In the UE definition, the Third Sector is a set of institutions of the economic system, that act as a third form of production of goods and services between the State and the private market. This definition, used in the report “A project for Europe” (1978), was specifically developed after the crisis of the welfare State, in the Nineties. The definition evidences the presence and the contribute of the organized civil participation (in various forms: non-profit organizations, cooperatives, voluntary and charitable activities, non-governmental agencies, …) to the welfare of the society. According to Smith (2005, p. 463): «The voluntary and non-profit sectors are increasingly viewed as central to the vitality and health of democratic societies. […]» However, there is an intrinsic difficulty to identify specific and simplistic defining schemes as the Third Sector is a socio-economical and cultural reality in continuous evolution whose boundaries are intertwined with the public and private sectors and the no-profit organizations: «[…] the need to make a new definition for the sector which belongs neither to the public sector nor to the private profit sector is realized gradually for those who seek an alternative scheme of social and economic movements.» (Ishizuka, 2002, p. 242). In Italy, the analysis of the Third sector has been approaced in sociological (Cesareo, 1985) and economical studies (Zamagni, 1998, Ranci, 1994). Both these approaches use the term to indicate a set of practices and organizational actors of private nature that produce goods and services with a public or collective relevance. According to Soboh et al. (2009), empirical studies have failed to address the cooperatives’ (and their associations’) objectives as represented by the theoretical literature on performance. The paper is aimed at identifying the role of the associations of cooperatives in the sector and, specifically, it addresses the issues of strategy definition and performance monitoring within the role that these associations act for their cooperatives.
An overview of management systems in the co-operative sector. An analysis of the Italian Leghe
CASTELLINI, Monia;MARAN, Laura
2012
Abstract
In the UE definition, the Third Sector is a set of institutions of the economic system, that act as a third form of production of goods and services between the State and the private market. This definition, used in the report “A project for Europe” (1978), was specifically developed after the crisis of the welfare State, in the Nineties. The definition evidences the presence and the contribute of the organized civil participation (in various forms: non-profit organizations, cooperatives, voluntary and charitable activities, non-governmental agencies, …) to the welfare of the society. According to Smith (2005, p. 463): «The voluntary and non-profit sectors are increasingly viewed as central to the vitality and health of democratic societies. […]» However, there is an intrinsic difficulty to identify specific and simplistic defining schemes as the Third Sector is a socio-economical and cultural reality in continuous evolution whose boundaries are intertwined with the public and private sectors and the no-profit organizations: «[…] the need to make a new definition for the sector which belongs neither to the public sector nor to the private profit sector is realized gradually for those who seek an alternative scheme of social and economic movements.» (Ishizuka, 2002, p. 242). In Italy, the analysis of the Third sector has been approaced in sociological (Cesareo, 1985) and economical studies (Zamagni, 1998, Ranci, 1994). Both these approaches use the term to indicate a set of practices and organizational actors of private nature that produce goods and services with a public or collective relevance. According to Soboh et al. (2009), empirical studies have failed to address the cooperatives’ (and their associations’) objectives as represented by the theoretical literature on performance. The paper is aimed at identifying the role of the associations of cooperatives in the sector and, specifically, it addresses the issues of strategy definition and performance monitoring within the role that these associations act for their cooperatives.I documenti in SFERA sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
