Small to Medium Enterprises (SMEs) can benefit from membership of a co-operative. This study aims to test previous antecedents of why SMEs join a co-operative. We interviewed members and executives of four Australian co-operatives to investigate reasons why SME owners joined them. All interviewees agreed that the co-operative had to provide economic benefits in addition to information, business support, knowledge, and networking. The SME owners’ disposition of collective action towards a common sense of purpose supported the decision to become a member of their co-operatives. Asset, temporal, location & relational specificity provided the external resources through their co-operative to challenge the environmental uncertainty the SMEs faced.

中小型企业（SME）可以从合作社的成员资格中受益。这项研究旨在测试中小企业为何加入合作社的先前条件。我们采访了四个澳大利亚合作社的成员和高管，以调查中小企业所有者加入他们的原因。所有受访者都同意，合作社除了提供信息，业务支持，知识和网络服务外，还必须提供经济利益。中小企业所有者为实现共同目标而采取的集体行动支持了成为合作社成员的决定。资产，时间，位置和关系的特殊性通过他们的合作社提供了外部资源，以挑战中小企业面临的环境不确定性。