Cooperative Networks in the Italian Economy

TLDR

Business network literature offers interpretative lines that can be applied to the cooperative sector. The study analyzes Italian cooperative networks to explain their success over the past 30 years and proposes a typology to assess competitive advantages, governance, evolution, and impact. The authors construct a typology of Italian cooperative networks to evaluate competitive advantages, governance, evolution, and impact. Co‑ops heavily use networks, which could be further strengthened by merging umbrella organizations, and large cooperative corporations and joint‑stock companies often arise from networking.

Abstract

This paper analyzes cooperative enterprises' networks in the Italian economy, in accordance with recent economic theory, to throw light on the causes of their success of in the last 30 years. We reference the vast literature about business networks to identify some interpretative lines that can be transferred to the cooperative world. On this basis, a typology of the Italian cooperative networks is offered, in order to evaluate the competitive advantages of each type of net, their governance methods, their evolution, and their impact on the recent flourishing of Italian cooperatives. Our conclusion is that the use of networks by co-ops has been very intensive and can still be strengthened, if Italian co-op umbrella organizations will merge. Building large cooperative corporations was often the result of networking, as was the creation of joint stock companies owned by cooperatives.