Compared with economic performance， the mediating effect of membership participation on the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives on social performance is more significant. In addition， from the empirical analysis of the interaction effect， it can be seen that the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives and members.investment participation have complementary effects on the overall performance of cooperatives. Among the influences on the social performance of cooperatives， the vertical integration of industrial chain and members.investment participation have substitution effects.This shows that in the deepening of vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives， we should take advantage of the situation， and pay attention to the improvement of the cooperative system and the optimization of member relations， so as to promote the improvement of the performance of cooperatives.

This book is innovative in the following four aspects：

Firstly， it reveals the effect of vertical integration of farmer specialized cooperative industry chain on cooperative system. The book combines the concept and principle of new institutional economics with the practice of Chinese farmer specialized cooperatives. By introducing the theory of contract governance and the theory of institutional change， including the transaction cost into the behavior consideration of cooperatives and exploring the influence of vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives on the cooperative system， it is helpful to understand the changes of cooperative organization system more deeply.

Secondly， it expands the perspective of influencing factors of membership participation. Combined with the existing studies on the factors influencing the participation of members of cooperatives， the changes of membership participation are investigated from the perspective of vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives （changes in the management strategies of cooperatives），which fits the development background of cooperatives with the deepening of agricultural industrialization. In the analysis of the influence of the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives on the participation of members， it not only analyzes the influence of the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives on the participation of members from the general perspective of the induction of the interests of members， but also analyzes the influence of the vertical integration of the industrial chain of cooperatives on the participation of members from the multi-dimensional perspectives of asset specificity and the change of the cooperative system.

Thirdly， the book discusses the possibility of realizing the compatibility between the organization profitability of farmer specialized cooperatives and the initiative of farmers. Based on the existing research on the “alienation” of cooperatives， this book proves through empirical measurement and multi-case analysis that under the background of vertical integration of industrial chain， the relative importance of land and labor factors of small farmers changes. At this time， cooperatives will be willing to establish a stable contractual relationship with members， and moderately increase the proportion of members.investment and transfer management rights in the property right structure. In other words， under the background of vertical integration of industrial chain， cooperatives have certain “dissimilation” mechanism under certain conditions. This conclusion has a certain significance for the discussion and solution of the problem of“alienation” of cooperatives.

Fourthly， it constructs the performance evaluation system of farmer specialized cooperative， and analyzes the influencing factors of performance. On the basis of the previous research on the performance evaluation of cooperatives，combined with the nature and characteristics of cooperatives， the performance index system and evaluation model of farmer specialized cooperatives are established. The influence on cooperative performance can be explained from the angle of cooperative operation strategy and member relationship （ membership participation） adjustment and matching， and the formation of cooperative performance can be analyzed from the angle closer to the development reality of Chinese cooperatives.

Key words： Farmer Specialized Cooperative； Vertical Integration of Industrial Chain； Member Participation； Performance