New technologies, global environmental hazards and increasingly integrated markets are transforming the pace and principles of social interaction. Modern cooperative businesses actively contribute to fundamental changes of political, business and cultural environments. In the process, cooperative principles and organisational concepts themselves become the subject of renovation and revitalisation.
The ICA - CCR European Research Conference 2019 in Berlin will discuss the role of cooperative organisations in ongoing transformations. What could be the role of organisations based on voluntary membership, economic cooperation, and democratic rule in key areas such as business transformation, sustainable resource management, the democratisation of service infrastructures, or civil society activation? What are the new areas and spaces cooperative business models may occupy?
What contributions could cooperative networks and associations at different levels of aggregation make? At the level of single entities, conference participants will discuss how cooperatives manage changes as well as how cooperatives influence the speed by which members and communities are affected. Across societal and organisational levels, participants will discuss the role of cooperative networks and associations as potential knowledge brokers and co-designers of the process of transformation.
Conference contributions may cover a wide range of connected research themes at different levels of social interaction. Empirical as well as conceptual work will be presented and discussed.