Freiburg Hub Update: A New Research Paper Published

The research team from the University of Freiburg (Sophia McRae and Arnim Wiek) have written an article detailing one of their intervention-based case studies conducted within the Co-SFSC project.
People raising their hands during a presentationSophia McRae

The article is titled, “Success factors for the conversion of independent organic shops to consumer-cooperative business models – findings from an intervention study” and will be published in German in the upcoming edition of the Review of Cooperative Studies (Zeitschrift für das gesamte Genossenschaftswesen).

 

The 2-year conversion process of practice partner and zero-waste organic grocery store, die Glaskiste, was scientifically accompanied by the research team at the University of Freiburg and included evidence-based process design (based on the model for the adoption of sustainability innovations from Wiek et al. (2025), formative evaluation and analysis for success factors. Success factors include: sufficient skills and capacity in the conversion team, adequate external support in specialized skills and knowledge, agile process management, robust membership recruitment, a positive attitude towards cooperative business practices, and the shop’s financial viability. Dynamic feedback loops between these success factors were identified, which allowed for the compensation of some factors through the realisation of the others.