Savings and Credit Cooperatives in Pichincha, Ecuador: Is This a Sustainable Social Management Case?

Abstract

Cooperatives have the potential to develop an economic, social and environmental activity in a sustainable manner. In particular, social management is aimed at meeting the needs of its partners, families and community in an efficient and effective way. A study of social management was carried out in 60 savings and credit cooperatives in Pichincha, Ecuador, to determine if this is carried out under sustainability principles, with the determination that the recognition of social responsibility and the integral management of the economic and social issues, depends on the segment to which they belong, in which the non-definition of the social budget has a negative influence. The ignorance of the partners about the principles of Cooperativism; the inexistence of Cooperative Education Committees, specifically environmental education and action programs; the lack of granting credits for partner undertakings and the non-application of the cooperative social balance sheet are also other issues that damage the correct functioning of these associative forms. There were recognized areas to be strengthened to guarantee the sustainability of cooperatives as an associative form, such as the definition of social objectives; the active participation of the partners in decision-making and of another two interest groups (families and community).

Study of Corporate Sustainability Dimensions in the Cooperatives of Ecuador

“…The specific area of this research is focused on the cooperativism of Ecuador, whose management and study has traditionally been directed towards economic, financial or production matters without considering the activities intended to improve the life quality of stakeholders in a sustainable way [23,25]. Due to this, the preparation of tools which allow the measurement of this construct is key, and, additionally, these tools must meet the specific characteristics of the context where they are going to be applied [39].…”

“…As we have seen before, this research considers the analysis of corporate sustainability in Ecuadorian corporations due to the growing need to investigate the said practices in the area of a solidary and popular economy [23]. The denomination of "solidary and popular economy" is commonly used in Latin American countries.…”

“…Among the institutions that make up this sector, we find cooperatives, savings banks and mutual insurance companies (as well as many others) [24]. Cooperatives can be considered powerful sources of sustainable development [23], given that their principles lead to a balance of financial, human and environmental capital, to satisfy the needs of their global stakeholders [25] based on universally-recognised principles and values [26]. This leads us to analysing if the practices of corporate sustainability of the cooperatives in Ecuador are assessed in accordance with a reliable and appropriate scale.…”

Analysis of the Internal Marketing Dimensions in Social Economy Organizations: Study Applied to Co-operativism in Ecuador

“…With reference to this, Papasolomou and Vrontis (2006) consider that investing in employee motivation is undoubtedly an essential requirement in the search for competitive advantages in businesses. As such, the essence of co-operatives, as social economy businesses, is related to the internal marketing dimensions given that it is based on balance among material, financial, and human resources (Fernández et al, 2018). Similarly, Ahmed and Rafiq (2003) indicated that internal marketing helps the development and maintenance of the inter-functional relationships among employees who, as internal customers, are involved in the co-creation of value, which is used to attain success within the organizations.…”

The Impact of a Recent Natural Disaster on the Japanese Financial Markets: Empirical Evidence

“…The question of what moves markets have been debated for ages (Mentel et al, 2016;Zemlickiene et al 2017;Michailova et al, 2017;Masood et al, 2017;Peker et al 2017;Ahmed et al 2018;Abbas, 2018;Jankelová et al, 2018;Fernández et al, 2018;Veselovsky et al, 2018). The main issue is that the movement in the markets is a result of the pricing of information, the efficient market hypothesis advocated by Malkiel (1962) and Fama (1965), or the reaction of the market participants to the information, behavioural finance theory advocated by Statman (2008) and Subrahmanyam (2007) amongst others.…”