Research Article
Organizational Learning in Making the Cooperative Industrial Park: The Case Study of iCOOP Korea’s Guyre Natural Dream Park
1 Sungkonghoe University
Published: January 2023 · Vol. 27, No. 3 · pp. 25-46
Full Text
Abstract
This research aims to explore and illustrate how the rural cooperative industrial park, Gurye Natural Dream Park in South Korea, has been established. We employ the case study method and the perspective of learning and knowledge practices, especially ‘knowing-in-practice,’ which emphasizes the importance of ongoing and situated action, insisting on the essential role of human agency in accomplishing knowledgeable work. Although Gurye Natural Dream Park as a case of cooperative innovation has been discussed by several researchers, there are no scholarly papers using knowledge practices and learning. Gurye Natural Dream Park was built by Korea’s largest consumer cooperative, iCOOP Korea. It is a rural cooperative industrial complex built upon different processes and concepts. The research finding is that in making a rural cooperative industrial park, the four practices can account for how Gurye Natural Dream Park are created: eco-friendly practice as common identity, experimental practice as shared experiences, dynamic action practice as collaborative work, and interactive practice as communication. Through these practices, Gurye Natural Dream Park can be considered the ‘space of life’ by the perspective of knowing-in-practice.
