Resource dependence of agriculture cooperative in China

Established spontaneously by farmers to cope market economy, the worldwide success of agricultural cooperative (AC) showed its benefits for upgrading farmers´ systematization level, resisting market risks and raising farmers´ income eventually. Most researchers introduced foreign ACs´ experience, analyzed the necessity of AC´s existence and effects of institution transition to AC. Rarely research has been focused on resource dependence of AC´s development. Based on resource theory, this paper finds clear significance of external resources, such as customer, government and human resources, to AC´s performance by questionnaire survey and data analysis to 118 ACs in Wendeng City, Shandong, China.