This paper considers issues of governance in democratic member-based organisations (DMOs), such as co-operatives and mutual societies. It examines the processes whereby members’ interests are mediated through the democratic process, and the board; and it explores some of the factors influencing...

Though in 1978, when the constitution was established, the scientific conception of social economy did not exist, the Magna Carta through different statutes does refer explicitly or implicitly to the different social agents who comprise the social economy: co-operatives, labour associations,...

We examine the proposition that, in co-operatives, the need for democracy must clash with efficiency demands. To shed light on diverse issues surrounding this claim we distinguish different forms of co-operatives and identify different meanings of democratic governance and forms of economies of...

This article examines the structure of governance in co-operative business groups in the framework of the growing process of globalisation. Starting with a brief introduction to globalisation and the theories of co-operative degeneration, a specific case is analysed referring to Mondragón...

The survival of the economic organizations in the present environment demands a very fast power of reaction to operate in a market increasingly big and competitive. The famous globalisation is leading to a modification in the internal structures of enterprises, having a tendency to increase its...