This paper describes the role of social enterprises and social cooperatives as a type of nonprofit economic organization that is assuming an increasingly central role in Europe (as demonstrated, for example, by the Social Business Initiative recently launched by the European Commission), contributing to its economic and social growth. Read More
In the European and Italian landscape, community enterprises are emerging, under different institutional forms, as key players in urban regeneration processes. The paper proposes an analysis of the Italian context proceeding from institutionalized organizations to less formal ones: community cooperatives, social enterprises and urban commons linked to social movements. Read More
The implementation of projects producing external effects is often a source of disagreement and conflict between hosting and non-hosting communities. The paper focuses on the impact of participatory ownership on conflict resolution and social welfare in the presence of asymmetric information and imperfect quality monitoring. Read More
The paper deals with the mediating role of immaterial satisfaction between substantive organizational substantive features, defined as resources by on-the-job autonomy, involvement, teamwork and workload pressure, and organizational performance, defined in terms of improvements in product quality and innovation. Read More
Using a stochastic frontier approach, in this paper we analyze the imposition of financial sustainability requirements on the traditional social mission of microfinance--reaching out to the poor. In addition, we ask whether the way ownership is organized and practiced affects the costs of microfinance delivery. Read More
Using a variety of sources, this paper reconstructs the size and proposes an analysis of the economic function of Italian agricultural cooperation, including through a comparison with corporations and with a specific focus on the wine sector. Read More
To address the lack of clarity around the concept of community cooperatives this paper aims to develop a definition consistent with its evolution and the classification of cooperatives we have identified. Read More
Building on evidence from the literature, the paper systematises and highlights some of the potential problems in the governance of cooperative firms concerning the accomplishment of cooperative mutualistic aims. In exploring the internal conditions that may affect cooperative performance, we focus in particular on the role of rules and incentives towards such aims. Read More
Social entrepreneurship in Croatia is a rather new phenomenon and is still poorly developed. The paper continues on from the findings of the author’s PhD research and its intention is to provide an understanding of the socio-economic, political and cultural context in which social entrepreneurship emerges, as well as an overview of the current stage of its development in Croatia. Read More
This work, based on a qualitative survey regarding a representative sample of 1,000 micro, small and medium-sized enterprises, sought to identify the degree of entrepreneurs' knowledge about the Small Business Act (SBA) and recent industrial policy measures, as well as to analyze their most recent economic performance and the main competitiveness factors, both internal and external. Read More
By developing a multiple factor analysis (MFA), this paper aims at deepening the understanding of the economic performance and the employment features of social cooperatives in 2008 (before the crisis) and 2011 (after the beginning of the crisis) in order to better understand how the employment and economic performances of such organisations have changed during the years of the economic crisis. Read More
This paper presents the experience of the Work Integration Social Enterprise (WISE) named Manipulados y Servicios Picarral SL. (MAPISER). This social enterprise is focused on employment and social integration for people with physical, sensory, intellectual, and mental illnesses. Read More