Research

The project investigates the potential contribution of enterprises organized as cooperatives in the context of a changing economic and socio-political environment.

We define cooperatives as «an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned and democratically controlled enterprise.»

In our work we seek to provide a broad view of cooperatives by examining data and literature and by engaging with scholars and cooperatives, from a Swiss and an international perspective. Our work also includes other types of organizations that have a social and a business orientation. Our primary motivation is to understand how cooperatives provide answers to grand societal challenges.

The project seeks to create research output on cooperatives and grand societal challenges and to promote the topic by the means of seminar, publications and public events.

Research areas of the project:

– Hybrid organizations
– Grand societal challenges
– Responsible Innovation
– Growth of cooperatives
– Conflicting goals/trade offs
– Participatory Management