Business Management

This research area welcomes scholars interested in the co-operative sector, an important component of the economy in Europe, in the Americas and in the Asia Pacific, and of developing significance in Africa. The co-operative firm is a very old institution, as is the interest that economics, sociology, history and management have shown in its study. Nevertheless, the attention given to the co-operative economy, in both research and teaching, is limited, if compared to its actual dimension and potential, especially in times of crisis.

This research area is interested in all forms of co-operative businesses: workers' cooperatives; consumer cooperatives; credit unions and banks; users' co-operatives; mutuals and insurances. We are also interested in community-level forms of collective ownership of services and public goods. Co-operatives operate in the most diverse industries, markets and societies. An interdisciplinary research approach is most welcome given the multi-faceted nature of the co-operative movement, whose symbolic birth is held to be in Manchester in 1844, though much older and more primitive forms of co-operatives have existed in Europe (back to the Roman period), Asia (during early Chinese dynasties) and in the Americas (in Pre-Columbian societies).

Some of the recent interest in co-operation has been prompted by the financial crisis and the debate on the failures of capitalism. But even in growth periods, the co-operative model has been praised as an option for very contemporary needs such as workers' participation and involvement, ownership of standards and systems in the digital economy and in creative industries, alternative currencies and peer to peer banking, and self-management of community level services and facilities.

Please submit your abstract (300-750 words) through the online submission system and select Research Area [Z] "Co-Operative Economy and Collective Ownership".
http://eaepe.org/?page=events&side=annual_conference&sub=eaepe2015_abstract_submission

The deadline for abstract submission is 1st May 2015.