The Birth and Development of the British Consumers Co-operative Movement

2007年7月，英国最大的地方合作社联合合作社，与合作集团合并。联合合作社是通过合并英格兰北部许多小型地方合作社而发展起来的合作社。合作集团是最大的全国性合作社，因此，这两个社团的合并标志着英国联合王国全国单一社团时代的诞生。本研究以英国兰开夏郡和约克郡为研究对象，通过对原联合合作社的官员进行访谈，明确了国有化运动的成就和存在的问题，指出了企业社会责任在国有化运动中的重要性，在大竞争时代，为了合作运动的生存，也强调了经营性业务。合作社集团和联合合作社的公平贸易等企业社会责任活动被视为英国合作社在当地和国际社会中道德立场的典范。

In July 2007 the biggest local co-op in Britain, the United Co-operative Society, was merged with the Co-operative Group.The United Co-op was the co-operatives which had been grown through the mergers of many small local co-ops in the North of England.The Co-operative Group is the biggest national co-op in the United Kingdom.The amalgamation of these two societies marked therefore the birth of the age of the national single society of the British co-operative movement.This study focuses on the development of the integration of the local co-ops especially in Lancashire and Yorkshire.By the interview to the officers of the former United Co-op, the achievements and problems of the nationalization of the movement were made clear.The importance of the corporate social responsibility in the co-operative business was also stressed for the survival of the co-operative movement in the era of the great competition. The CSR activities such as the Fair Trade by the Co-operative Group and the United Co-op were treated as the example of the ethical stances of the UK co-op for the local and international communities.