Daniel Cöté (l) receives the award from Darryl Reed, president of CASC Daniel Côté, associate professor at the École des Hautes Études Commerciales (HÉC) in Montreal, is the winner of the 2014 CASC Award of Merit, presented by the Canadian Association for Studies in Co-operation (CASC). Professor Côté earned his PhD in Economics from Lousiana State University in 1985. He has been teaching at HÉC since 1983, where he was associated with the Centre for the Management of Co-operatives from 1977 to 2003, including serving as director from 1992 to 2003. Since the winter of 2006, Professor Côté has also been offering the course on “Co-operative Management and Strategic Planning” in the Master of Management, Co-operatives and Credit Unions program at Saint Mary's University (Halifax). Involved in co-operative research for more than 30 years, since the late 1990s Professor Côté has focused on financial services co-operatives. Out of his research has emerged a new co-operative paradigm that examines co-operative management in terms of loyalty, learning organization, mobilization by the values, the quest for meaning and legitimacy. Professor Côté is particularly noted for his use of action research, which he uses to test the relevance of his model, especially with regard to its ability to generate competitive advantages for co-operative businesses. Professor Côté has published extensively, most notably on issues of co-operative management, strategy and entrepreneurship in the financial services and agricultural sectors. He is regularly invited to give lectures on the management of co-operatives, both in Canada and abroad. One of the early members of CASC, Professor Côté’s contributions have also been appreciated by other organizations. In 2004 he received the Association of Cooperative Educators’ (ACE) Award for Outstanding Contributions to Cooperative Education and Training. In 2011 he was elected as a Fellow of the Filene Institute. The award was presented at the 2014 CASC conference, which took place May 26-29 at Brock University in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada.
