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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyze the quality of employment generated by Labour companies and Special Employment Centres, as well as their positive links to social cohesion, in the Autonomous Community of Castilla y Leon. To this end, it considers various indicators of the different dimensions around which the

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Abstract

For Public Administrations or basic public action units that work with the philosophy of market orientation, it is essential to equip them with an information and data analysis system that can simplify decision making targeted at public sector market needs. This paper explains the importance of creating a Market Information System (M.I.S.) as a support tool for decision making in the planning, management and operations of the Basque Country Social Economy Business Intercooperation Promotion Service. In this framework, it discusses the importance of market orientation for the Basque Country Public Administration, as a system for eliciting information from users, understanding their needs, spreading that information and answering these needs in the context of promoting cooperation between social economy businesses in the Basque Country.

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Abstract

The current economic crisis is having severe repercussions on Spain’s budget stability. This article first examines the conceptual framework of budget stability in the European Union, then looks at the fiscal policies being applied in Spain and the present fiscal situation, highlighting the critical state of the country’s public finances. Lastly, adopting a prescriptive approach, it proposes a set of adjustment policies based on curbing current and overhead expenses.

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Abstract

Cooperative societies are among the most dynamic components of the Social Economy. This article aims to verify whether this dynamism is also reflected in their relationship with macroeconomic variables like GDP. The initial hypothesis is that there is a substitution effect between the jobs created by the cooperative societies and the evolution of Spain’s GDP in the 1995-2008 period (quarterly data). The results do not permit confirmation of the apparent independence of the graphs for GDP and employment in cooperative firms. However, employment in cooperative firms was found to show greater strength and stability than the dynamics of total employment in the Spanish economy. These findings must be qualified by reference to various factors, including changes in GDP or the specific period for which the comparison was made.

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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to study the connection between training policy and labour flexibility practices in the Mondragon cooperative corporation, exploring whether this connection might explain Mondragon’s success in dealing with recession. We conducted in-depth interviews with 15 managers from Mondragon’s corporate training centres, some of whom provided internal documents on training and employment policies which have also been incorporated into our analysis. We find that training in general skills can generate competitive advantages in a highly diversified corporation when this training policy goes hand in hand with an employment policy that promotes lifelong employment, functional flexibility and the relocation of employees between the corporation’s different companies. The training policy and the labour flexibility practices developed by Mondragon and their positive effects may be applicable in other corporations and especially in other diversified cooperative groups that aim to maintain employment during economic downturns.

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Abstract

The objective of this work was to investigate the innovative, cooperative and social activities undertaken by Crehnor and their influence on the activities of the cooperative members. This is an exploratory case study. The data were collected from interviews with the President, Managing Director, accountant, two workers and six users of Crehnor. The data were analyzed through an interpretative analysis in the light of selected literature. The significant results were the perception that Crehnor occupies a prominent place in the social practices and the process of social inclusion of its members and other individuals who are excluded from the current bank loan system. Crehnor presents growth and development potential, as these advances are being consolidated by innovations in the bank loan sector, making wealth and income generation possible in the nation’s agribusiness.

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Abstract

Many studies have examined the importance of innovation for the ability of an enterprise to compete. However, work on innovation in social economy enterprises and particularly in labour companies is still scarce. While of an exploratory nature, the present study contributes empirical evidence on which factors (internal and external) explain these social economy enterprises’ attitude to innovation. The results of an empirical study of 218 labour plcs (Sociedades Anónimas Laborales) in Andalucia have made it possible to describe the innovative behaviour of the companies analysed and examine which variables exert the greatest influence in this respect. By this means, the companies have been identified as falling into three groups on the basis of their behaviour in relation to innovation. The main differences between them lie in the variations in their percentages of university-educated staff and in their divergent strategic attitude towards innovation.

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Abstract

Corporate Social Responsibility is a relatively new term that arose as a result of the changes taking place in the economic environment. The concept is not new, however, as this approach has long been a feature of cooperative societies. As the European Commission (2002) stated:

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Abstract

The objective of this paper is to offer a series of contributions to the realm of accountancy in fair trade. The fair trade movement is first situated in the context of development cooperation, then the concept and organisations involved are presented and the accounting requirements for these organisations in Spain are analysed. This is followed by an examination of whether the accounting information that has to be prepared allows relevant aspects of solidarity to be revealed, including identification of the solidarity components of production processes and their accounting status and conceptual analysis of the more relevant qualitative components of the price paid by consumers for fair trade products. The conclusion suggests several proposals for improving the accounting information of these organisations.

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Abstract

The study of management in tourism cooperatives presented in this paper uses a prospective structural analysis matrix to consider factors in the external and internal environment. The study attempts to identify variables that affect the cooperative management of tourism, using the Cooperativa Paranaense de Turismo as a case study, and contemplates both the particular and general view provided by the prospective analysis and by the professionals involved in the study. The results suggest that the cooperative studied is decisively influenced by the variables that involve the human and management aspects of the organization and by the need to work, modernize and adapt to the laws and regulations concerning this sector.