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The Italian Road to Creating Worker Cooperatives from Worker Buyouts: Italy s Worker-Recuperated Enterprises and the Legge Marcora Framework

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  • Marcelo Vieta

Abstract

This paper highlights the first phase of a research program, completed in late 2014 and early 2015 that homes in on worker-recuperated enterprises (imprese recuperate dai lavoratori) in Italy. The paper specifically focuses on Italy s worker buyouts (WBOs) facilitated by its Legge Marcora (Marcora Law) framework the form of worker-recuperated enterprises predominating in Italy. The paper first offers a definition of WBOs as a subset of workerrecuperate enterprises. It also reviews the most common scenarios from which WBOs emerge globally. It then overviews Italy s Legge Marcora s legal and financial framework, and situates the emergence of WBOs since the early 1980s as direct responses to market failure, business closures, rising unemployment, and, with the most recent WBOs, coinciding with the Great Recession and subsequent austerity measures that continue to negatively impact the country. The paper then discusses key findings from our research on WBO creation in Italy, touching on their most salient demographic and geographic particularities. Throughout the paper distinguishes Italy s WBOs as exemplar because of their resilience in times of crisis, and the inclusion of multiple stakeholders in its WBO framework, namely: workers, the cooperative sector, and the state.

Suggested Citation

  • Marcelo Vieta, 2015. "The Italian Road to Creating Worker Cooperatives from Worker Buyouts: Italy s Worker-Recuperated Enterprises and the Legge Marcora Framework," Euricse Working Papers 1578, Euricse (European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises).
    • Handle: RePEc:trn:utwpeu:1578
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Marcelo Vieta, 2012. "From Managed Employees to Self-Managed Workers: The Transformations of Labour at Argentina’s Worker-Recuperated Enterprises," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Maurizio Atzeni (ed.), Alternative Work Organizations, chapter 6, pages 129-156, Palgrave Macmillan.
    2. Marcelo Vieta, 2013. "The emergence of the empresas recuperadas por sus trabajadores: A political economic and sociological appraisal of two decades of self-management in Argentina," Euricse Working Papers 1355, Euricse (European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises).
    3. Piergiuseppe Morone & Giuseppina Testa, 2008. "Firms Growth, Size And Innovation An Investigation Into The Italian Manufacturing Sector," Economics of Innovation and New Technology, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(4), pages 311-329.
    4. Lazerson, Mark H & Lorenzoni, Gianni, 1999. "The Firms That Feed Industrial Districts: A Return to the Italian," Industrial and Corporate Change, Oxford University Press and the Associazione ICC, vol. 8(2), pages 235-266, June.
    5. Pasquale Tridico, 2012. "Italy from economic decline to the current crisis," Working Papers 0005, ASTRIL - Associazione Studi e Ricerche Interdisciplinari sul Lavoro.
    6. Franco Amatori & Matteo Bugamelli & Andrea Colli, 2011. "Italian Firms in History: Size, Technology and Entrepreneurship," Quaderni di storia economica (Economic History Working Papers) 13, Bank of Italy, Economic Research and International Relations Area.
    7. Artz, Georgeanne M. & Kim, Younjun, 2011. "Business Ownership by Workers: Are Worker Cooperatives a Viable Option?," Staff General Research Papers Archive 34575, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    8. Dow,Gregory K., 2003. "Governing the Firm," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521818537.
    9. Menzani, Tito & Zamagni, Vera, 2010. "Cooperative Networks in the Italian Economy," Enterprise & Society, Cambridge University Press, vol. 11(1), pages 98-127, March.
    10. Vera Negri Zamagni, 2012. "Interpreting the Roles and Economic Importance of Cooperative Enterprises in a Historical Perspective," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 1(1), pages 21-36, December.
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    12. Audretsch, David B. & Santarelli, Enrico & Vivarelli, Marco, 1999. "Start-up size and industrial dynamics: some evidence from Italian manufacturing," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 17(7), pages 965-983, October.
    13. Ben-Ner, Avner, 1988. "Comparative empirical observations on worker-owned and capitalist firms," International Journal of Industrial Organization, Elsevier, vol. 6(1), pages 7-31, March.
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    Cited by:

    1. Andrea BASSI & Alessandro Fabbri, 2019. "Workers BuyOut: why employee-owned enterprises are more resilient than corporate business in time of economic and financial crisis? The case of Emilia-Romagna Region," CIRIEC Working Papers 1913, CIRIEC - Université de Liège.
    2. Marcelo Vieta & Doug Lionais, 2015. "Editorial: The Cooperative Advantage for Community Development," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 4(1), pages 1-10, August.
    3. Salvatore Monni & Giulia Novelli & Laura Pera & Alessio Realini, 2017. "Workers' buyout: the Italian experience, 1986-2016," Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Issues, VsI Entrepreneurship and Sustainability Center, vol. 4(4), pages 526-539, June.
    4. Andrea Bernardi & Cécile Berranger & Anita Mannella & Salvatore Monni & Alessio Realini, 2022. "Sustainable but Not Spontaneous: Co-Operatives and the Solidarity Funds in Italy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(8), pages 1-15, April.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Worker buyouts; worker-recuperated enterprises; worker-recovered companies; business conversions; worker cooperatives; Legge Marcora; legal framework; enterprise entry and exit rates (birth and death rates); SMEs; Italy;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J01 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - General - - - Labor Economics: General
    • J52 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Dispute Resolution: Strikes, Arbitration, and Mediation
    • J53 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Labor-Management Relations; Industrial Jurisprudence
    • J54 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Producer Cooperatives; Labor Managed Firms
    • K2 - Law and Economics - - Regulation and Business Law

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