No abstract

The special alignment of the principles and effects of the social economy (SE) with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) renders this area especially suitable for the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the achievement of these goals, favoring a paradigm shift towards a new economic system that reconciles growth and sustainability. In this context, governments and institutions can moderate or accelerate this path, with the implementation of a series of policies to promote and drive the social economy. In Spain, responsibility for the design and implementation of such policies is transferred to sub-central governments, known as autonomous communities. Galicia is the first Spanish autonomous community to have its own Act on SE. This article explains the promotion strategy established in this region, which has resulted in an ecosystem favorable to the development and consolidation of the Galician SE, based on a combination of public policies with synergistic effects. The outcome of this ecosystem could have a significant impact on the achievement of several of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially the promotion of equal opportunities (SDG 5), the promotion of decent work and economic growth (SDG 8), and the reduction of inequalities (SDG 10).

To date, entrepreneurship research has rarely focused on cooperatives. Recent research has suggested there is a positive association between cooperatives and women's entrepreneurial activity based on the assumption that this model is especially suitable for women's expectations and is favourable to their economic entrepreneurial development. However, few studies have empirically tested these propositions. This research, which analysed data from 264 Spanish cooperatives, confirms these findings. A mixed-methods approach was used. In the first stage, a Delphi study was run with 11 cooperative entrepreneurship experts to ask what factors may be decisive for women preferring a cooperative model. In the second stage, the factors derived from the Delphi study were used in a survey targeting female cooperative associates. The findings confirmed that female cooperative owners perceived this business model to be aligned with their values and best fit their work and lifestyle. This research contributes to the existing social entrepreneurship literature by providing empirical evidence from the Spanish context that highlights the role of women in cooperatives. The findings also emphasize the need for responsive policies and programmes that promote the cooperative model since it promotes female employment and women's entrepreneurial activity even in periods of economic austerity.Sustainability 2020, 12, 2478 2 of 17 women and men in terms of their levels of participation, access, rights, remuneration, or benefits (European Institute for Gender Equality, EIGE) [8][9][10]. In this vein, Dalkiran [11] recently highlighted the benefits women receive from the membership of cooperative organizations and concluded that female entrepreneurship through cooperatives can facilitate progress in meeting regional and national development targets. Dalkiran's contribution [11] should be considered a first step in a relatively young academic field-women's social entrepreneurship-which has been primarily based on case studies (see, for example, [12,13]). While his study targeted Turkish cooperatives, Dalkiran [11] argued that similar findings might be attained in other cultural settings. As shown, cooperatives can favour women's entrepreneurship as they are owned and self-managed by their workers. Furthermore, cooperatives might be welcoming organizations for women, as well as drivers of equality. If these organizations can act as a fast track for women to become entrepreneurs, they can be a springboard to female empowerment and economic development.Despite the growing popularity of cooperatives and their superior resistance to economic downturns [2,[14][15][16][17], entrepreneurial studies drawing on this business model remain scarce, and Carrasco [18] (p.62) urges future researchers "to better understand the contribution of cooperatives to enable the transformative change required for advancements on gender equality". This study addresses this research gap by examining the main factors that influence women's entrepreneurship by using coope...

El sector lácteo gallego, pese a ser un sector estratégico, se ha caracterizado tradicionalmente por un minifundismo que puede restar potencial competitivo a las empresas que operan en él -muchas, bajo fórmula cooperativa-. En este trabajo se describe el proceso de concentración de tres cooperativas lácteas -Feiraco, Os Irmandiños y Melisanto- a través de la creación de la cooperativa de segundo grado Unión de Cooperativas Lácteas Unidas (CLUN). Este proceso, junto a la actual fusión pilotada por la cooperativa AIRA, contribuye a redibujar el cooperativismo agrario y el sector lácteo en Galicia.El estudio se inicia con una breve descripción del sector agrario, y más en concreto lácteo, en Galicia, contextualizándolo en la evolución del sector en España. A continuación se describe el proceso de creación de CLUN, como ejemplo de concentración en el cooperativismo agrario gallego. Se describen las diferentes entidades que confluyen en la organización resultante, incluyendo las diferentes perspectivas del proceso. Por último, se identifican los retos que debe afrontar CLUN a medio plazo, para finalizar con un conjunto de conclusiones y recomendaciones que identifican un conjunto de buenas prácticas que pudieran contribuir al éxito en este y otros procesos de concentración similares. A este respecto, debe señalarse que el 1 de enero de 2019 CLUN se conforma como cooperativa de primer grado, consolidándose la fusión de las tres cooperativas. Esto sugiere que el proceso de reordenación del cooperativismo agrario en Galicia sigue muy activo, lo que redunda en el atractivo de su seguimiento como objeto de análisis.