El modelo del sistema viable: una referencia estratégica para el estudio organizacional del sector cooperativo chileno

The Chilean Cooperative Sector (SCCh) can be explained as a human activity system of high complexity, which seeks to maintain an independent existence, in example, be viable. From this perspective, the Viable System Model (MSV) as conceptual reference presents a real opportunity to study the organization of the cooperative sector in Chile.The central objective of the work refers to study the feasibility of SCCh in a context of sectorial organization, considering the social, legal and economic fabric of the country today.To do this, supported by a systemic methodology were performed: a characterization of the problem situation of the sector -identifying some relevant factors in the areas of market structure, legal regulations and inter cooperation-an organizational diagnosis and proposed a set guidelines for its development.From the above it is concluded that there is relevance between the characteristics of the case study theoretical and methodological approach. The methodology takes tested in other organizational practices such as VIPLAN tools, and applies the SCCh. Its contribution in the field of study is oriented around a holistic view of the organization and promotion of their viability, thereby generating an approach that delivers specific sectorial development strategies, surpassing the approximation of descriptive characterization. Thus, we provide a diagnostic model of the Chilean Cooperative Sector and propose guidelines to support their organizational development.

The elderly care and domestic services sector during the recent economic crisis. The case of Italy, Spain and France.

Over the past ten years in Italy, Spain and France, the demographic pressure and the increasing women’s participation in labour market have fuelled the expansion of the private provision of domestic and care services. In order to ensure the difficult balance between affordability, quality and job creation, each countries’ response has been different. France has developed policies to sustain the demand side introducing instruments such as vouchers and fiscal schemes, since the mid of the 2000s. Massive public funding has contributed to foster a regular market of domestic and care services and France is often presented as a “best practices” of those policies aimed at encouraging a regular private sector. Conversely in Italy and Spain, the development of a private domestic and care market has been mostly uncontrolled and without a coherent institutional design: the osmosis between a large informal market and the regular private care sector has been ensured on the supply side by migrant workers’ regularizations or the introduction of new employment regulations . The analysis presented in this paper aims to describe the response of these different policies to the challenges imposed by the current economic crisis. In dealing with the retrenchment of public expenditure and the reduced households’ purchasing power, Italy, Spain and France are experiencing greater difficulties in ensuring a regular private sector of domestic and care services. In light of that, the paper analyses the recent economic conjuncture presenting some assumptions about the future risk of deeper inequalities rising along with the increase of the process of marketization of domestic and care services in all the countries under analysis.    

Migrant domestic workers, vulnerability and the law: immigration and employment laws in Cyprus and Spain

The intersection of gender, welfare and immigration regimes has been one of the main focus of a rich scholarship on paid domestic work in Europe. This article brings into the discussion the nexus of employment and immigration law regimes to reflect on the role of legal regulation in structuring and reducing the vulnerability of domestic workers. I analyse this nexus by looking at the cases of Cyprus and Spain, two states falling under the cluster of Southern Mediterranean welfare regimes, that share certain characteristics in terms of immigration regimes, but have substantially different employment law regulation models. The first part sketches the debate on the employment law regulation of domestic work. The second part starts by giving an overview of the immigration regimes of Cyprus and Spain in relation to migrant domestic workers and then proceeds to analyse the two countries’ models and substance of employment law regulation in domestic work. The comparison of these two divergent approaches informs the debate on how the legal regulation of domestic work should be best structured. In Spain there have been recent dynamic legislative changes in the employment law regulation of domestic work. The final part of the article traces these changes and reflects on why such processes have not taken place in Cyprus.

Anclaje, dinámicas e impactos territoriales de la cadena global de cítricos dulces en el nordeste argentino

El artículo analiza firmas insertas en circuitos globalizados de exportación de frutas frescas, así como la interfase empresas-territorios. Se focaliza en la producción argentina de cítricos dulces y particularmente en un espacio productivo, y se interesa por cómo se traduce la construcción de los circuitos globales en los espacios y actores locales. Para ello, desarrolla una tipología de empresas e indicadores de anclaje y recurre a una combinación de fuentes cuantitativas y cualitativas, con vistas a desentrañar la “caja negra” del comportamiento empresarial. Se concluye que existen diferentes grados de anclaje territorial y combinaciones variables de fijación y movilidad por parte de las empresas. La adopción de una modalidad de agricultura empresarial multilocalizada, orientada al aprovechamiento de las peculiaridades de los diferentes ambientes locales, conduce a la desarticulación de espacios en función de sus características productivas y de sus diversos contextos sociales e institucionales. De esta forma se promueve la conformación de agentes de características flexibles, transformando su reproducción en contingente.