Is there life after degeneration? The organizational life cycle of cooperatives under a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomy

This article provides an in-depth, longitudinal analysis combining real-time and retrospective data on a set of Mondragon's industrial cooperatives that are organized as international groups. We examine the life cycle of these international cooperative groups, which is expected to evolve differ...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Bretos Fernández, Ignacio, Errasti, Anjel, Marcuello, Carmen
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2020
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Zaragoza
Repositorio:Zaguán. Repositorio Digital de la Universidad de Zaragoza
OAI Identifier:oai:zaguan.unizar.es:87015
Acceso en línea:http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/87015
Access Level:acceso abierto
id ES_73d0dea91cd678f56dec31dcc6589621
oai_identifier_str oai:zaguan.unizar.es:87015
network_acronym_str ES
network_name_str España
repository_id_str
spelling Is there life after degeneration? The organizational life cycle of cooperatives under a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomyBretos Fernández, IgnacioErrasti, AnjelMarcuello, CarmenThis article provides an in-depth, longitudinal analysis combining real-time and retrospective data on a set of Mondragon's industrial cooperatives that are organized as international groups. We examine the life cycle of these international cooperative groups, which is expected to evolve differently to that of small- and medium-sized cooperatives that operate exclusively on a local scale. The article is theoretically informed by the cooperative life cycle theory, as well as by recent insights from the degeneration and regeneration theses. Our analysis yields an intricate picture of the evolution of cooperatives faced with a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomy. On the one hand, our findings reject the highly simplistic and deterministic view of the degeneration thesis by demonstrating that these cooperatives can mobilize resources to revitalize cooperative values and practices. On the other, we find that regeneration may not occur in a consistent, sequential fashion as the previous literature suggests, but rather degenerative and regenerative tendencies can occur simultaneously, even leading to long-lasting, unresolvable situations. In light of this, the article asks future research to draw on power-aware and politically informed approaches for further understanding of how cooperatives manage the tensions at each organizational stage of their life cycle, and of which organizational actors benefit, and how, from reversing some degenerative tendencies while maintaining others intact.2020info:eu-repo/semantics/articleinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersionapplication/pdfhttp://zaguan.unizar.es/record/87015reponame:Zaguán. Repositorio Digital de la Universidad de Zaragozainstname:Universidad de ZaragozaInglésinfo:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/GIU17-052info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccessoai:zaguan.unizar.es:870152026-05-29T13:59:51Z
dc.title.none.fl_str_mv Is there life after degeneration? The organizational life cycle of cooperatives under a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomy
title Is there life after degeneration? The organizational life cycle of cooperatives under a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomy
spellingShingle Is there life after degeneration? The organizational life cycle of cooperatives under a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomy
Bretos Fernández, Ignacio
title_short Is there life after degeneration? The organizational life cycle of cooperatives under a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomy
title_full Is there life after degeneration? The organizational life cycle of cooperatives under a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomy
title_fullStr Is there life after degeneration? The organizational life cycle of cooperatives under a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomy
title_full_unstemmed Is there life after degeneration? The organizational life cycle of cooperatives under a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomy
title_sort Is there life after degeneration? The organizational life cycle of cooperatives under a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomy
dc.creator.none.fl_str_mv Bretos Fernández, Ignacio
Errasti, Anjel
Marcuello, Carmen
author Bretos Fernández, Ignacio
author_facet Bretos Fernández, Ignacio
Errasti, Anjel
Marcuello, Carmen
author_role author
author2 Errasti, Anjel
Marcuello, Carmen
author2_role author
author
description This article provides an in-depth, longitudinal analysis combining real-time and retrospective data on a set of Mondragon's industrial cooperatives that are organized as international groups. We examine the life cycle of these international cooperative groups, which is expected to evolve differently to that of small- and medium-sized cooperatives that operate exclusively on a local scale. The article is theoretically informed by the cooperative life cycle theory, as well as by recent insights from the degeneration and regeneration theses. Our analysis yields an intricate picture of the evolution of cooperatives faced with a ‘grow-or-die’ dichotomy. On the one hand, our findings reject the highly simplistic and deterministic view of the degeneration thesis by demonstrating that these cooperatives can mobilize resources to revitalize cooperative values and practices. On the other, we find that regeneration may not occur in a consistent, sequential fashion as the previous literature suggests, but rather degenerative and regenerative tendencies can occur simultaneously, even leading to long-lasting, unresolvable situations. In light of this, the article asks future research to draw on power-aware and politically informed approaches for further understanding of how cooperatives manage the tensions at each organizational stage of their life cycle, and of which organizational actors benefit, and how, from reversing some degenerative tendencies while maintaining others intact.
publishDate 2020
dc.date.none.fl_str_mv 2020
dc.type.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/article
info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
format article
status_str publishedVersion
dc.identifier.none.fl_str_mv http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/87015
url http://zaguan.unizar.es/record/87015
dc.language.none.fl_str_mv Inglés
language_invalid_str_mv Inglés
dc.relation.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/GIU17-052
dc.rights.none.fl_str_mv info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess
eu_rights_str_mv openAccess
dc.format.none.fl_str_mv application/pdf
dc.publisher.none.fl_str_mv
publisher.none.fl_str_mv
dc.source.none.fl_str_mv reponame:Zaguán. Repositorio Digital de la Universidad de Zaragoza
instname:Universidad de Zaragoza
instname_str Universidad de Zaragoza
reponame_str Zaguán. Repositorio Digital de la Universidad de Zaragoza
collection Zaguán. Repositorio Digital de la Universidad de Zaragoza
repository.name.fl_str_mv
repository.mail.fl_str_mv
_version_ 1869410837251227648
score 15,301603

Similares en LA Referencia