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Abstract

The aim of this paper is to analyse the characteristics and problems of the two types of social economy company that have shown the greatest growth in recent years –cooperatives and labour companies– as motors of entrepreneurship in Andalusia. Although they have been studied from various perspectives, no in-depth studies analysing entrepreneurs were found in the literature, at least as far as the Andalusian Autonomous Community is concerned. A comparative analysis was therefore carried out to establish the potential advantages and disadvantages of the two company types and an empirical study was conducted to examine the particular personal, social and economic traits of entrepreneurs who have decided to form a company of one of these types, trying to establish what might be termed the profile of the typical social economy entrepreneur in Andalusia.

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Abstract

Entrepreneurship and entrepreneurs are fashionable concepts in Spain. Governments and various public authorities promote initiatives that seek to boost, recognise or support entrepreneurs. This paper seeks to clarify the situation of entrepreneurship in Spain, particularly social entrepreneurship. It distinguishes between models of entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship, led by social enterprises and social economy organisations, which have different characteristics to traditional business enterprises. It undertakes a critical analysis of the impact, consequences and opportunities afforded by legislative reforms (national and some regional) in supporting or stimulating entrepreneurs and the impact of these reforms on social economy entities, the principal architects of social entrepreneurship.

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Abstract

In recent years, Andalusia has shown rising export growth. At the same time, the weight of the social economy in the region’s GDP has increased. This article verifies the increase in Andalusian exports and shows that internationalisation is a competitive necessity. It focuses on how social economy companies are a particularly revealing sector from this point of view, highlighting the province of Seville because it holds the greatest weight of Andalusian social economy enterprises and a considerable part of the Andalusian business network. Because of the lack of knowledge of this growing sector’s influence and the absence of relational data bases that reveal how the social economy of Andalusia operates, the goal of this research was to discover more about the evolution of regional export activity, from a retrospective point of view, and, specifically, the export performance of Seville’s social economy.

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Abstract

The current financial crisis has caused a major restructuring of the Spanish banking system, forcing banks to adapt quickly to the new regulatory and economic environment. In this context, credit unions have shown differentiating behaviour, not only compared to other banks but also between members of the same cooperative sector. The aim of this paper is to present empirical evidence for the differential response of Spanish credit unions during the restructuring process carried out since 2008, in terms of credit supply, profitability, solvency and efficiency; showing, in turn, that the observed asymmetries between cooperative banking institutions are explained primarily by their size and degree of capitalisation.

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Abstract

A la luz de la teoría de contratos, como parte de la microeconomía y de la ciencia de la economía en general, la presente investigación se orienta al estudio de las relaciones contractuales en el sector de las finanzas populares, particularmente en el Municipio de Querétaro, México. En ésta se identifican las metodologías e instrumentos que son utilizados por las organizaciones de las finanzas populares para atenuar los efectos de la información asimétrica que está presente entre las partes contractuales. También es importante la contribución que se hace a manera de propuestas, al contrastar lo observado en campo con lo que la teoría señala, sobre las diferentes alternativas que las organizaciones tienen para perfeccionar sus formas de trabajar con el fin de incidir en amplios sectores de población que todavía demandan servicios financieros.

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Abstract

Cooperatives, like any other enterprise, need to make a commitment to innovation in products, services and production processes in order to maintain and improve their competitive position, taking into account in particular that it is essential for their human capital to be capable of assimilating the changes resulting from these processes. From this point of view, they have an exceptional instrument in the education, training and promotion fund, endowed from the cooperative surpluses precisely with the purpose of training the employees to meet the demands of the work being done at any given time, so they can adapt faster to the changes required by innovation. The aim of this study was to analyse the influence of certain indicators, related to profitability, solvency, debt, growth and the number of employees, on value creation in intangible assets that show a greater commitment to innovation. In order to identify differences between innovative and non-innovative enterprises in a sample of non-financial cooperatives, univariate and multivariate analyses were performed on these financial indicators for the 2009-2011 period.

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Abstract

Associations in rural areas have traditionally been pointed to as a factor that contributes to the development of small and medium-sized farming. From 1990 to the present, the number of associations in Argentina has multiplied among family farms. Hundreds of new associative partnerships have emerged, self-generated or promoted by public or private rural development programs, but although they are characterized by the cooperative activity of their members, they have not adopted this traditional legal form. The objective of this paper is to outline a set of notions that define the vast and diverse universe of associations identified as Economic Associations of Family Farms (AEAF) by constructing a series of ideal types, in order to propose a tool for an empirical approach to their study in different local, national and regional situations.

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Abstract

Associative agri-food enterprises are important in strengthening the economic position of farmers and promoting regional development and rural employment. However, to encourage the development of economic and social activities they need to adopt important modernisation, business management and marketing measures. The quality of accounting information is essential for businesses, as it facilitates decision-making and improves their chances of attracting financial resources. The aim of this article is to explore and compare the quality of the accounting information provided by cooperatives and agri-food SATs in the last decade and discover which group has provided higher-quality financial information.

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Abstract

Social responsibility has become a key factor for organisations. In recent years the number of organisations that perform actions to improve the economic, social and environmental surroundings in which they conduct their activity has increased. It is no longer considered daring to accept that the commercial notion of business has to be replaced by a sustainable conception in which the economic aim of the business activity is completed by achieving diverse social and environmental goals. The current challenge of these organisations is to measure, control and communicate the results of their actions, so various tools have been created to manage this type of information. One outstanding tool of this type is the social balance. This paper analyses the results of the social balance in a group of organisations that operate in the social and solidarity economy.

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Abstract

This study aimed to measure the savings in corporate income tax made by cooperatives in Spain during the 1999-2009 period. The method used was a longitudinal study that analysed the total revenue collected in Spain by tax rate, first examining corporate income tax in general and then the effective tax rate (ETR) paid by cooperative societies. The most important finding is the existence of regional differences in corporate income tax payments, as different regions apply different effective tax rates. In practice, this means that there are variations in the impact of public policies, specifically tax policies. It was also found that the effectiveness of this tax is limited, as the tax savings were concentrated in only 43% of companies, which are those that make a profit.