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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.

 

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Scientific coordinator

CARLO BORZAGA is graduate in Social Sciences and specialized in Economics. Associate professor from 1986 and full professor of Economic Policy at the University of Trento, Faculty of Economics since 2001. From 2002 to 2003 chairman of the Evaluation Committee of the University of Trento and from 2003 to 2006 Dean of the Faculty of Economics. From 1996 to 2009 chaired and coordinated the ISSAN – Istituto Studi Sviluppo Imprese Nonprofit - (Research Institute on Nonprofit Enterprises). At present he chairs Euricse – European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises - and the master programme on Management of Social Enterprises (GIS) at the University of Trento. He is a founding member of the network EMES (The Emergence of Social Enterprise in Europe) and chairman of IRIS Network (an Italian network of italian research centres on social enterprises). He is editor of the journal Impresa Sociale and member of the scientific committees of several journals, among them Economia e Lavoro, Revue des études coopératives mutualistes et associatives, Social Enterprise Journal. He has collaborated with several national (Ministero del Lavoro, Ministero della Famiglia e della Solidarietà Sociale, ISFOL, ISTAT Fondazione per il Volontariato, Provincia Autonoma di Trento) and international (Unione Europea, OCDE, ILO) institutions.

Project List

The contribution of cnstitutional and behavioural theory for understanding cooperatives and social enterprises

The objective of the project is the creation of a new theoretical framework concerning the variety of entrepreneurial forms existing and developing in market economies. The new approach devotes particular attention to the contribution of behavioural economics in order to understand individuals’ motivations and values, organizational aims and their linkage with governance structures, and the evolution of motivations and organizations over time. The research project combines theoretical explanations with empirical analyses and experimental designs, with special interest for workers in cooperative and social enterprises.

Users’ Cooperatives in Public Services: A Comparative Study

The main goal of this research project is to investigate users’ cooperatives in public service delivery in Italy, France, Germany, United Kingdom and Spain. In Italy in particular, the research focuses on users’ cooperatives supplying water, energy, waste, transportation and telecommunication services at the local level.
As for Italy, a complete database of users’ cooperatives in public service delivery did not exist at the national level. Given the lack of statistical data, various secondary sources and data have been used that are not completely comparable. These data have been integrated by empirical research through questionnaires.

Processes of differentiation and innovation in social enterprises

This project, begun in mid-2010, investigates how innovation is articulated within social cooperatives, differentiating between product, process, sector and end user innovations. The data is collected by administering questionnaires and conducting interviews.