Innovating together: cooperatives’ communication as knowledge flows and innovation

Communication is vital for innovation, which in cooperatives involves the exchange of ideas and insights from customers and suppliers, as well as members and employees. As such, innovation necessitates both vertical knowledge flows within the cooperative between the members, the management, and the staff and horizontal knowledge flows that communicate needs and requirements across the value chain in which the cooperative is embedded. By surveying New Zealand’s cooperatives, the authors investigate the relationship between internal (top-down and bottom-up) and external (inside-out and outside-in) communication as knowledge flows and innovation. They discuss why the types of knowledge flows that cooperatives support influence their innovativeness and the implications of this for contributing toward ecological, social and economic sustainability. The insights provided here contribute to a deeper understanding of cooperatives’ communication channel management, demonstrating the cooperatives’ potential to contribute to sustainable economic development.