Sustainability of Worker Co-operatives in Africa, a Boston Consulting Group Matrix Based Literature Review

Abstract

This study sought to examine the sustainability of worker co-operatives in Africa. This research adopted a desktop literature review research design. This study found that star worker co-operatives have the best potential for growth and shall be leaders in the industry, question mark worker co-operatives require huge investments in order to gain market share, cash cow worker co-operatives should focus on product development in order to retain high positive net cash flows, dog worker co-operatives are often liquidated, divested or trimmed. This study concludes that star and cash cow worker co-operatives are sustainable in the long run, the sustainability of question mark worker co-operatives is dependent on market conditions, while dog worker co-operatives are not sustainable. This study recommends substantial investment in stars to convert them into cashcows, adoption of appropriate strategies for question marks to convert them into stars, extensive marketing and product development to maintain the cash cow worker co-operatives in their present classification and divesting, liquidation or down-sizing of dog co-operatives.