Suchergebnisse

Au coeur de notre économie, des entreprises se distinguent par une ambition commune : mener leur projet entrepreneurial en le mettant au service de l'Homme. Si elles partagent avec les entreprises « classiques » l'affirmation d'un projet de nature économique et la nécessité de dégager des excédents pour en assurer la pérennité, elles se distinguent cependant très clairement par leur finalité : la recherche des bénéfices n'y est pas une fin en soi, elle constitue un moyen au service d'une finalité sociétale.Au quotidien, la mise en oeuvre de ce modèle alternatif d''entreprise est exigeante. Le gestionnaire d'une entreprise sociale doit réaliser de nombreux arbitrages qui rendent nécessaires à la fois une compréhension fine des enjeux sociaux, mais aussi une appréhension correcte de la réalité économique. Ce livre vise à conscientiser le monde académique à la complexité de la gestion des entreprises sociales. Il entend également offrir aux praticiens de l'économie sociale une possibilité de réflexion et de mise en perspective des fondements de leur action. Enfin, plus largement, il se veut interpellant pour celles et ceux qui s'estiment concernés par l''évolution du système économique. À PROPOS DE L'AUTEURSybille Mertens est docteur en sciences économiques, directrice de recherches au Centre d'Economie Sociale et chargée de cours à HEC-Ecole de Gestion de l'Université de Liège. Titulaire de la Chaire Cera en « Social Entrepreneurship », elle est une spécialiste reconnue de la gestion des entreprises sociales.

ABSTRACTWhile 'traditional' cooperatives operating for a long time in fields such as banking, agriculture, or retail, have received important attention in the cooperative literature, much work still needs to be done to understand why and how cooperatives emerge either in fields in which they have not traditionally been widespread (such as health and care, services, etc.), or in 'new' fields or sub‐fields (such as fair trade, microfinance or renewable energy). Research is even more needed insofar as 'new' cooperatives tend to differ from traditional ones in several ways, for instance through the involvement of multiple stakeholders (rather than a dominant one such as producers, consumers or workers) or through a stronger orientation towards general interest goals (beyond traditional mutual interest at the basis of most cooperatives). In this article, we analyze the emergence of cooperatives in the field of renewable energy. This emergence has raised a lot of enthusiasm among the supporters of cooperatives and citizen‐based renewable energy as well as questions regarding the viability and the replicability of this model. On the one hand, the assets of the cooperative model enable us to understand why this form has been adopted by citizen groups and has developed, although to varying extents, in many countries. On the other hand, the limits or weaknesses of the model enable us to explain why cooperatives are still a minority in the field of renewable energy and why their development is constrained by several obstacles.

PurposeThe management of an organisation and the context within which this organisation evolves are recognised as two important aspects of any organisation. Few studies have been conducted however on the management function within the specific context of social enterprises, organisations that mix social goals and economic imperatives. This paper aims to examine the specific competences of management in social enterprises, by constructing a competence model, the emblematic tool of competence‐based management, relevant to the management of social enterprises.Design/methodology/approachThe authors hypothesise that certain competences required of managers in social enterprises are specific, regarding the particular internal and external context of social enterprises, the governance model, etc. The methodology used is based on four main steps: a review of the literature and the conducting of exploratory interviews, the construction of a first draft of the competence model, the conducting of group interviews with managers of social enterprises in six European countries as this research takes place within the framework of a European research project on lifelong learning, and the final adaptation and validation of the competence model.FindingsSeven main competences specific to the context of social enterprises emerge, each one being further developed as knowledge, skills, and competences.Originality/valueThe paper illustrates the interest in building up a competence model for the management of social enterprises.