Speed of adjustment over entry and exit dynamics

Purpose: This paper aims to provide a theoretical conception that establishes growth rate dynamics for co-operatives and studies Moroccan co-operatives’ start-ups and closures, by analyzing the co-operatives’ growth rate speed of adjustment (SOA). Design/methodology/approach: This paper documents the basic patterns of entry and exit flow for agricultural, artisanal, housing and fishery co-operatives; highlights, with econometric tests, whether co-operatives’ growth rate is mean reverting or a unit root random walk; and estimates the growth rate adjustment speed, using a quadratic interval reverting model to capture both the upward and downward speeds of adjustment. Findings: The empirical results indicate that co-operatives’ growth rate is significantly mean reverting for all sectors. Also, it concludes that the upward and downward adjustment speeds are significantly different within and between sectors, with negative indicator for artisanal co-operatives. The paper discusses these results, which are of interest to academics and policymakers. Research limitations/implications: The study does not investigate the causes of the growth rate SOA. Further, in-depth work with the results of this study would help scholars and policymakers to get close to the accurate research questions that characterize the mean reverting and affects the adjustment processes for Moroccan co-operatives. Practical implications: The suggested model – with upward and downward adjustment speeds– could be valuable for policymakers’ strategies on co-operatives’ emergence. Social implications: The paper moves policymakers closer to social work and socio-economic trends to explain the empirical regularities of co-operatives’ dynamics. The model could be of value to avoid a volatile rate of entries and exits, to ensure continuity, to avoid fast failure of co-operative memberships and then to achieve the social inclusion. Originality/value: The paper provides empirical evidence and results for co-operatives’ start-ups and closures adjustment speed and determines the conditions in which government policy must be clarified and specified. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this paper is the first empirical analysis for the co-operatives’ SOA over entry and exit dynamics.