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社集团合并。联合合作社是由英格兰北部许多小型的地方合作社合并而成的合作社。合作社集团是英国最大的全国性合作社。因此，这两个协会的合并标志着英国合作社运动的民族单一协会时代的开始。本研究的重点是发展整合的地方合作社，特别是在兰开夏郡和约克郡。通过对前联合合作社官员的采访，清楚地了解了运动国有化的成就和问题。同时强调了企业社会责任在合作社经营中的重要性，以保证合作社运动在激烈竞争时代的生存。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本地和国际社会的道德立场的榜样。

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.