This course seeks to enhance participants' understanding of the internal structure and governance of cooperatives and build their skills for management and governance roles in the operation of a cooperative. It will also develop their understanding of the external pressures that affect cooperatives due to globalization and regulatory pressures for mergers and management controlled boards, demutualization and consolidations in sectors such as credit unions and agriculture. This course has been designed to review the characteristic organizational and governance features of Cooperatives and to examine best practice case models.