The Growth Of Italian Cooperatives

The Italian Cooperative Sector is amongst the largest in the world comprising over 60,000 cooperatives from all sectors of the economy directly employing 1.3 million people. Cooperatives created close to 30 percent of new jobs in Italy between 2001 and 2011 demonstrating that democratic cooperative enterprises can successfully operate in a market economy combining economic success and social responsibility. These offer a viable alternative to profit maximising enterprises and an opportunity to create a more pluralist and democratic market economy. The Growth of Italian Cooperatives: Innovation, Resilience and Social Responsibility comprehensively explains how the Italian cooperative sector has managed to compete successfully in the global economy and to grow during the global financial crisis. This book will comprehensively explain how the Italian cooperative movement has managed to grow into a large successful network of cooperatives. It will examine the legislative framework and their unique business model that allows it to compete in the market as part of a network that includes central cooperative associations, financial and economic consortia, and financial companies. It will explore cooperative entrepreneurship through a discussion of the formation of cooperative groups, start-ups, worker-buyouts and the promotion of entirely new sectors such as the social services sector. Finally, The Growth of Italian Cooperatives examines how cooperatives have managed the GFC and how their behavior differs from private enterprises. It will also analyze the extent to which cooperatives compete while still uphold the key cooperative principles and fulfil their social responsibility. This book is an interdisciplinary study of cooperative development and is designed to inform members of the academic community, government, public policy makers and cooperative managers that are primarily interested in economic democracy, economics of the cooperative enterprise, cooperative networks and economic development, cooperative legislation, democratic governance, job creation programs, politics of inclusion and how wealth can be more equitably distributed.

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.

Cooperative Enterprises is the first textbook to examine the evolution of the cooperative enterprise model and the contribution that cooperatives can make to the economy and society. It provides an accessible overview of the subject, looking at history, cooperative models, theories, legislation, and governance. Cooperative Enterprises takes an international approach throughout, drawing on examples from cooperatives from across the globe. The book offers a valuable historical perspective, placing cooperatives within their political, social, cultural, and economic contexts since the Industrial Revolution. It analyses and compares the cooperative law of 26 jurisdictions and showcases key defining moments for cooperative enterprises, cooperative development models, cooperative‐specific good practice standards, and compares the cooperative model with the private enterprise model, giving readers a comprehensive view of the subject. The book also demonstrates that cooperatives correct the market, complement the role of the state, support local economic development, reduce income and wealth inequalities, promote social cohesion, and promote economic democracy. Students are supported with a range of pedagogical features, including case studies, tables, figures, chapter summaries, and discussion questions to encourage critical thinking. This is the ideal textbook for undergraduate and postgraduate courses on cooperative studies, and will also be an illuminating resource for students, researchers, and policymakers interested in social enterprise, business history, economic history, corporate governance, economic democracy, and community development.

This volume represents the first in-depth study in the English language of the Italian cooperative movement - the largest in Europe with over 70,000 active cooperatives. In the region of Emilia Romagna alone they produce close to 25% of the regional GDP. In particular, he examines the history, the values, the strategy, organisational structure and culture of La Lega (The National League of Cooperatives) which associates 11,000 cooperatives from all sectors employing 220,000 people and as a group of enterprises have become Italy's fourth largest export earner. It is the sheer size and success of these cooperatives that provides practical proof that there is an alternative to private enterprise capitalism namely democratic, collectively owned cooperatives.The main aim of this book is to identify the factors which have enabled cooperatives in Italy to overcome some of the economic and political barriers normally faced by them when competing in Western market economies through an analysis of the relationship that has developed between cooperatives, La Lega and the State.Topics discussed include: an historical overview of cooperative development in Europe and North America; a comparative study of the cooperative sectors in Britain and Mondragon; a discussion on the political and economic barriers faced by cooperatives; an historical analysis of cooperative development in Italy; an explanation of how La Lega operates and how it represents cooperatives' interests in the economic, political and social sphere; original case studies of cooperatives and consortia explain how financial, management and other barriers have been overcome; and, finally, an extensive discussion on the specific character of the Italian State and an explanation of why and when the State is most likely to support cooperatives.

In celebration of cooperatives’ contributions to community development processes and outcomes worldwide, the United Nations designated 2012 as the Year of the Cooperative. Today, as in the past, cooperatives have proved effective in bringing people and organizations together to accomplish a broad array of goals related to fostering social and economic innovation, protecting communities against poor living and working conditions, and promoting a better quality of life. Analytically, as both a movement and as a business model, cooperatives hold much potential for generating the types of synergies, collaboration, and productive and social processes that enable community development to thrive in a variety of local, regional and global contexts. This collection of articles chronicles new developments in the ways in which cooperatives are used in a diverse array of community contexts. They offer insight as to what these changes mean, both empirically and theoretically, for community development in the decades to come. This book is a compilation of articles published in the journal Community Development.

In celebration of cooperatives’ contributions to community development processes and outcomes worldwide, the United Nations designated 2012 as the Year of the Cooperative. Today, as in the past, cooperatives have proved effective in bringing people and organizations together to accomplish a broad array of goals related to fostering social and economic innovation, protecting communities against poor living and working conditions, and promoting a better quality of life. Analytically, as both a movement and as a business model, cooperatives hold much potential for generating the types of synergies, collaboration, and productive and social processes that enable community development to thrive in a variety of local, regional and global contexts. This collection of articles chronicles new developments in the ways in which cooperatives are used in a diverse array of community contexts. They offer insight as to what these changes mean, both empirically and theoretically, for community development in the decades to come. This book is a compilation of articles published in the journal Community Development.

With growing economic inequality and threats to the sustainability of human societies, Koh argues that cooperatives can play an important role in promoting decent work and reducing economic inequality in the twenty-first century and thus urges policy makers to reignite policy discussions on cooperatives. This book shows how worker cooperatives are uniquely situated to empower low- and middle-wage workers and what governments can do to promote them. Koh clarifies the mechanism by which cooperatives create an upper hand over conventional companies in ‘labor-intensive’ sectors, thereby boosting employment potential. He also explains cooperatives’ wide contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including the resilience of cooperatives in times of crises and their potential to address the challenges of aging societies. Furthermore, he provides a foundational work on ‘decentralized supporting mechanisms for cooperatives’ based on the analysis of the case of South Korea, where the number of cooperatives increased by 2,000 percent between 2013 and 2023. Lastly, he explains how to use Official Development Assistance (ODA) to support cooperatives in developing countries, especially Private Sector Instruments (PSIs), which were introduced in 2016 by the Development Assistance Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). This book will be of interest to researchers in the fields of cooperative management, development economics, and heterodox economics, as well as to policy makers and professionals.

This title, originally published in 1925, provides a scientific exploration of some of the forms of co-operative organisation which had attained considerable development in other countries, but were little known to English students of the movement. This account of the co-operative movement in Italy will be of interest to students of economic democracy and economic history.