중소기업협동조합법 제 1조에는 다음과 같이 기술되어 있다: “이 법은 중소기업자가 서로 힘을 합하여 협동 사업을 추진하는 협동 조직의 설립ㆍ운영 및 육성에 관한 사항을 정하여 중소기업자의 경제적인 기회균등을 기하고 자주적인 경제 활동을 북돋우어 중소기업자의 경제적 지위의 향상과 국민경제의 균형 있는 발전을 꾀함을 목적으로 한다.”. 즉 상호부조 정신에 기초하여 중소기업 간 협력적 체계를 도모함으로써 시장 친화적 방식으로 공동의 이익을 만들어 가며 중소기업들의 경쟁력을 강화할 수 있을 것으로 기대하고 있다. 본 연구는 중소기업협동조합법 제 1조의 핵심내용인 중소기업자 경제적 지위 향상 및 국민경제발전 기여 가능성을 경제학적 관점에서 분석하고자 한다. 본 연구는 협동조합이 공동연구개발(cooperative research and development)을 수행함으로써 중소기업 간 결합이윤(joint profits)을 극대화하는 상황을 상정한 후 분석한다. 본 연구는 수량경쟁모형에 근거하여 1기에서 기업들(협동조합에 속하지 않은 개별기업과 협동조합에 속한 기업들)이 연구개발투자를 진행하고 2기에서 기업들은 이윤극대화를 위한 생산량을 선택한다. 이를 근거로 협동조합의 경제 각 구성원(생산자, 소비자, 정부) 및 사회 전반에 대한 경제적 이익창출 여부 및 중소기업협동조합의 존재 유무에 따른 사회후생개선여부 등을 파악한 후 정책적 시사점을 도출한다. 주요 결론은 소개하면 다음과 같다. 먼저, 개별기업차원보다 협동조합차원에서 더 높은 연구개발투자 수준을 달성한다. 둘째, 협동조합에 참여하지 않는 기업들의 생산량과 이윤은 감소하는 반면 협동조합에 참여한 기업들의 생산량과 이윤은 증가한다. 셋째, 협동조합에 대한 정부규제가 낮을수록 소비자잉여의 개선이 발생한다. 넷째, 협동조합의 존재는 사회후생의 개선을 항상 보장하며, 협동조합에 대한 정부의 규제수준이 낮을수록 사회후생은 더욱 증가한다.
Since the past, the Korean government has suggested small and medium-sized cooperatives as an efficient alternative to ease the economy led by large corporations and promote balanced development of the national economy. Article 1 of the Small and Medium Business Cooperatives Act states: “This Act establishes, establishes, operates, and fosters cooperative organizations in which small and medium-sized enterprises work together to promote cooperative projects, thereby ensuring equal economic opportunities for small and medium enterprises. It aims to improve the economic status of SMEs and promote the balanced development of the national economy by encouraging independent economic activities.”. In other words, it was expected that by promoting a cooperative system between SMEs based on the spirit of mutual aid, they would be able to reinforce the competitiveness of SMEs by making common interests in a market-friendly manner. However, small and medium-sized cooperatives in Korea are artificially formed by the government, and have a different character from the naturally occurring corporate cooperatives in Europe and other advanced countries. It can be seen that cooperatives, which have been led by the government"s policy judgment since the past, are rather dysfunctional due to large and small regulations. There are not many existing studies related to SME cooperatives, and most studies are based on legal system or institutional analysis. However, the purpose of the SMEs" Cooperative Act presented above is to improve the economic status of SMEs and to achieve balanced development of the national economy. Therefore, an analysis that can support this on the basis of economic grounds is needed. This study analyzes the universal functions of SME cooperatives and whether they can create and maximize economic benefits of each member of the economy (producers, consumers, governments) and society as a whole. In addition, social welfare changes according to the existence of small and medium-sized cooperatives will be identified, and policy implications will be drawn based on this. To analyze this, we construct a game-theoretical model in which small and medium-sized enterprises seek to their profit by performing a cooperative cost-reducing investment. We focus on the analyze of changes in consumer surplus, producer surplus, and government surplus. We obtain the following results. First, in the case of R&D investment through cooperatives, subsidy expenditure increases as the number of companies not investing in R&D increases, and subsidy expenditure decreases as the number of companies that conduct R&D investment increases. Second, when the efficiency of cooperatives increases, the output and profits of companies that do not participate in the cooperatives decrease, while the production and profits of companies that participate in the cooperatives increase. Third, if there are no regulations related to co-operatives and the R&D cost is the same, R&D investment through co-operatives always brings improved results compared to individual R&D investments. Fourth, the higher the government regulation on cooperatives, the greater the profits of companies that do not invest in R&D. Fifth, the higher the government regulation on cooperatives, the lower the profits of companies conducting R&D investment. Sixth, the higher the government regulation on cooperatives, the lower the profits of companies conducting R&D investment. Finally, with the existence of cooperatives, social welfare always improves, and the lower the regulation, the more social welfare increases. In the light of the main conclusions, cooperatives can be understood as a purely functional tool that not only improves economic inefficiency, but also increases the interests of each economic entity and the national economy as a whole. If the level of government regulation on the establishment and operation of cooperatives is lowered, the net function of cooperatives will be expanded and the welfare of the national economy will increase.