Market Situation and Competitiveness of Co-operatives in the Last Years of the20th Century and in the First Years the 21st Millenium

This article includes the prezentation of the results of empirical research, which was conducted among managers of consumers. co-operatives (Społem PSS), co-operative creameries and Samopomoc Chłopska co-operatives and concerned economic situation of those entities. From many important, current problems the co-operatives which are specific organizational-proprietary form of conducting economic activity, have to deal with, the research concentrated only on empirical material which could be obtained through a survey which included opinions about:

• the market situation of co-operatives and the level of their competitiveness,
• productive capacity of co-operatives and their production profile.