Economic and social rationale of cooperative and social enterprises: theoretical interpretations and empirical analyses

This area includes theoretical and empirical research analysing the specificities of cooperative and social enterprises in order to contribute to a new interpretive framework of the various entrepreneurial forms existing and developing in market economies. This area is central to Euricse’s research activity, since it is both the scientific frame of reference but also a starting point that is common to all the other research areas. Its objective is therefore to investigate the specificities of cooperatives and of social enterprises, their strengths and their limitations. Research activities within this area are inspired by the more recent efforts in the scientific debate, which have questioned the excessive emphasis attributed by neoclassic economic theory to self-interest as the main motivation in decision-making.

The research projects in this area include:
1. theortical analyses aimed at developing new models that can explain the behaviour of social enterprises, identifying the conditions in which they can operate efficiently and the consequences on their stakeholders and the community at large.
2.  empirical research through direct data collection from the cooperatives themselves. This type of analysis entails both the use of existing data sources and original data collection from the field. This research seeks to measure the relevance of specific cooperative sectors (with a special focus on credit, users, and social cooperatives) and the innovations they develop in terms of both products and production processes. Going forward, the data that are gathered and organized can be made available to their researchers and research centers.
3. experimental analysis, bringing lab experiments into the work place and comparing in particular the behaviour of workers in different types of organizations.