Abstract
Social innovations have been the subject of much academic discussion in recent years and have been approached from multiple scientific perspectives. This work sets out to determine whether innovations carried out by Andalusian olive oil cooperatives can be described in terms of social innovation and if they could run a main role as rural development actors preserving the competitive capacity of farmers and the living conditions in rural Andalusia. Through an analysis of the available literature, the use of municipal statistical data and the conducting of in-depth interviews, we show how cooperatives have been proposed as a solution to the problems that international competition poses for the production activity of olives and olive oil. At present, the most innovative cooperatives are undergoing a slow process of incorporating innovations, above all organisational and management ones, which reach beyond the entities themselves, given the social character that they have in the region, where they are considered a public good. Despite the problems that olive oil cooperatives have historically had in competing in the market, they can contribute to maintaining the population in the rural environment and improving the quality of life in the region, justifying the need for government support.
Highlights
Cooperatives are the appropriate instruments for working in the market, but they need to incorporate technological, organizational, and social innovations that allow them to compete with other regions while maintaining the standard of living of the societies where they carry out their activity
It is clear that if the maintenance and expansion of the olive-growing activity in Andalusia is to be achieved, it will require sufficiently strong processes of social innovation to resist the magnetic pull that cities exert on rural areas, which siphon off the very people that have the capacity to incorporate management, production and marketing innovations in the olive-growing activity
Andalusian rural society can contribute to a reduction in the social and regional inequalities that are beginning to entrench themselves in Europe
Summary
The concept implies new initiatives, changes, approaches or proposals dealing with social challenges. The idea of social innovation is always related to collective action that seeks to change the relationship between agents, institutions, and society, giving rise to new institutions and new social systems [2]. New institutional economics has focused its attention on institutions—formal and informal social rules—and on actors to explain how agreements are reached and to understand the performance of economic development in societies over time [3]. Seen through this lens, social innovation is not such a new concept. Long-term structural changes in institutions—and other minor socioeconomic changes during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries [4]—came about through democratic revolutions in the past, nowadays, it is being used as an important tool to emphasise the necessary efforts local communities are making to face the challenges posed by globalisation [5]
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