THE FACTORS INFLUENCING THE LEADER’S PERCEPTIONS OF SUCCESS OF DAIRY COOPERATIVES: THE CASE OF CUMBAL NARIÑO’S DAIRY ASSOCIATIONS

During the last few decades, Colombia’s dairy sector has been affected by economic, social, and political conditions, not only endangering it but also putting at risk the long-term sustainability of the dairy industry. To mitigate these conditions, the dairy farmers have joined cooperatives, which enabled them to gain some strategic advantages and reduce the adverse effects of the economic, political, and social conditions. This study evaluates the influence of economic, financial, membership, management and operational characteristics on the presidents’ perceptions of success of the dairy associations in Cumbal-Nariño. To accomplish this objective, we surveyed the presidents of dairy associations in the municipality of Cumbal.

The basic statistical analysis reveals that, on average, the monthly revenue in Colombia pesos of the dairy associations of the municipality of Cumbal is 59.17 million (equivalent to $ 16,000 USD[1]). Almost half of the associations (45%) conducted business with non-members. More than one-third (35%) of the associations sold milk to more than one buyer. Around 29% of the presidents have previous experience in similar leadership positions and almost 35% have a high school or higher education.

We used a logit model, which is commonly used to analyzed binary outcomes, to evaluate the factors that are correlated with the presidents’ level of confidence in the success of dairy associations. We found that the variable monthly revenue is positively correlated with the president’s level of confidence in the success of the dairy associations. On the other hand, variables such as number of buyers that purchase milk from the dairy associations, member satisfaction, years in business, and education are negatively correlated with the president’s level of confidence in the success of the dairy co-operatives.

[1] The conversion to US Dollars was estimated considering the average rate of exchange of Colombian pesos to US Dollars in the year 2020, which was $ 3,693.36 Colombian pesos per one US Dollar. https://dolar.wilkinsonpc.com.co/dolar-historico/dolar-historico-2020.html