A historical overview of social enterprise in Italy from a European perspective

Mario Biggeri, Enrico Tes0, Marco Bellucci (speaker), Serena Franchi, Giacomo Mane8, Luca Bagnoli

5th CIRIEC Interna-onal Research Conference on Social Economy

Lisbon, 15th -18th July 2015

A historical overview of social enterprises in Italy

from a European perspec0ve

Summary

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Social Economy in a globalized world Lisbon, 15th -18th July 2015

•  Introduc1on

•  Research objec1ves and design

•  Historical overview and main prospects for evolu1on

•  Conclusions

This study is one of the results of EFESEIIS (Enabling the Flourishing and Evolution of Social Entrepreneurship for Inclusive and

Innovative Societies) research project funded by the EU Grant Agreement N°

613179

Introduction (1)

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•  Within social economy, increasing aBen0on to the role of social enterprises

•  A social enterprise is an “organisa1on in the social economy whose main objec1ve is achieving a social impact rather than genera1ng profit for shareholders” (EU, 2011)

•  Italy represents a par0cular and interes0ng case in the interna1onal

context of social entrepreneurship…

Introduction (2)

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1.  Its actual legal framework took root from an important and long tradi0on of coopera1ves and many other third sector organisa1ons (e.g. Misericordie, Pubbliche Assistenze), inspired both from socialist and catholic principles

2.  In the late 80s, Italy started an innova1ve experience of coopera1ve enterprise aimed at the work integra1on of disadvantaged people through Law 381/91 on social coopera0ves

3.  The term “social enterprise” firstly appeared in Italy, to design such

new experience of social coopera1ves (Defourny & Nyssens, 2008).

Research objectives

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•  Outline which are the main steps that have led to the birth and growth of Italian social enterprises (RQ1)

•  Understand which is the role of social, economical, poli0cal and

ins0tu0onal context in suppor1ng or hindering the development of social enterprises (RQ2)

•  Present the main and more recent prospects of reform and evolu1on (RQ3)

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Research design

Literature review •  Relevant academic and grey

literature •  Par1cular keywords on

scien1fic database •  Other selected publica1on

and reports

Semi-‐structured interviews: •  Face-‐to-‐face •  9 na1onal experts •  Semi-‐structured ques1onnaire

(18 ques1ons on country-‐specific social entrepreneurship issues and the role of main ins1tu1ons)

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In order to answer these research ques1ons, we opted for a qualita1ve design made of two complementary parts:

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RQ1: Which are the main steps that have led to the birth and

growth of Italian social enterprises?

RQ2: How does the social and economical context influence the

flourishing of these organisa-ons?

Historical Overview


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Historical Overview:

Early stages (1)

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•  In Italy the social enterprise phenomenon has its roots in a tradi0on of important and well-‐known ins1tu1ons as Misericordie, catholic brotherhoods devoted to assis1ng those in need, and Mon- di pietà (Mounts of Piety), ins1tu1onal pawnbrokers run as chari1es

•  In Italy history of social enterprises has been inspired from both the socialist and catholic world

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Early stages (2)

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•  First coopera1ves in second half of the 19th century (Fabbri, 1979, 2000), as development of mutual aid socie1es: o  1854: the first Italian coopera0ve was a consumer coopera0ve,

named "Magazzino di previdenza" and established in Turin in 1854 thanks to Workers’ general society (Fornasari & Zamagni, 1997)

o  1856: glass-‐ar1sans cons1tuted near Savona the first produc1on coopera1ve: the co-‐opera1ve, named “Associazione ar-s-co-‐vetraia”

•  While the former coopera1ve was originated from pre-‐exis1ng mutual society, the lafer provided a pension fund and a mutual aid society to its members.

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Early stages (3)

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•  From 1854 to the end of the century, the coopera1ve movement spread in the Italian country and established many co-‐opera1ves in the field of consump1on, produc1on, and credit, such as rural and coopera1ve banks

•  The dis1nc1on between Catholic-‐inspired coopera1ves based on liberal principles -‐ especially ac1ve in central and south Italy through rural and ar0sans banks -‐ and socialist coopera1ves -‐ especially ac1ve in the coopera0on of consump0on first and then of produc0on and labour, was evident in Italy since the second half of the nineteenth century

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Cooperative unions

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1893 Lega nazionale delle società coopera1ve (LegaCoop) Socialist 1919 Confederazione coopera1va italiana (ConfCoopera1ve) Catholic 1952 Alleanza generale delle coopera1ve italiane (AGCI) Republican 2013 Unione Europea delle coopera1ve (UE.COOP) 2014 Unione Italiana Coopera1ve (UN.I.COOP)

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The first part of the 20th century (1)

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•  From 2.000 coopera1ves in 1902 to 7.500 in 1914 (Zangheri, Galasso & Castronovo, 1987)

•  Beginning of WWI: high State interven1on in the economy, co-‐opera0ves as an effec0ve tool in containing the infla0onary pressure through price control of basic commodi0es (Fabbri, 1979)

•  Both catholic and socialist oriented co-‐opera1ves as privileged

speaker of local governments: role of implemen0ng inclusive policies

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The first part of the 20th century (2)

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•  AZer 1922, Fascism tried to dissolve the strong links between the co-‐opera0ve movement and civil society, mass organiza1ons, and poli1cal par1es

•  Nevertheless, at the end of the war the co-‐opera1ve movement seemed to have achieved a new strength. •  In fact, even during the Fascist regime, coopera1ves remained an

essen1al tool to increase the public support and the control of the masses. Consequently, the co-‐opera1ve movement survived and grew in importance

•  in the agro-‐food sector, for example, the coopera1ves grew from 2,200 in 1921 up to 3,700 in 1939

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After WWII and the proclamation of the Republic (1)

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•  AZer the Second World War new Italian co-‐opera0ve enterprises par0cipated to fulfil the most immediate needs of reconstruc1on and prices containing

•  On 14th December 1947 the Parliament approved the so-‐called “Basevi Law”, which stated for the first 1me the basic rules of coopera1on: among them, the principle of “one head, one vote”, a limit on the share capital, and the “open door” principle (open membership)

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•  The new Italian republican Cons0tu0on, enacted on the 1st January 1948,

recognized the social and non-‐specula0ve func0on of the coopera1ve movement:

Art. 41: Private economic enterprise is free. It may not be carried out against the common good or in such a manner that could damage safety, liberty and human dignity. The law shall provide for appropriate programmes and controls so that public and private sector economic ac-vity may be oriented and co-‐ordinated for social purposes.

Art. 45: The Republic recognizes the social func-on of co-‐opera-on of a mutually suppor-ve,

non-‐specula-ve nature. The law promotes and encourages co-‐ opera-on through appropriate means and ensures its character and purposes through appropriate checks. The law safeguards and promotes the handicraM.

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•  1970-‐1980: radical changes in the Italian socio-‐economic system suffered from a cri1cal period, raise of new kinds of needs related to the rapid aging of the popula0on and to the modifica0on of the family structure.

•  The market of services showed itself strong deficiencies in response to a growing and largely unfulfilled demand

•  For these reasons, coopera0ves launched new ini0a0ves to respond adequately to unmet needs, especially in the field of work integra1on, health, educa1on, and personal services.

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1991, Social cooperatives (1)

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•  In 1991 the Italian Parliament enacted the law n. 381/1991, “Disciplina delle

coopera.ve sociali”, crea1ng a specific legal form -‐ “coopera.va sociale” (social coopera1ve)

•  The law 381/1991 encompasses two different types of social coopera0ves that can purse the objec1ves with different ac1vi1es:

•  A-‐type coopera0ves, which offer a wide range of services (social, welfare, and educa1onal) to different groups: the elderly, minors, the disabled, drug addicts, the homeless and immigrants

•  B-‐type coopera0ves, which produce goods or services in almost every economic field with the purpose of providing employment to disadvantaged people (B-‐type)

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1991, Social cooperatives (2)

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•  Given their inclusive role, their non-‐profit status and their social and

environmental a8tude, both types of coopera0ves can use volunteers and receive some fiscal advantages (ONLUS)

•  In 2011, the number of ac1ve social coopera1ves in Italy raised to 13.647, employing more than 500.000 workers (Euricse, 2014)

•  Nowadays social coopera1ves are the main form of social enterprises in Italy (90%)

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•  Between 2005 and 2006 a broader law on social enterprises was enacted: •  The law 155/2006 on social enterprise widens the types of general-‐

interest services to be supplied and allows a wider range of organiza1ons to be qualified as “social enterprises”: private, work in social-‐oriented fields, sustainability report, no profit

•  However, crea1ng a new qualifica1on is not enough to promote social

enterprise: since almost ten years have passed since the adop1on of the law 155/2006 and most of the Italian organiza1ons performing social entrepreneurial ac1vi1es currently con1nue to use mainly the social coopera1ve form

•  Up to now, only 774 (Iris Network, 2014) organiza1ons acquired the new social enterprise qualifica1on since the law came into force

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2005, “Social enterprise” (1)

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•  Following the publica1on of guidelines and a public consulta1on, on the 10th of

July 2014 the Council of Italian Ministers approved the draZ law on the Third Sector Reform

•  On the 9th of April 2015 the Chamber of Depu1es voted on 136 amendments

and 8 ar0cles and approved the most recent version of the draZ law.

•  The dran law moved to the Senate, where the I CommiBee (Cons0tu0onal Affairs) will be in charge of discussing the reform.

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Recent prospects for reform (1)

RQ3: Present the main and more recent prospects of reform and

evolu-on

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The uncertainty about the future of Italian social enterprises’ legal status and its possible modifica1on will be hopefully overcome with undergoing reform of the third sector. The dran law foresee the following measures for social enterprises: 1.  Redefini-on of the social enterprise as a private enterprise with the primary purpose of

achieving measurable posi-ve social impacts

2.  Mandatory qualifica.on as social enterprise for those organiza-ons that comply with the requirements

3.  Expansion of sectors where to carry out socially useful ac-vi-es;

4.   Possible remunera.on for capital and profit sharing;

5.  Taking into account new forms of social exclusion;

6.  Possibility for private enterprises and public administra-ons to undertake social posi-ons in the administra-on boards of social enterprises (apart from a management role)


Recent prospects for reform (2)

Conclusions

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•  While there are s1ll a lot of open ques0ons on the future role of Italian social enterprises, it is possible that the ongoing process of reform, started in 2014, will contribute to frame more clearly and more coherently the objec1ves and means of these entrepreneurial organisa1ons

•  In this study we integrated a literature review with semi-‐structured interviews in order to analyse which have been the main steps that have led to the birth of Italian social enterprises, to understand how the social, economical, poli1cal and ins1tu1onal context influenced the flourishing of these organisa1ons in Italy, and to present which are the main relevant prospec1ve of reform and evolu1on

Conclusions (2)

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•  Our main result is to provide a synthe0c and exhaus0ve historical overview, based on the more relevant academic and non-‐academic literature and on interview with experts and prac00oners, that links the origin of Italian social enterprises to the more recent prospects of reform in a single thread

References

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•  Borzaga, C., & Defourny, J. (Ed.s.). (2001). The emergence of social enterprise. London and New York: Routledge.

•  Defourny, J., & Nyssens, M. (2008). Social enterprise in Europe: recent trends and developments. Social enterprise journal 4(3): 202-‐228.

•  EU (2011), Communica1on from the Commission to the European Parliament, The Council, The European Economic and Social Commifee and The Commifee of the Regions (2011), Social Business Ini1a1ve Crea1ng a favourable climate for social enterprises, key stakeholders in the social economy and innova1on Brussels, 25.10.2011 COM(2011) 682 final.

•  Fabbri, F. (Ed.). (1979). Il movimento coopera-vo nella storia d'Italia, 1854 – 1975. Milano, Vol. 415. Milano: Feltrinelli.

•  Fabbri, F. (2000), Il movimento coopera-vo dal dopoguerra a oggi. Tra solidarietà e impresa, Il Ponte, Anno LVI nn. Libertà è Cooperazione: storia e afualità della cooperazione Italia, 11-‐ 12, Firenze

•  Fornasari, M., & Zamagni, V. (1997). Il movimento coopera-vo nella storia d'Italia. Un profilo

•  Zangheri, R., Galasso, G., & Castronovo, V. (1987). Storia del movimento coopera-vo in Italia. Torino: Einaudi.

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Obrigado! ☺

Marco Bellucci PhD Student in Business Administra-on and Management

University of Florence [email protected]

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A historical overview of social enterprise in Italy from a European perspective

Economy & Finance

globalized world lisbon

role of social

social enterprise phenomenon

research objectives

early stages

wellknown ins1tu1ons

piet mounts of piety

tradi0on of important