Sectoral location of the cooperatives: an approach at the Territorial level in Spain

Abstract

The possibility to change the development models towards sustainability and responsibility is being considered by both the researchers and the different institutions, especially since the last crisis. In this scenario, the social economy provides an opportunity for change and contribution to these new models due to the principles and values on which it bases its working; the implementation of policies and strategies in order to develop this sector with specific characteristics is therefore important. Nevertheless, the resources or characteristics and potentialities in each territorial area must be taken into account. In this line, an indicator to identify in which economic sectors and territories the social economy stands out -in particular of cooperative societies since they are their most representative organizations in Spain-, and if its role is different from the rest of the firms, is performed. It is important to consider these aspect to promote the organizations of social economy and to implement socioeconomic measures and policies that contribute to the improvement of local production systems, and to ensure better results. This indicator -weight of cooperative societies ()-, on the basis of the coefficients of sectoral locations in 2013 -of cooperative societies and general economy- measured in terms of employ, has been applied in order to determine the importance or the weight of these societies in each economic sector with regard to the general economy in the Autonomous Communities of Spain. The relative importance of the cooperatives -regarding to general economy- in certain sectors and regions, which initially did not seem to prove this, is among the main results. This reflects the need for deep analysis of the behaviour of the cooperatives in the different territorial frameworks