Cooperative Economics & Management
Dear friends of the Chaire SFPI & the Cooperative Economy,
We would hereby like to invite you to the upcoming events of the Chaire.
March 1, 13:45-17:30: Cross-Examining the Cooperative Principles
The ICA Cooperative Principles and Values govern cooperatives globally. Are they well understood by cooperative enterprises internationally? Or in different sectors? We are especially interested in juxtaposing the principle and practice of Principle #2: democratic member participation with the call for Democratizing Work. Another issue that will be discussed and debated is the possibility of measuring firm democracy. We will have interventions from cooperative practitioners, including Sarah de Heusch from Smart and Jacques Debry from Febecoop, as well as from researchers, like Isabelle Ferreras, Lucio Biggiero and Jerome Warren. The event will be hybrid, so there will also be the option to participate virtually.
Location: Salle Bordet, Ecuries Royales
Register online: http://tiny.cc/ICAvalues
March 2, 14:00-16:30: The Network Perspective on Social Phenomena
In this third internal SFPI workshop, our guest, Prof. Lucio Biggiero of the University of L’Aquila in Italy will argue that social phenomena have two ontological dimensions: an attributive dimension, which refers to attributes of single elements, and a relational dimension, which refers to the connections between elements. The two dimensions are relatively (not totally) independent. From a methodological perspective, the former is the field of application of standard statistics, while the latter of network analysis. If we want to well understand social phenomena, we need to investigate on both them, because they occur in/through structures (networks).
If we look at the (short) history of Social Network Analysis, in order of appearance from the thirties, we see psychology, sociology, anthropology, management/organization studies. Economics came as last, and still now most of each branches are reluctant to adopt it. It will be argued that this fact has a precise reason, lying in the substantial incompatibility of standard economics with the relational/structural dimension.
Location: Salle Bordet, Ecuries Royales
Register online: http://tiny.cc/ARB_network
May 15, 12:00-17:00: Inter-University Seminar on “Making the Firm Itself Sustainable”.
This event would look not at firms making investment X or Y, but rather what types of governance reforms can be instituted to render firm processes and outcomes more consistent with the demands of both ecological and social sustainability? We will look at both internal reforms, as well as reforms with issues of reporting. The focus will be on developing a synthetic, transdisciplinary understanding of the suitable dynamics and processes that are conducive to the goal of long-term viability of the organization.
The program for this event is not yet finalized and we will be sending out final invitations as soon as it is complete.
Location: TBD
Online Registration: TBD
June (possibly 14): Purpose Enterprises, Mission Enterprises & Accountability
An event the Chaire SFPI is co-organizing with the Solvay Business School, investigating so-called “purpose enterprises”, including the French variant of the “Entreprise à Mission”, according to governance and outcomes.
Location: Solvay Business School
September 18, 22 or 25: Organizational Transitions, ESOPs, Collective Entrepreneurship
A workshop on organizational transitions. In particular, we’re curious to profile the “Employee Stock Ownership Plan” (ESOP) model of leveraged buyouts on the part of workers, clients or other firm stakeholders. This event will partly reflect on the results of a similar policy workshop at the end of August at Oxford University. The Brussels event will attempt to profile the varieties of transitions that exist, from the Anglo-American models of ESOP and EOT (Employee Ownership Trust) to the “Slovenian model” of ESOP promoted by David Ellerman and the Institute for Economic Democracy and that has been taken up by that country’s government, all the way to the transformation of the French SCOP model with notions like the dividende salarié, called for by Timothee Duverger.
Location: Ecuries Royales, Rue Ducale 1, Brussels
Online Registration: TBD
October 25 (17:00): The Role of the Firm in the Cooperative Economy: Past, Present, Future
Taking up the relational perspective advanced in the last two College Belgique talks in 2022, I intend in this lecture to relate how, across history and in different geographical settings, communities have used the firm as a tool for not only providing for their members’ needs, but how they have been enabled to transform the entrepreneurial function, the investment function and others, towards a more relational approach, emphasizing processes like education. I will stop at pioneers like Robert Owen (1771–1858), as well as the Rochdale pioneers, outlining how a particular “species” of firm — a mutation — arose almost immediately at the outset of what is termed “capitalism”.
I will continue by discussing the shift, both within the formal cooperative movement and in more traditional firms, that occurred as a result of new conditions, which I will argue compelled a re-thinking of certain standard practices. This includes demographic changes like the increasing participation of women in the workforce and the rise of neoliberalism, but also via awareness of climate change and biodiversity loss.
In the concluding portion of the talk, I will investigate current trends and developments within both theories and practices of the firm. I home in especially on several crises or dilemmas currently facing stakeholders globally: surveillance, electoral manipulation and de-legitimation of much of the political and economic processes. I attempt to outline some prospects for the firm to play a role in resolving these dilemma.
Location: Rue Ducale 1, Brussels
October 26 (17:00): Firm Succession: Social & Ecological Implications & Alternatives to Trade Sales, Mergers & Acquisitions
Coming in the wake of both the Oxford and Brussels policy workshops on company transitions, as well as significantly increased interest in the transition of companies to more fully serving local stakeholders globally, this talk will summarize the state of the art in terms of alternative practices to the firm trade sale. What policy mix, which incentives and which legal regimes can foster company transitions that substantively contribute to the goal of a just transition (i.e., both ecological and social sustainability)? What are the relative outcomes of “converted” firms viz. those sold via trade sales? Are “converted” firms either more efficient (internal value) or effective (external value) than their traditional counterparts? These and similar questions will form the core of the talk.
Location: Rue Ducale 1, Brussels
Cooperative Economics & Management 