A análise institucional como ferramenta para a atuação no campo do trabalho cooperado na economia solidária

This work is a clipping of a Master's research which aims to discuss critically the Work Cooperated in the field of Solidarity economy (EcoSol), starting from the benchmark of the Institucional Analysis and rom their fundamental operators. Initially, we performed an analysis of how the EcoSol was built institutionall in Brazil. To this end, we researched and analyzed documents in official files of public policies and of the social movement of this field.

Família e cooperativismo: o ethos cooperativista na região de Franca/SP

Pós-graduação em Serviço Social - FCHS

Relacionamento e coordenação da cadeia produtiva da mandioca no Noroeste do Paraná

The production of starch and cassava starch (Manihot esculenta) if has shown to an important business for the region the northwest of the Paraná, generating income and job for a significant agricultural producers. The production of the region is processed for industries at private capital and cooperatives of producers. The study involving agricultural producers and one of the most important cooperatives of the region (C-Vale) objectified to evaluate the relationships between cooperative and producers, and the mechanisms of coordination of the productive chain. The results had disclosed that the relationships are not harmonious, generating opportunism situations, high costs of transaction and diffidence in the operations between producers and cooperative. Also if it perceived a difficulty of coordination of the productive chain, due to lack of integration between the partners, what it affects the competitiveness and the efficiency of the sector.

Cooperativismo e precarização do trabalho: um estudo aplicado na Cooperativa Recicla Conquista em Vitória da Conquista/BA

Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES)

Do cooperativismo ao corporativismo: um estudo sobre a produção e comercialização de flores e plantas em Holambra/SP

Cooperatives as, in theory, an alternative front to the logic of financial markets, the territory has, in theory, an organization which differs from the structure based on the competitiveness of the capitalist system. The municipality of Holambra (SP) presents the marketing of flowers and ornamental plants, along with their production, the cooperative system, which started in the Cooperative Veiling Holambra. However, this cooperative as it is effective in cooperative study in question, it is questionable as to its structure and operation, by taking features that most resemble the corporatist practices of the cooperative. And because the cozy territory of all new technical systems that have and are being installed, the study seeks to understand these cooperative structures from the use made by the renewed objects and actions of the territory

Potencial de contribuição e importância socioambiental dos 'catadores autônomos' de Rio Claro (SP) para o programa de coleta seletiva municipal

The Urban Solid Residues are the rests of human activity, popularly known by trash and considered by population like useless, undesirable and disposable. On the other hand, for the waste pickers, solid residues are the beginning of a cycle: they see in the other's people trash the only income, an economic value. Currently, in brazilian cities, one million collectors act, alone or in cooperatives, socially excluded by the work they do. The National Policy of Solid Residues (PNRS), instituted in 2010, established guidelines to the execution of integrated residues management, with should be practiced by city halls and other governmental institutions. This policy has, besides other things, goals of residues reduction and inclusion of waste pickers in the mechanism of selective collect and recycling. However, this and other public policies created for residue management are benefic only for cooperated waste pickers. That could negatively affect most of this class, since 90% are waste pickers working in a precarious way on the country's streets. This study has for objective show that most of waste pickers that work in a precarious way on the brazilian territory has a huge potential for the solid residues recycling chain and how they should be valued for the environmental services they provide, so they can be included with dignity on the society, ensuring economic and social benefits for this workers. The methodology adopted was based on the amount of residue collected by the 44 cooperated members of the Rio Claro‟s waste pickers cooperative to estimate the potential of collect and recycling did by 210 autonomous waste pickers who are active on city streets. It was observed that the cooperative collects the equivalent of 10.2% of all recyclable residues generated by city population. However, with the potential that these autonomous waste pickers have, which together could contribute 465 tonnes of solid residues per month, or 5,570 tons a year...

Refuge Update – March/April 2007, Volume 4, Number 2

Table of Contents: What’s Melting: Togiak Refuge Sizes Up Its Glaciers, page 3 Focus on Fish Conservation, pages 10-15 Whatever happened to…, pages 16-17 Wildlife Cooperatives, page 20

Measuring the Performance of Cooperative Equity Redemption Plans

Cooperatives differ from other businesses in that they are owned by their patrons and net margins are distributed to patrons on the basis of use instead of capital investment. For financing, cooperatives often rely on allocated equities from retained patronage refunds. Retained patronage refunds are noncash allocations of net margins reinvested in a cooperative by patrons. Under an ideal program of equity formation, equity is held by patrons in proportion to patronage. Each patron’s share of financing the cooperative is equal to the share of benefits received. Equities of former patrons are retired as active patrons take on more of the responsibility of financing the organization.

Potencial de contribuição e importância socioambiental dos 'catadores autônomos' de Rio Claro (SP) para o programa de coleta seletiva municipal

The Urban Solid Residues are the rests of human activity, popularly known by trash and considered by population like useless, undesirable and disposable. On the other hand, for the waste pickers, solid residues are the beginning of a cycle: they see in the other's people trash the only income, an economic value. Currently, in brazilian cities, one million collectors act, alone or in cooperatives, socially excluded by the work they do. The National Policy of Solid Residues (PNRS), instituted in 2010, established guidelines to the execution of integrated residues management, with should be practiced by city halls and other governmental institutions. This policy has, besides other things, goals of residues reduction and inclusion of waste pickers in the mechanism of selective collect and recycling. However, this and other public policies created for residue management are benefic only for cooperated waste pickers. That could negatively affect most of this class, since 90% are waste pickers working in a precarious way on the country's streets. This study has for objective show that most of waste pickers that work in a precarious way on the brazilian territory has a huge potential for the solid residues recycling chain and how they should be valued for the environmental services they provide, so they can be included with dignity on the society, ensuring economic and social benefits for this workers. The methodology adopted was based on the amount of residue collected by the 44 cooperated members of the Rio Claro‟s waste pickers cooperative to estimate the potential of collect and recycling did by 210 autonomous waste pickers who are active on city streets. It was observed that the cooperative collects the equivalent of 10.2% of all recyclable residues generated by city population. However, with the potential that these autonomous waste pickers have, which together could contribute 465 tonnes of solid residues per month, or 5,570 tons a year...

Determinantes da separação entre propriedade e gestão nas cooperativas agropecuárias brasileiras

As cooperativas agropecuárias brasileiras geralmente são organizações complexas e de propriedade difusa. Entretanto, 48% dessas organizações não promovem a desvinculação dos proprietários das decisões de gestão, contrariando o que é estabelecido pelo preceito teórico dominante para empresas - cooperativas e não cooperativas - similares. Diante desse desalinhamento, neste artigo investigaram-se os possíveis determinantes da separação entre propriedade e gestão nessas organizações. Na medida em que o processo de separação compreende diferentes relações de agência, foram utilizados respectivamente os modelos logit e tobit para estudar o que determina a delegação do direito de controle formal pelos proprietários ao conselho de administração e a divisão do processo decisório entre os membros do conselho e o executivo responsável pela gestão. Dentre os resultados encontrados, destaca-se o fato de complexidade e propriedade difusa não terem se mostrado relevantes para explicar a separação entre propriedade e gestão, diferentemente do que ocorre em sociedades anônimas. Em contrapartida, características do conselho de administração (tamanho, alocação de autoridade formal, limites à reeleição, reputação e esforço) têm importante papel na determinação da ocorrência de separação. Por tratar-se do primeiro trabalho a abordar o problema do controle em cooperativas agropecuárias, novas pesquisas empíricas são desejáveis.

Separação entre propriedade e decisão de gestão nas cooperativas agropecuárias brasileiras

A visão predominante na teoria econômica é que organizações de propriedade difusa e complexas apresentam melhor desempenho se forem separados os direitos ao lucro residual das decisões de gestão. Nos países de economia desenvolvida, os modelos de governança corporativa das cooperativas agropecuárias de propriedade difusa e complexas, tal como já informado pela literatura econômica, promovem a desvinculação dos cooperados da gestão da empresa. Em contraposição, no Brasil, embora não haja estudos sistemáticos sobre o tema, evidências pontuais indicam que essas organizações concentram a propriedade e decisões de gestão. A possível divergência entre os modelos de governança utilizados nos diferentes países revela a necessidade de mensuração do grau de separação entre propriedade e decisão de gestão em cooperativas agropecuárias brasileiras, tarefa a que se dedica este artigo. A partir de dados coletados junto a 77 cooperativas agropecuárias, identificou-se que diferentes modelos de governança coexistem no Brasil. Embora grande parcela de cooperativas tenha governança concentrada, há um grupo que já adota modelos de governança que promovem a separação parcial de jure ou de facto entre propriedade e decisão de gestão. Esses resultados revelam a necessidade de pesquisas futuras voltadas a identificar os determinantes da variabilidade de modelos de governança nas cooperativas brasileiras.

Importância das cooperativas de crédito para fornecedores de cana-de-açúcar: um estudo de caso

No presente trabalho analisa-se a importância das cooperativas no mercado de crédito rural do Brasil, com foco na visão de quem demanda empréstimos. Para tanto, realizou-se um estudo de caso referente à Cooperativa de Crédito Rural dos Fornecedores de Cana e Agropecuaristas da Região de Piracicaba (Cocrefocapi). O objetivo principal é mostrar a importância da Cocrefocapi no financiamento dos fornecedores de cana de Piracicaba, a partir da análise da influência de vários fatores presentes na decisão dos cooperados em escolher esta instituição como principal financiadora. Assim, foram elaborados e testados dois modelos econométricos de resposta qualitativa, além de várias análises descritivas. Os resultados mostram que o tamanho da terra é um fator que deve ser considerado ao se analisar a demanda por crédito agrícola. Além disso, não existe evidência econométrica que mostre que os associados com maior participação no capital institucional da Cocrefocapi tenham maiores incentivos para tomar empréstimos junto à cooperativa. Por outro lado, embora os fornecedores que tomaram empréstimos na Cocrefocapi a tenham escolhido principalmente por menores custos de transação, os resultados indicam que muitas destas pessoas tomaram empréstimos em outras instituições, pois, além de produzirem cana, conduzem outras atividades econômicas que não são financiadas pela Cocrefocapi.

Processi di biorefining per l'estrazione di secondary chemical building blocks da sottoprotti dell'agro-industria

Phenol and cresols represent a good example of primary chemical building blocks of which 2.8 million tons are currently produced in Europe each year. Currently, these primary phenolic building blocks are produced by refining processes from fossil hydrocarbons: 5% of the world-wide production comes from coal (which contains 0.2% of phenols) through the distillation of the tar residue after the production of coke, while 95% of current world production of phenol is produced by the distillation and cracking of crude oil. In nature phenolic compounds are present in terrestrial higher plants and ferns in several different chemical structures while they are essentially absent in lower organisms and in animals. Biomass (which contain 3-8% of phenols) represents a substantial source of secondary chemical building blocks presently underexploited. These phenolic derivatives are currently used in tens thousand of tons to produce high cost products such as food additives and flavours (i.e. vanillin), fine chemicals (i.e. non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs such as ibuprofen or flurbiprofen) and polymers (i.e. poly p-vinylphenol, a photosensitive polymer for electronic and optoelectronic applications). European agrifood waste represents a low cost abundant raw material (250 millions tons per year) which does not subtract land use and processing resources from necessary sustainable food production. The class of phenolic compounds is essentially constituted by simple phenols, phenolic acids, hydroxycinnamic acid derivatives, flavonoids and lignans. As in the case of coke production, the removal of the phenolic contents from biomass upgrades also the residual biomass. Focusing on the phenolic component of agrifood wastes, huge processing and marketing opportunities open since phenols are used as chemical intermediates for a large number of applications, ranging from pharmaceuticals, agricultural chemicals, food ingredients etc. Following this approach we developed a biorefining process to recover the phenolic fraction of wheat bran based on enzymatic commercial biocatalysts in completely water based process, and polymeric resins with the aim of substituting secondary chemical building blocks with the same compounds naturally present in biomass. We characterized several industrial enzymatic product for their ability to hydrolize the different molecular features that are present in wheat bran cell walls structures, focusing on the hydrolysis of polysaccharidic chains and phenolics cross links. This industrial biocatalysts were tested on wheat bran and the optimized process allowed to liquefy up to the 60 % of the treated matter. The enzymatic treatment was also able to solubilise up to the 30 % of the alkali extractable ferulic acid. An extraction process of the phenolic fraction of the hydrolyzed wheat bran based on an adsorbtion/desorption process on styrene-polyvinyl benzene weak cation-exchange resin Amberlite IRA 95 was developed. The efficiency of the resin was tested on different model system containing ferulic acid and the adsorption and desorption working parameters optimized for the crude enzymatic hydrolyzed wheat bran. The extraction process developed had an overall yield of the 82% and allowed to obtain concentrated extracts containing up to 3000 ppm of ferulic acid. The crude enzymatic hydrolyzed wheat bran and the concentrated extract were finally used as substrate in a bioconversion process of ferulic acid into vanillin through resting cells fermentation. The bioconversion process had a yields in vanillin of 60-70% within 5-6 hours of fermentation. Our findings are the first step on the way to demonstrating the economical feasibility for the recovery of biophenols from agrifood wastes through a whole crop approach in a sustainable biorefining process.

Gli assetti proprietari e di controllo nell'agroalimentare italiano

The recent default of important Italian agri-business companies provides a challenging issue to be investigated through an appropriate scientific approach. The events involving CIRIO, FERRUZZI or PARMALAT rise an important research question: what are the determinants of performance for Italian companies in the Italian agri – food sector? My aim is not to investigate all the factors that are relevant in explaining performance. Performance depends on a wide set of political, social, economic variables that are strongly interconnected and that are often very difficult to express by formal or mathematical tools. Rather, in my thesis I mainly focus on those aspects that are strictly related to the governance and ownership structure of agri – food companies representing a strand of research that has been quite neglected by previous scholars. The conceptual framework from which I move to justify the existence of a relationship between the ownership structure of a company, governance and performance is the model set up by Airoldi and Zattoni (2005). In particular the authors investigate the existence of complex relationships arising within the company and between the company and the environment that can bring different strategies and performances. They do not try to find the “best” ownership structure, rather they outline what variables are connected and how they could vary endogenously within the whole economic system. In spite of the fact that the Airoldi and Zattoni’s model highlights the existence of a relationship between ownership and structure that is crucial for the set up of the thesis the authors fail to apply quantitative analyses in order to verify the magnitude, sign and the causal direction of the impact. In order to fill this gap we start from the literature trying to investigate the determinants of performance. Even in this strand of research studies analysing the relationship between different forms of ownership and performance are still lacking. In this thesis, after a brief description of the Italian agri – food sector and after an introduction including a short explanation of the definitions of performance and ownership structure, I implement a model in which the performance level (interpreted here as Return on Investments and Return on Sales) is related to variables that have been previously identified by the literature as important such as the financial variables (cash and leverage indices), the firm location (North Italy, Centre Italy, South Italy), the power concentration (lower than 25%, between 25% and 50% and between 50% and 100% of ownership control) and the specific agri – food sector (agriculture, food and beverage). Moreover we add a categorical variable representing different forms of ownership structure (public limited company, limited liability company, cooperative) that is the core of our study. All those variables are fully analysed by a preliminary descriptive analysis. As in many previous contributions we apply a panel least squares analysis for 199 Italian firms in the period 1998 – 2007 with data taken from the Bureau Van Dijck Dataset. We apply two different models in which the dependant variables are respectively the Return on Investments (ROI) and the Return on Sales (ROS) indicators. Not surprisingly we find that companies located in the North Italy representing the richest area in Italy perform better than the ones located in the Centre and South of Italy. In contrast with the Modigliani - Miller theorem financial variables could be significant and the specific sector within the agri – food market could play a relevant role. As the power concentration, we find that a strong property control (higher than 50%) or a fragmented concentration (lower than 25%) perform better. This result apparently could suggest that “hybrid” forms of concentrations could create bad functioning in the decision process. As our key variables representing the ownership structure we find that public limited companies and limited liability companies perform better than cooperatives. This is easily explainable by the fact that law establishes that cooperatives are less profit – oriented. Beyond cooperatives public limited companies perform better than limited liability companies and show a more stable path over time. Results are quite consistent when we consider both ROI and ROS as dependant variables. These results should not lead us to claim that public limited company is the “best” among all possible governance structures. First, every governance solution should be considered according to specific situations. Second more robustness analyses are needed to confirm our results. At this stage we deem these findings, the model set up and our approach represent original contributions that could stimulate fruitful future studies aimed at investigating the intriguing issue concerning the effect of ownership structure on the performance levels.

"Water users must be efficient producers". Women's access to and use of land in Chókwè irrigation scheme, Mozambique

The irrigation scheme Eduardo Mondlane, situated in Chókwè District - in the Southern part of the Gaza province and within the Limpopo River Basin - is the largest in the country, covering approximately 30,000 hectares of land. Built by the Portuguese colonial administration in the 1950s to exploit the agricultural potential of the area through cash-cropping, after Independence it became one of Frelimo’s flagship projects aiming at the “socialization of the countryside” and at agricultural economic development through the creation of a state farm and of several cooperatives. The failure of Frelimo’s economic reforms, several infrastructural constraints and local farmers resistance to collective forms of production led to scheme to a state of severe degradation aggravated by the floods of the year 2000. A project of technical rehabilitation initiated after the floods is currently accompanied by a strong “efficiency” discourse from the managing institution that strongly opposes the use of irrigated land for subsistence agriculture, historically a major livelihood strategy for smallfarmers, particularly for women. In fact, the area has been characterized, since the end of the XIX century, by a stable pattern of male migration towards South African mines, that has resulted in an a steady increase of women-headed households (both de jure and de facto). The relationship between land reform, agricultural development, poverty alleviation and gender equality in Southern Africa is long debated in academic literature. Within this debate, the role of agricultural activities in irrigation schemes is particularly interesting considering that, in a drought-prone area, having access to water for irrigation means increased possibilities of improving food and livelihood security, and income levels. In the case of Chókwè, local governments institutions are endorsing the development of commercial agriculture through initiatives such as partnerships with international cooperation agencies or joint-ventures with private investors. While these business models can sometimes lead to positive outcomes in terms of poverty alleviation, it is important to recognize that decentralization and neoliberal reforms occur in the context of financial and political crisis of the State that lacks the resources to efficiently manage infrastructures such as irrigation systems. This kind of institutional and economic reforms risk accelerating processes of social and economic marginalisation, including landlessness, in particular for poor rural women that mainly use irrigated land for subsistence production. The study combines an analysis of the historical and geographical context with the study of relevant literature and original fieldwork. Fieldwork was conducted between February and June 2007 (where I mainly collected secondary data, maps and statistics and conducted preliminary visit to Chókwè) and from October 2007 to March 2008. Fieldwork methodology was qualitative and used semi-structured interviews with central and local Government officials, technical experts of the irrigation scheme, civil society organisations, international NGOs, rural extensionists, and water users from the irrigation scheme, in particular those women smallfarmers members of local farmers’ associations. Thanks to the collaboration with the Union of Farmers’ Associations of Chókwè, she has been able to participate to members’ meeting, to education and training activities addressed to women farmers members of the Union and to organize a group discussion. In Chókwè irrigation scheme, women account for the 32% of water users of the familiar sector (comprising plot-holders with less than 5 hectares of land) and for just 5% of the private sector. If one considers farmers’ associations of the familiar sector (a legacy of Frelimo’s cooperatives), women are 84% of total members. However, the security given to them by the land title that they have acquired through occupation is severely endangered by the use that they make of land, that is considered as “non efficient” by the irrigation scheme authority. Due to a reduced access to marketing possibilities and to inputs, training, information and credit women, in actual fact, risk to see their right to access land and water revoked because they are not able to sustain the increasing cost of the water fee. The myth of the “efficient producer” does not take into consideration the characteristics of inequality and gender discrimination of the neo-liberal market. Expecting small-farmers, and in particular women, to be able to compete in the globalized agricultural market seems unrealistic, and can perpetuate unequal gendered access to resources such as land and water.