IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i5p2082-d329958.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Community-Based Cooperatives: A New Business Model for the Development of Italian Inner Areas

Author

Listed:
  • Luigi Mastronardi

    (Department of Economics, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, Italy)

  • Luca Romagnoli

    (Department of Economics, University of Molise, 86100 Campobasso, Italy)

Abstract

Italian municipalities distant from main service supply hubs are defined by the Development Ministry as “inner areas”. A new business model, called community-based cooperatives, has recently developed in these areas. The name itself highlights the strong link between these firms and the local population. Their essential features are the pursuit of general interest and the creation of partnerships. This research explores the potential contribution of these enterprises to the growth of Italian inner areas. The data come from a direct survey, and the methodology includes text analysis techniques and correspondence analysis to create useful concept maps that define the paths that community-based cooperatives can take to regenerate their territories. The results highlight the critical issues of inner areas and the needs of their communities, together with the potential fields of business for the establishment of a community-based cooperative. In conclusion, these new firms may lead to real and enduring benefits to local communities. They could also contribute to demographic decline inversion by introducing new practices that reduce inequalities, enhance social, natural, and artificial capital, and boost the sustainable development process.

Suggested Citation

  • Luigi Mastronardi & Luca Romagnoli, 2020. "Community-Based Cooperatives: A New Business Model for the Development of Italian Inner Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(5), pages 1-13, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:5:p:2082-:d:329958
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/5/2082/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/5/2082/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pedro Núñez-Cacho & Valentín Molina-Moreno & Francisco A. Corpas-Iglesias & Francisco J. Cortés-García, 2018. "Family Businesses Transitioning to a Circular Economy Model: The Case of “Mercadona”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-19, February.
    2. Luigi Mastronardi & Vincenzo Giaccio & Luca Romagnoli, 2019. "Community-Based Cooperatives as an innovative partnership to contrast inner areas decline," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 21(2), pages 195-216.
    3. Pier Angelo Mori, 2013. "Customer ownership of public utilities: new wine in old bottles," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 2(1), pages 54-74, August.
    4. Eduardo Ortas & Igor Álvarez & Ainhoa Garayar, 2015. "The Environmental, Social, Governance, and Financial Performance Effects on Companies that Adopt the United Nations Global Compact," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(2), pages 1-25, February.
    5. Pilone, E. & Demichela, M., 2018. "A semi-quantitative methodology to evaluate the main local territorial risks and their interactions," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 77(C), pages 143-154.
    6. Forleo Maria Bonaventura & Giaccio Vincenzo & Mastronardi Luigi & Palmieri Nadia & Giannelli Agostino, 2017. "Socio-Economic Drivers, Land Cover Changes and the Dynamics of Rural Settlements: Mt. Matese Area (Italy)," European Countryside, Sciendo, vol. 9(3), pages 435-457, September.
    7. Rosa Rivieccio & Lorenzo Sallustio & Massimo Paolanti & Matteo Vizzarri & Marco Marchetti, 2017. "Where Land Use Changes Occur: Using Soil Features to Understand the Economic Trends in Agricultural Lands," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(1), pages 1-20, January.
    8. Matteo Vizzarri & Lorenzo Sallustio & Davide Travaglini & Francesca Bottalico & Gherardo Chirici & Vittorio Garfì & Raffaele Lafortezza & Donato Salvatore La Mela Veca & Fabio Lombardi & Federico Maet, 2017. "The MIMOSE Approach to Support Sustainable Forest Management Planning at Regional Scale in Mediterranean Contexts," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(2), pages 1-16, February.
    9. Bill Hopwood & Mary Mellor & Geoff O'Brien, 2005. "Sustainable development: mapping different approaches," Sustainable Development, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(1), pages 38-52.
    10. Stefano Duglio & Alessandro Bonadonna & Marilisa Letey & Giovanni Peira & Laura Zavattaro & Giampiero Lombardi, 2019. "Tourism Development in Inner Mountain Areas—The Local Stakeholders’ Point of View through a Mixed Method Approach," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-19, October.
    11. Ivana Živojinović & Alice Ludvig & Karl Hogl, 2019. "Social Innovation to Sustain Rural Communities: Overcoming Institutional Challenges in Serbia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(24), pages 1-27, December.
    12. Halima Sacranie, 2012. "Hybridity Enacted in a Large English Housing Association: A Tale of Strategy, Culture and Community Investment," Housing Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 27(4), pages 533-552.
    13. Mariale Moreno & Carolina De los Rios & Zoe Rowe & Fiona Charnley, 2016. "A Conceptual Framework for Circular Design," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(9), pages 1-15, September.
    14. Valentín Molina-Moreno & Juan Carlos Leyva-Díaz & Jorge Sánchez-Molina, 2016. "Pellet as a Technological Nutrient within the Circular Economy Model: Comparative Analysis of Combustion Efficiency and CO and NO x Emissions for Pellets from Olive and Almond Trees," Energies, MDPI, vol. 9(10), pages 1-16, September.
    15. Giulia Urso & Marco Modica & Alessandra Faggian, 2019. "Resilience and Sectoral Composition Change of Italian Inner Areas in Response to the Great Recession," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(9), pages 1-15, May.
    16. Emilio Chiodo & Héctor Luis Adriani & Fernando Pablo Navarro & Rita Salvatore, 2019. "Collaborative Processes and Collective Impact in Tourist Rural Villages—Insights from a Comparative Analysis between Argentinian and Italian Cases," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(2), pages 1-22, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Mastronardi, Luigi & Giannelli, Agostino & Romagnoli, Luca, 2021. "Detecting the land use of ancient transhumance routes (Tratturi) and their potential for Italian inner areas’ growth," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 109(C).
    2. Walter Perpétuo Ribas & Bruno Pedroso & Leandro Martinez Vargas & Claudia Tania Picinin & Miguel Archanjo de Freitas Júnior, 2022. "Cooperative Organization and Its Characteristics in Economic and Social Development (1995 to 2020)," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-22, July.
    3. Maddalena Ferretti & Sara Favargiotti & Barbara Lino & Diana Rolando, 2022. "Branding4Resilience: Explorative and Collaborative Approaches for Inner Territories," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-33, September.
    4. Saeed Nosratabadi & Nesrine Khazami & Marwa Ben Abdallah & Zoltan Lackner & Shahab S. Band & Amir Mosavi & Csaba Mako, 2020. "Social Capital Contributions to Food Security: A Comprehensive Literature Review," Papers 2012.03606, arXiv.org.
    5. Denise Díaz de León & Omar Díaz Fragoso & Igor Rivera & Gibrán Rivera, 2021. "Cooperatives of Mexico: Their Social Benefits and Their Contribution to Meeting the Sustainable Development Goals," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(5), pages 1-19, April.
    6. Luca Romagnoli & Paola Di Renzo & Luigi Mastronardi, 2022. "Modelling Income Drivers in Peripheral Municipalities: The Case of Italian Inner Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-16, November.
    7. Christian Rainero & Giuseppe Modarelli, 2020. "The Attractive Power of Rural Destinations and a Synergistic Community Cooperative Approach: A “Tourismability” Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(17), pages 1-41, September.
    8. Donato Morea & Elisa Gebennini & Andrea Mazzitelli & Maria Simona Andreano & Gianpaolo Basile & Gandolfo Dominici, 2021. "New Challenges for Sustainable Organizations in Light of Agenda 2030 for Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(4), pages 1-3, February.
    9. Calderini, Mario & Fia, Magali & Gerli, Francesco, 2023. "Organizing for transformative innovation policies: The role of social enterprises. Theoretical insights and evidence from Italy," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 52(7).
    10. Mastronardi, Luigi & Giagnacovo, Maria & Romagnoli, Luca, 2020. "Bridging regional gaps: Community-based cooperatives as a tool for Italian inner areas resilience," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Mastronardi, Luigi & Giagnacovo, Maria & Romagnoli, Luca, 2020. "Bridging regional gaps: Community-based cooperatives as a tool for Italian inner areas resilience," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 99(C).
    2. Ionica Oncioiu & Sorinel Căpuşneanu & Mirela Cătălina Türkeș & Dan Ioan Topor & Dana-Maria Oprea Constantin & Andreea Marin-Pantelescu & Mihaela Ștefan Hint, 2018. "The Sustainability of Romanian SMEs and Their Involvement in the Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-19, August.
    3. Pedro Núñez-Cacho & Valentín Molina-Moreno & Francisco A. Corpas-Iglesias & Francisco J. Cortés-García, 2018. "Family Businesses Transitioning to a Circular Economy Model: The Case of “Mercadona”," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(2), pages 1-19, February.
    4. De Toni, Andrea & Vizzarri, Matteo & Di Febbraro, Mirko & Lasserre, Bruno & Noguera, Joan & Di Martino, Paolo, 2021. "Aligning Inner Peripheries with rural development in Italy: Territorial evidence to support policy contextualization," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 100(C).
    5. Luigi Mastronardi & Vincenzo Giaccio & Luca Romagnoli, 2019. "Community-Based Cooperatives as an innovative partnership to contrast inner areas decline," Economia agro-alimentare, FrancoAngeli Editore, vol. 21(2), pages 195-216.
    6. Valentín Molina-Moreno & Pedro Núñez-Cacho Utrilla & Francisco J. Cortés-García & Antonio Peña-García, 2018. "The Use of Led Technology and Biomass to Power Public Lighting in a Local Context: The Case of Baeza (Spain)," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(7), pages 1-12, July.
    7. Okechukwu Okorie & Konstantinos Salonitis & Fiona Charnley & Mariale Moreno & Christopher Turner & Ashutosh Tiwari, 2018. "Digitisation and the Circular Economy: A Review of Current Research and Future Trends," Energies, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-31, November.
    8. Ben Tirone Nunes & Simon J. T. Pollard & Paul J. Burgess & Gareth Ellis & Irel Carolina De los Rios & Fiona Charnley, 2018. "University Contributions to the Circular Economy: Professing the Hidden Curriculum," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 10(8), pages 1-24, August.
    9. Giovanni Peira & Davide Longo & Francesca Pucciarelli & Alessandro Bonadonna, 2021. "Rural Tourism Destination: The Ligurian Farmers’ Perspective," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-15, December.
    10. Sofie Hagejärd & Anita Ollár & Paula Femenías & Ulrike Rahe, 2020. "Designing for Circularity—Addressing Product Design, Consumption Practices and Resource Flows in Domestic Kitchens," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-20, January.
    11. Davide Bruno & Marinella Ferrara & Felice D’Alessandro & Alberto Mandelli, 2022. "The Role of Design in the CE Transition of the Furniture Industry—The Case of the Italian Company Cassina," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(15), pages 1-20, July.
    12. Endl, Andreas & Tost, Michael & Hitch, Michael & Moser, Peter & Feiel, Susanne, 2021. "Europe's mining innovation trends and their contribution to the sustainable development goals: Blind spots and strong points," Resources Policy, Elsevier, vol. 74(C).
    13. Yu Wang & Shanyong Wang & Jing Wang & Jiuchang Wei & Chenglin Wang, 2020. "An empirical study of consumers’ intention to use ride-sharing services: using an extended technology acceptance model," Transportation, Springer, vol. 47(1), pages 397-415, February.
    14. Espinoza-Tenorio, Alejandro & Espejel, Ileana & Wolff, Matthias, 2015. "From adoption to implementation? An academic perspective on Sustainable Fisheries Management in a developing country," Marine Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 252-260.
    15. Erwin Van Tuijl & Leo Van den Berg, 2016. "Annual City Festivals as Tools for Sustainable Competitiveness: The World Port Days Rotterdam," Economies, MDPI, vol. 4(2), pages 1-13, May.
    16. Chen, Shih-Chih & Hung, Chung-Wen, 2016. "Elucidating the factors influencing the acceptance of green products: An extension of theory of planned behavior," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 155-163.
    17. Julian Lauten-Weiss & Stephan Ramesohl, 2021. "The Circular Business Framework for Building, Developing and Steering Businesses in the Circular Economy," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(2), pages 1-14, January.
    18. Mario Pansera & Fabien Martinez, 2017. "Innovation for development and poverty reduction: an integrative literature review," Post-Print hal-02887777, HAL.
    19. Dawid Szostek, 2019. "The Impact of the Quality of Interpersonal Relationships between Employees on Counterproductive Work Behavior: A Study of Employees in Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(21), pages 1-33, October.
    20. Matthias Kalverkamp & Alexandra Pehlken & Thorsten Wuest, 2017. "Cascade Use and the Management of Product Lifecycles," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 9(9), pages 1-23, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:5:p:2082-:d:329958. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.