The goal of the present paper is to analyze hybrids (introduced within the New Institutional Economics) through the lenses of cooperative theory. The logical basis of this approach is provided by the fact that cooperatives are hybrids and that there have already been attempts at analyzing hybrids as cooperatives. It is demonstrated that these attempts lacked methodological support. Analysis of the activity of cooperatives demonstrated that cooperatives can be formed within active (in this case formation of the cooperative is initiated by its future members) and passive (cooperative is formed by an external structure) approach. Cooperation between members can be explicit or implicit. It helped to divide cooperatives into four groups (on the basis of the criteria of combination of way of formation and model of cooperation). The notion of induced cooperative was introduced. Induced cooperative is a cooperative formed by an external coordinator, based on implicit cooperation and oriented towards interests of its members. Advantages of induced cooperatives in comparison with classic cooperatives were described. This analysis allowed to identify sharing platforms and franchising networks as cooperatives. Differences between franchising networks and traditional cooperatives were described. The paper demonstrates that this division into four groups is applicable to hybrids in general.