A rigorous comparative-historical analysis of how co-operative enterprises in different national contexts, this book deploys two different variants of the new institutionalism. Spicer treats the US as a central case of comparative failure, as contrasted to three rich democracies where the co-operative business model has been more successful: Finland, France, and New Zealand.
This book arises from a three-year comparative research program concerning co-operative enterprises in Australia and Italy. The book explores the historical development, legal framework and the peak organisations of co-operatives in the two countries. Specific comparative chapters focus on consumer, credit, and worker-producer co-operatives. The book deepens the analysis of co-operatives by containing chapters that examine specific theoretical and empirical issues such as the theory of co-operative firms as collective entrepreneurial action. Monographic chapters include more in depth analysis of specific typologies of co-operatives, such as social and community oriented co-operatives, some of which were created to contrast organized crime in Southern Italy. The book concludes with an assessment of the implications of the project for public policy.
The United Nations declared 2012 the year of cooperatives, emphasizing that there is an alternative to privately owned firms. While greed and mismanagement have caused world financial and economic crises, co-ops offer another type of business for economic activities that is less exposed to aggressive capitalism. This book provides a problem-oriented overview of the development of cooperatives over the last fifty years. The global study addresses the major challenges cooperatives face, such as the organizational innovations introduced to acquire necessary risk-capital and implement growth-related strategies, the wave of demutualization in developed nations and their ability to construct an original consumer politics. The contributors to this volume discuss the successes and failures of the cooperatives and ask whether they are an outdated model of enterprise. They document a wave of foundations of new co-ops, new forms of collaboration between them and a growing trend toward globalization.
This Handbook investigates all types of 'member owned' organizations, whether consumer co-operatives, agricultural and producer co-operatives, or worker co-operatives among many others. The chapters reflect the latest academic research and thinking on each topic, as well as reporting the relevant policy debates.
Co-operatives provide a different approach to organizing business through their ideals of member ownership and democratic practice. Every co-operative member has an equal vote regardless of his or her own personal capital investment. The contemporary significance of co-operatives was highlighted by the United Nations declaration of 2012 as the International Year of Co-operatives. This book provides an international perspective on the development of co-operatives since the mid-nineteenth century, exploring the economic, political, and social factors that explain their varying fortunes and transformation into different forms. By looking at what co-operatives are; how they have changed; the developments as well as the persecutions of the co-operative movement; and how it is an important force in promoting development and self-sufficiency in non-industrialized areas, this book provides valuable insight not only to academics, but also to practitioners and policy makers.
This open-access book brings together international experts who shed new light on the status of social enterprises, benefit corporations and other purpose-driven companies. The respective chapters take a multidisciplinary approach (combining law, philosophy, history, sociology and economics) and provide valuable insights on fostering social entrepreneurship and advancing the common good. In recent years, we have witnessed a significant shift of how business activities are conducted, mainly through the rise of social enterprises. In an effort to target social problems at their roots, social entrepreneurs create organizations that bring transformative social changes by considering, among others, ethical, social, and environmental factors. A variety of social enterprise models are emerging internationally and are proving their vitality and importance. But what does the term “social enterprise” mean? What are its roots? And how does it work in practice within the legal framework of any country? This handbook attempts to answer these questions from a theoretical, historical, and comparative perspective, bringing together 44 contributions written by 71 expert researchers and practitioners in this field. The first part provides an overview of the social enterprise movement, its evolution, and the different forms entities can take to meet global challenges, overcoming the limits of what governments and states can do. The second part focuses on the emergence of benefit corporations and the growing importance of sustainability and societal values, while also analyzing their different legal forms and adaptation to their regulatory environment. In turn, the last part presents the status quo of purpose-driven companies in 36 developed and emerging economies worldwide. This handbook offers food for thought and guidance for everyone interested in this field. It will benefit practitioners and decision-makers involved in social and community organizations, as well as in international development and, more generally speaking, social sciences and economics.
With contributions from over 30 scholars, A Global History of Consumer Co-operation surveys the origins and development of the consumer co-operative movement from the mid-nineteenth century until the present day. The contributions, covering the history of co-operation in different national contexts in Europe, the Americas, Asia and Australasia, illustrate the wide variety of forms that consumer co-operatives have taken; the different political, economic and social contexts in which they have operated; the ideological influences on their development; and the reasons for their expansion and decline at different times. The book also explores the connections between co-operatives in different parts of the world, challenging assumptions that the story of global co-operation can be traced exclusively to the 1844 Rochdale Co-operative Society. Contributors are: Amélie Artis, Nikola Balnave, Patrizia Battilani, Johann Brazda, Susan Fitzpatrick-Behrens, María Eugenia Castelao Caruana, Kay-Wah Chan, Bernard Degen, Danièle Demoustier, Espen Ekberg, Dulce Freire, Katarina Friberg, Mary Hilson, Mary Ip, Florian Jagschitz, Pernilla Jonsson, Kim Hyung-mi, Akira Kurimoto, Simon Lambersens, Catherine C LeGrand, Ian MacPherson, Francisco José Medina-Albaladejo, Alain Mélo, Jessica Gordon Nembhard, Silke Neunsinger, Greg Patmore, Joana Dias Pereira, Michael Prinz, Siegfried Rom, Robert Schediwy, Corrado Secchi, Geert Van Goethem, Griselda Verbeke, Rachael Vorberg-Rugh, Mirta Vuotto, Anthony Webster and John Wilson.
The concepts of social enterprise and social entrepreneurship are rapidly attracting increased attention in academic spheres and from policy-makers, as well as field workers who are setting up new initiatives or reshaping their organizations. These concepts are perceived as defining innovative and dynamic responses to major global challenges in today’s societies. The debate about social enterprise is now world-wide, with lively exchanges between American and European scholars. However, the research and landscapes still differ significantly in different regions, and diversity also exists within specific regions such as Europe. This book presents the most comprehensive set of contributions reflecting the European-wide debate, but with frequent connections to developments in other parts of the world. This book is a result of work carried out by members of the EMES International Research Network, which is a pioneer in this field. Social Enterprise and the Third Sector will appeal to all researchers who focus on the third sector, social economy and social enterprise, to MBA and postgraduate students, as well as to intellectual social enterprise leaders and practitioners. It will soon become a key reference for all those who want to explore the full richness of these concepts and follow this important academic debate.
This volume addresses the need to revisit the economic theories from the last two decades that have contributed to the development of a concentrated research agenda on nonprofit organizations. Long neglected as a topic of theorizing and empirical investigation by mainstream economics in particular, these initial theories of nonprofit organizations from the late 1970s and early 1980s continue to shape theoretical and conceptual efforts. Importantly, their influence extends beyond economics and informs sociological and politics science approaches to the set of organizations and institutions located between the market firm and the state agency as well. While the theoretical map of nonprofit research has expanded beyond these early attempts and now include several other major theories such as stakeholder approaches, supply-side or entrepreneurial theories, institutional theories and comparative approaches. This work suggests that it is time to take stock and reexamine some of the basics from which these economic theories operate.
