This essay investigates the role played by strategical renewal in shaping consumer cooperatives over the last decades. As stated by ICA (International Cooperative Alliance) a cooperative “ is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations”. Consequently, it pursues both economic and social/cultural goals. This duality has influenced strategies, organizational models and identity values. In this essay we investigate how the Italian consumer cooperatives met the dual needs of its members, through the lens of strategical renewal. Our main research question is whether in a context of growing market competition, consumer cooperatives continued to meet the dual needs of their members or they were forced to behave as a conventional enterprise. In an international economy which strongly focuses on capital, we can expect cooperatives adopt the same organizational models, routines and strategies of the conventional enterprises. In this context, many researchers have related the organizational transformation of co-ops to institutional isomorphism or hybridization (Battilani Schroeter 2012). This raises a second question, that is whether consumer cooperatives have contributed to shaping a world of greater social cohesion, with less inequality, or simply more sustainable. We can ask if they have been transformative. To understand how Italian consumer cooperatives reconciled the strategies aiming at becoming market leader with the social and cultural enhancement of its member (cooperative principle n°5) and the concern for community (principle n°7), we will use the concept of cognitive ambidexterity, that is the “manager’s ability to deal with contradictory dualities in their decision making” or “the organization’s capacity to do two different things equally well” (Karhu and Ritala 2019). In this case the ambidexterity conceptualization goes beyond the contextual pursuit of exploration (discovery, innovation) and exploitation (selection, efficiency, refinement) and includes the tension between the social and the financial goals as well as negotiations over the introduction of the new business model and traditional cooperative values. Since the 1960s the Italian consumer cooperatives have been characterised by a high degree of innovation. This attitude has been stimulated by the interaction of two elements: competition against conventional firms and a focus on society's needs. They shared these values with other cooperative typologies, as the farmer or the worker cooperatives. After the Second World War, the two most important Italian cooperative ideologies were the Catholic one – focusing on Christian values and families’ quality of life - and the socialist/communist ideology aimed at increasing the incomes of the working-class (Battilani 2011). These two schools of thought gave rise to two networks of cooperative enterprises, with two distinct apical organisations: Legacoop linked to the workers' movement and Confcooperative, expression of the Catholic world . Both cultural approaches saw the high profits of conventional businesses as an obstacle to a better society. In consumer cooperatives these anti-capitalist ideologies stimulated an original and successful path to modernity based on innovation, dynamic capabilities, and strategic renewal in general (Tuncdogan A. A.Lindgreen, H.Volberda, F. van den Bosch, 2019). Due to the complexity of the Coop consumatori group, the first section of this essay, the Coop consumatori network and its transformation, focuses on the description and functioning of the system. A special attention will be paid to the contribution of each component to the great transformation which permit Coop consumatori to become market leader. The second section, modernizing the building model, analyses the strategies of this long wave of innovation focusing on the opening of innovative sales outlets, managerial capabilities and the interaction between identity values and communication. The results are analysed in terms of turnover and market share. In this context, the dual nature of cooperatives led to the implementation of two different organizational structures, one preserving the social dimension, the other, economic viability. In section 3, the hybridization of Coop consumatori, the focus is on the economic viability and a detailed description of the consumer cooperatives transformation into complex structures, we could say holdings, which can have the majority stakes of joint stock companies, is provided. As a matter of fact, the managers designed a hybrid cooperative group for easier access to financial sources. It was not easy to combine the successful exploration of new business model with the social dimension. As long as cooperatives remained small in size, based on shops which often included café’s and other amenities and were essentially recreational meeting points, the conciliation was quite easy. However, during the 1960s the consumer revolution radically changed the Italian retail sector and consumer cooperatives also underwent a transformation, leading to the closure of these café’s, small shops, etc., to focus exclusively on large retail outlets. In this context the social dimension needed to be recovered through other typologies of initiatives and strategies such as environmental awareness and the promotion of social cohesion. Section 4, The social dimension of Coop Consumatori: member participation and social innovation, deals with the social dimension and the building of an organization aiming at meeting the member’s social and cultural need. Coop consumatori members were organised on a geographical basis through neighbourhood councils, to promote cooperative values and solidarity activities. As we will discuss in the conclusion, Coop consumatori managers were aware of the duality implicit in the cooperative form of enterprise and designed an innovative path which could combine the social with the economic dimension. However, whether consumer cooperatives were not only successful but also transformative, remains an open question.
Battilani P. (2023). The case of Coop Consumatori, Italy: Ambidexterity as a way to reconcile social and economic dimensions. London : Taylor and Francis [10.4324/9781003333838-10].
The case of Coop Consumatori, Italy: Ambidexterity as a way to reconcile social and economic dimensions
Battilani P.
2023
Abstract
This essay investigates the role played by strategical renewal in shaping consumer cooperatives over the last decades. As stated by ICA (International Cooperative Alliance) a cooperative “ is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations”. Consequently, it pursues both economic and social/cultural goals. This duality has influenced strategies, organizational models and identity values. In this essay we investigate how the Italian consumer cooperatives met the dual needs of its members, through the lens of strategical renewal. Our main research question is whether in a context of growing market competition, consumer cooperatives continued to meet the dual needs of their members or they were forced to behave as a conventional enterprise. In an international economy which strongly focuses on capital, we can expect cooperatives adopt the same organizational models, routines and strategies of the conventional enterprises. In this context, many researchers have related the organizational transformation of co-ops to institutional isomorphism or hybridization (Battilani Schroeter 2012). This raises a second question, that is whether consumer cooperatives have contributed to shaping a world of greater social cohesion, with less inequality, or simply more sustainable. We can ask if they have been transformative. To understand how Italian consumer cooperatives reconciled the strategies aiming at becoming market leader with the social and cultural enhancement of its member (cooperative principle n°5) and the concern for community (principle n°7), we will use the concept of cognitive ambidexterity, that is the “manager’s ability to deal with contradictory dualities in their decision making” or “the organization’s capacity to do two different things equally well” (Karhu and Ritala 2019). In this case the ambidexterity conceptualization goes beyond the contextual pursuit of exploration (discovery, innovation) and exploitation (selection, efficiency, refinement) and includes the tension between the social and the financial goals as well as negotiations over the introduction of the new business model and traditional cooperative values. Since the 1960s the Italian consumer cooperatives have been characterised by a high degree of innovation. This attitude has been stimulated by the interaction of two elements: competition against conventional firms and a focus on society's needs. They shared these values with other cooperative typologies, as the farmer or the worker cooperatives. After the Second World War, the two most important Italian cooperative ideologies were the Catholic one – focusing on Christian values and families’ quality of life - and the socialist/communist ideology aimed at increasing the incomes of the working-class (Battilani 2011). These two schools of thought gave rise to two networks of cooperative enterprises, with two distinct apical organisations: Legacoop linked to the workers' movement and Confcooperative, expression of the Catholic world . Both cultural approaches saw the high profits of conventional businesses as an obstacle to a better society. In consumer cooperatives these anti-capitalist ideologies stimulated an original and successful path to modernity based on innovation, dynamic capabilities, and strategic renewal in general (Tuncdogan A. A.Lindgreen, H.Volberda, F. van den Bosch, 2019). Due to the complexity of the Coop consumatori group, the first section of this essay, the Coop consumatori network and its transformation, focuses on the description and functioning of the system. A special attention will be paid to the contribution of each component to the great transformation which permit Coop consumatori to become market leader. The second section, modernizing the building model, analyses the strategies of this long wave of innovation focusing on the opening of innovative sales outlets, managerial capabilities and the interaction between identity values and communication. The results are analysed in terms of turnover and market share. In this context, the dual nature of cooperatives led to the implementation of two different organizational structures, one preserving the social dimension, the other, economic viability. In section 3, the hybridization of Coop consumatori, the focus is on the economic viability and a detailed description of the consumer cooperatives transformation into complex structures, we could say holdings, which can have the majority stakes of joint stock companies, is provided. As a matter of fact, the managers designed a hybrid cooperative group for easier access to financial sources. It was not easy to combine the successful exploration of new business model with the social dimension. As long as cooperatives remained small in size, based on shops which often included café’s and other amenities and were essentially recreational meeting points, the conciliation was quite easy. However, during the 1960s the consumer revolution radically changed the Italian retail sector and consumer cooperatives also underwent a transformation, leading to the closure of these café’s, small shops, etc., to focus exclusively on large retail outlets. In this context the social dimension needed to be recovered through other typologies of initiatives and strategies such as environmental awareness and the promotion of social cohesion. Section 4, The social dimension of Coop Consumatori: member participation and social innovation, deals with the social dimension and the building of an organization aiming at meeting the member’s social and cultural need. Coop consumatori members were organised on a geographical basis through neighbourhood councils, to promote cooperative values and solidarity activities. As we will discuss in the conclusion, Coop consumatori managers were aware of the duality implicit in the cooperative form of enterprise and designed an innovative path which could combine the social with the economic dimension. However, whether consumer cooperatives were not only successful but also transformative, remains an open question.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
