Sustainable but Not Spontaneous: Co-Operatives and the Solidarity Funds in Italy

Bernardi, Andrea; Berranger, Cécile; Mannella, Anita; Monni, Salvatore; Realini, Alessio

doi:10.3390/su14084516

Cited by 9 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 23 publications

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“…They were suffering from the results of the Industrial Revolution with low pay, unhealthy cities, and dangerous workplaces resulting in a cooperative existing through mutual self-help. A sense of mutual help has been observed also in other countries, such as Italy, where according to the Law 59 (1992) [40] all cooperatives must transfer to the mutual funds 3% of their profits through an important financing tool that is the solidarity funds (Fondi Mutualistici in Italian). These funds are then collected to reinvest into the creation of new cooperatives and similar projects, a possibility absent for other forms of enterprises.…”

Section: Cooperative Enterprises and Environmental Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 94%

“…In their research on solidarity funds and comparative comparing scenarios from Italy, United Kingdom, and France, Bernardi et al (2022) [40] highlighted a crucial policy implication. They identified the necessity to establish dedicated institutions in countries where cooperatives are lagging behind.…”

Section: Cooperative Enterprises and Environmental Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

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A Bibliometric Analysis on Cooperatives in Circular Economy and Eco-Innovation Studies

Guerreschi,

Díaz López

2023

Sustainability

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Cooperatives address societal challenges embracing values beyond mere profit-oriented production. Considering the ongoing shift to achieve efficient use of resources and increased circularity, cooperatives should be better equipped to incorporate circular economy (CE) and eco-innovation (EI) into their strategies (compared to regular enterprises). This paper reviews the scholarly literature focusing on the application of CE and EI within cooperative studies with the aim to understand the relationships between these topics, identify the existing scholarly communities, and to observe salient research themes. This study refined the method of van den Hoven and Rubalcaba (2016) to conduct a two-step bibliographic review of documents: a thematic analysis of citation data from Scopus (including a manual review of 16 papers) was followed by a bibliometric analysis of 101 documents from Web of Science (using R-Studio’s Biblioshiny). Our results identified three intellectual clusters of cooperative studies focusing on the downstream of CE: (1) industrial ecology; (2) recycling; and (3) waste management. Our study also revealed an emerging scholarly field focused on cooperatives and CE, and with little attention to EI. These findings aim at catalyzing the integration of cooperatives more effectively into scholarly discussions, suggesting that environmental sustainability should be recognized as an additional principle of the cooperative identity—providing a wider perspective that enhances interest in the research of these topics and their interconnections.

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Section: Cooperative Enterprises and Environmental Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 94%

Section: Cooperative Enterprises and Environmental Sustainabilitymentioning

confidence: 99%

A Bibliometric Analysis on Cooperatives in Circular Economy and Eco-Innovation Studies

Guerreschi,

Díaz López

2023

Sustainability

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“…Stakeholder consultations confirmed that one benefit of creating a specific legal form for social enterprises in Slovakia was enabling their access to European Social Funds (OECD, 2022 [2]). Another example is Canada that has created a Social Finance Fund in 2018 which is designed in such way that it can support SSE entities regardless of their activities (Sousa, 2021 [70]). This is an advantage as most grants, subsidies or other finance initiatives are focused on a specific policy objective (e.g.…”

Section: Facilitate Access To Funding and Financementioning

confidence: 99%

Policy Guide on Legal Frameworks for the Social and Solidarity Economy

2023

Local Economic and Employment Development (LEED)

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The social and solidarity economy has gained significant visibility in recent years, spurred in large part by its critical role in responding to COVID-19 and other crises in ways that build resilience. The values of the social and solidarity economy, notably the primacy of people over capital, along with its declared mission to pursue social objectives, put social impact at the core. It has pioneered many new business models such as fair trade, organic trade, and the circular economy. It also addresses social challenges, from assisting refugees to tackling housing and food security issues. It provides jobs as well as essential goods and services, particularly for disadvantaged individuals.Through its proven ability to inspire innovation, the social and solidarity economy can make a powerful contribution to a more just digital and green transition as well as inclusive economic policies. Cooperatives and community-based enterprises mobilise communities around common goals such as reducing carbon emissions or promoting renewable energy. Through education and training programmes, it assists job seekers, the under-skilled, young people, and other disadvantaged groups in developing their capabilities to find employment in an increasingly digital world. And it offers new ways of using digitalisation for peoplecentred approaches, such as through platform cooperatives.Building on decades of work at both the OECD and the EU, we joined forces in 2020 to deliver a Global

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“…Longer life-spans and higher rates of activity are associated with membership to a cooperative association. It is thanks to them that workers can find expert guidance in the WBO process, which is not simple from a business, legal and financial point of view (Bernardi et al, 2022). To some extent, this is a case where cooperatives are better equipped than traditional firms.…”

Section: Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issuesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rescuing firms in a co-operative way: worker buyouts in Italy

Bernardi¹,

Cori²,

Granata³

et al. 2022

JESI

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We have carried out an empirical study of WBOs in Italy since 1985, describing the role of two key institutions -the legal framework and the cooperative associations. WBO operations were officially recognized in 1985 by the Italian policy-maker. The research has led to establishing a sample, wider than any previously done in Italy, resulting from the analysis of data collected by the Legacoop's Area Studi and provided by the main actors in the promotion and financing of WBOs (Cooperazione Finanza Impresa, COOPFOND, Federazione Trentina della Cooperazione) and the data published by Banca Etica and the Italian Network of Recovered Companies. This has led to being able to closely study the effectiveness and features of WBOs in Italy. We found that longer lifespans and higher rates of activity are associated with the membership of a cooperative association. The sectoral and geographic analysis confirms the c onclusions of previous studies, highlighting a clear concentration of WBOs in the Central and North-Eastern regions of Italy and in the manufacturing sector. The average lifespan of the co-operatives, as well as the survival rate, proves the positive economic and social impact of WBOs in times of crisis. The findings have implications that go beyond Italy. We conclude discussing the importance of an appropriate legal framework supporting WBOs and the importance of cooperative associations, including their financial branches.

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Sustainable but Not Spontaneous: Co-Operatives and the Solidarity Funds in Italy

Cited by 9 publications

References 23 publications

A Bibliometric Analysis on Cooperatives in Circular Economy and Eco-Innovation Studies

A Bibliometric Analysis on Cooperatives in Circular Economy and Eco-Innovation Studies

Policy Guide on Legal Frameworks for the Social and Solidarity Economy

Rescuing firms in a co-operative way: worker buyouts in Italy

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