ABSTRACT

This chapter outlines some of the new and emergent strategies to deal with this much tougher environment. It shows that the period was not one of unremitting success, that retreat as well as expansion was part of the process of maturation and that some initiatives were an abysmal failure, even though guided by experience and careful future planning. The chapter deals with how political developments affected Co-operative Wholesale Society (CWS) global interests, especially as consumer and other forms of co-operation emerged in other countries. The idea of a stronger CWS presence in the Indian sub-continent as a way of improving quality and reducing purchase prices was strongly revived towards the end of the decade. The facts of such substantial investment in Indian tea estates, Canadian and Australian wheat and later West African imperial palm oil and cocoa demonstrated that co-operation was able to accommodate itself within Empire.