Cooperative Ventures Research Articles

The Shapley value, the Proper Shapley value, and sharing rules for cooperative ventures

In this note, we discuss two solutions for cooperative transferable utility games, namely the Shapley value and the Proper Shapley value. We characterize positive Proper Shapley values by affine invariance and by an axiom that requires proportional allocation of the surplus according to the individual singleton worths in generalized joint venture games. As a counterpart, we show that affine invariance and an axiom that requires equal allocation of the surplus in generalized joint venture games characterize the Shapley value.

The Role of Saving and Lending Cooperatives in Increasing Its Members Earning and Review Based On Islamic Law

The papers aim is to conformity with the content and spirit of the 1945 constitution, the government of the Republic Indonesia has underlined that cooperative ventures will be the pillar and accommodation of the people’s economy. A descriptive and analytic study has been conducted through the collection the data from interviews and completed questioners of the purposive sampling method. The study has reveals the services of saving and lending cooperatives to their members as well as the community are still unsatisfactory, but it has some benefit to the members. The money saving and lending contracts can be classed as reciprocal and contain the principles of freedom to contract and equilibrium. The cooperative principles are relevant with Islamic Law. It stills no consensus in opinion among the Moslem Scholars on the rate interest in money saving and lending from the cooperative.

From Dualism to Cooperative Federalism and Back? : Evolving and Competing Conceptions of Canadian Federalism

This chapter documents the evolution from a dualist - “watertight compartments” - conception of Canadian federalism, to one that must acknowledge an increased number of intergovernmental cooperative ventures. It first examines Canada’s fundamentally dualist federal architecture before looking at the empirical reality of cooperative federalism which frequently challenges this structural dualism. It then considers how the rise of cooperative federalism influenced the evolution of the interpretive doctrines underpinning the law of Canadian federalism. Finally, it analyses the normative strength and scope of cooperative federalism, concluding that the impact of cooperative federalism in Canadian constitutional law remains tamed by the dualist conception of federalism that still underlies the Supreme Court of Canada’s federalism case law.

Transforming Regions of Conflict through Trade Preferential Agreements: Israel, Jordan and the QIZ Initiative

AbstractThe Qualified Industrial Zone (QIZ) model of border-located, duty and quota-free industrial regions is a policy tool designed to capitalize on cross-border cooperation to facilitate post-conflict normalization. Using mixed methods, this study presents and evaluates the implementation of the 1996 US initiated Israel-Jordan QIZ agreement and its social, economic and political impact, contributing to broader debates regarding the potential and limitations of post-conflict normalization through trade preference agreements. The Israel-Jordan QIZ framework no longer functions due to multiple circumstances. Yet there are lessons to be gained from the mechanisms of the QIZ implementation which contributed to the only minimal realization of its anticipated potential. We found that economic brokerage fostering trade and industry cross-border cooperation can serve one-sided economic interests while minimizing spillover to political or social realms, contrary to original intentions. The QIZ experience demonstrates the importance of self-motivation of each of the parties regarding specific cooperative ventures in realizing the potential of cross-border cooperation.

To build a walled garden

Through cooperative ventures around the state, the UC Master Gardener program brings horticultural knowledge to Californians in jails, detention centers and treatment facilities.

Beyond the Paris Agreement: Intellectual Property, Innovation Policy, and Climate Justice

The multidisciplinary field of climate law and justice needs to address the topic of intellectual property, climate finance, and technology transfer to ensure effective global action on climate change. The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 1992 (UNFCCC) established a foundation for the development, application and diffusion of low-carbon technologies. Against this background, it is useful to analyse how the Paris Agreement 2015 deals with the subject of intellectual property, technology transfer, and climate change. While there was discussion of a number of options for intellectual property and climate change, the final Paris Agreement 2015 contains no text on intellectual property. There is text, though, on technology transfer. The Paris Agreement 2015 relies upon technology networks and alliances in order to promote the diffusion and dissemination of green technologies. In order to achieve technology transfer, there has been an effort to rely on a number of formal technology networks, alliances, and public–private partnerships—including the UNFCCC Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN); the World Intellectual Property Organization’s WIPO GREEN; Mission Innovation; the Breakthrough Energy Coalition; and the International Solar Alliance. There have been grand hopes and ambitions in respect of these collaborative and co-operative ventures. However, there have also been significant challenges in terms of funding, support, and operation. In a case of innovation policy pluralism, there also seems to be a significant level of overlap and duplication between the diverse international initiatives. There have been concerns about whether such technology networks are effective, efficient, adaptable, and accountable. There is a need to better align intellectual property, innovation policy, and technology transfer in order to achieve access to clean energy and climate justice under the framework of the Paris Agreement 2015. At a conceptual level, philosophical discussions about climate justice should be grounded in pragmatic considerations about intellectual property and technology transfer. An intellectual property mechanism is necessary to provide for research, development, and deployment of clean technologies. There is a need to ensure that the technology mechanism of the Paris Agreement 2015 can enable the research, development, and diffusion of clean technologies at a scale to address the global challenges of climate change.

Good to share? The pecuniary implications of moving to shared service production for local government services

Shared services are often lauded as an efficacious means of reducing municipal expenditure and thereby improving waning financial sustainability. However, most of the extant theoretical and empirical work only considers costs and benefits at the level of the specific service in question and, hence, fails to capture many of the wider benefits and costs that might accrue to local governments. In this article we first build a schema to illustrate the benefits and costs of moving from separate to collaborative production at the level of individual local authorities. We then test two hypotheses drawn from the schema against a five‐year panel of expenditure data. We find evidence of increased expenditure in the order of 8 per cent that prima facie runs counter to the objectives of many municipal managers engaged with shared services. We conclude by considering the implications of our findings for cooperative ventures between local authorities.

Community Economies in the Context of Thailand’s Sufficiency Economy Approach - A Positioning Theory Analysis

This paper discusses the Inpaeng Network, an alternative farmers' organization in Northeastern Thailand, and its cooperative ventures with state institutions. The primary aim is to show how by drawing on state development discourse participants in community economies can make use of government assistance and resources for their projects. Drawing on data collected in January 2012 in Northeastern Thailand and based on Gibson-Graham's work (2006) I will first show how Inpaeng activities reflect ethical decisions about covering economic needs, the distribution of surplus, consumption, and the management of local commons. Thailand's development strategy since the late 1990s officially recognizes these practices, which are based on traditional knowledge and integrated farming. This shift in development thinking has led to a repositioning of rural agriculture-based communities and has provided a foundation for successful collaborations between Inpaeng and public organizations. Applying positioning theory analysis I will show that each collective actor has a distinct understanding of Sufficiency Economy, and that consequently they pursue different but complementary objectives. In positioning theory terms, the meaning of social practices cannot be determined independently of actors involved; the Sufficiency Economy discourse is consequently embedded in each actor's own storyline. This understanding not only helps to explain partnerships between Inpaeng and public institutions, but also points towards possibilities for communities' strategic use of storylines in other contexts.

Group farming in France: Why do some regions have more cooperative ventures than others?

The global debate on food security and the kinds of farming systems that could prove economically and ecologically sustainable has focused overwhelmingly on small family farms versus large commercial farms, with little attention being given to alternative models based on farmer cooperation. France offers a significant but under-researched and internationally little-recognized model of group farming – the GAEC ( Groupement Agricole d’Exploitation en Commun) – based on farmers pooling land, labour and capital. This model is of considerable contemporary interest for both France and other countries. Catalysed by a 1962 law, GAECs accounted for 7.6% of farms and 15% of agricultural adult work units in 2010, but their incidence varied greatly across regions. Using data from the French agricultural census and other sources, this paper identifies the factors – economic, ecological, social and demographic – underlying this regionally uneven development of GAECs (and comparatively of EARLs – Exploitations Agricoles à Responsabilité Limitée – another type of group farm introduced in 1985). Regions with a higher incidence of group farms are found to be those that were historically dominated by middle-sized farms, had a local ecology favouring labour-intensive animal breeding, especially pastures, a higher proportion of agricultural graduates, greater economic equality and social institutions that promote community cohesion, among other factors. These results illuminate not only the conditions favourable to the emergence of group farming in France, but also the conditions under which such farmer cooperation could take root in other (including developing) countries, subject to context-specific modifications of the French model.

Facilitating affective experiences to stimulate women’s entrepreneurship in rural India

PurposeThis paper aims to understand the nature of affective experiences that can help women to overcome perceived socio-cultural constraints and stimulate entrepreneurship. The paper focuses on rural poor women in India as they represent cultural contexts rich with impediments while also presenting an opportunity for socio-economic development.Design/methodology/approachA qualitative study with interpretative phenomenological analysis was conducted with participants from women-owned and -managed crafts-based cooperative entrepreneurial ventures from the state of Bihar in India.FindingsCooperative form of entrepreneurship and sisterhood among its members provides an environment for repeated affective experiences that inspire women to change the status quo. Sisterhood facilitates interactions with role models, mentee-driven mentoring and vicarious incentives, each producing positive affect, whereas cooperatives provide a work environment that fosters equality and helps women find their unique voice, generating affect. Together, the affect allows women to overcome fears associated with deviating from age-old traditions while engaging in entrepreneurial behaviors and sustaining them.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper advances knowledge on women entrepreneurship for non-Western cultural contexts, particularly the environments and experiences that stimulate entrepreneurship. The values of cooperative form of entrepreneurship and the homophily among sisters creates an environment which is relaxed and comfortable, where affective experiences can be naturally embedded in daily routines in contrast to those created through formal-structured training programmes. The paper findings are limited to cultural contexts of rural women in eastern states of India with high levels of poverty.Practical implicationsPolicies for cooperative entrepreneurship and grassroots support to facilitate an environment to foster cooperatives’ values, and sisterhood can lead to affective experiences necessary for change that endures.Originality/valueEntrepreneurship for pervasive social change, such as alleviating rural women from poverty, needs theory development, particularly a better understanding of the influence of macro socio-cultural contexts on women’s ability to be entrepreneurial. This paper provides an understanding of contextually relevant affective experiences conducive for rural women entrepreneurship.

The Shapley Value, Proper Shapley Value, and Sharing Rules for Cooperative Ventures

Moulin (1987) studies the equal and proportional sharing rule for a special class of cooperative games that he calls joint venture games. Proportionality is an important principle in allocation problems. Besides some special cases, it is not obvious how proportionality should be applied in cooperative TU-games. Such special cases, where proportionality is obvious, are inessential games and cooperative joint venture games. In this paper, we discuss an explicit axiom that shows that proper Shapley values can be seen as an appropriate way to express proportionality in value allocation in cooperative TU-games. We characterize positive proper Shapley values by affine invariance and an axiom that requires proportional allocation according to the individual singleton worths in generalized joint venture games. As a counterpart, we show that affine invariance and an axiom that requires equal allocation of the surplus in generalized joint venture games, characterize the positive part of the Shapley value among the single-valued solutions.

PhD in Women's and Gender Studies: The European Example

424 Feminist Studies 44, no. 2. © 2018 by Feminist Studies, Inc. Susan Stanford Friedman PhD in Women’s and Gender Studies: The European Example The growth of PhD programs in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies in the United States since Feminist Studies published its influential forums in 1998 and 2001 has been impressive, especially in the face of budget woes in public higher education, where most of the doctoral programs are located. As we consider the future directions of such programs , I offer here an account of exciting new developments in Europe from which I think we in the United States can learn. A feminist network of faculty in seven universities in six countries across Europe has been working across languages since the beginning of this century to develop cooperative ventures in women’s and gender studies. Funded by the European Union (EU), the network developed a joint Erasmus Mundus Master’s Degree in Women’s and Gender Studies , starting in 2006 and based in Granada, Spain; participants include the University of Bologna (Italy), the Central European University (Hungary ), the University of Granada (Spain), the University of Hull (England), the University of Lodz (Poland), the University of Oviedo (Spain), and the Utrecht University (Netherlands). Also involved is the Associazione Orlando, an independent institute in Bologna, Italy, founded in 1975 to promote feminist research, archives, and activism. This MA program, known by the acronym GEMMA, has graduated hundreds of students from all over the world and is still going strong.1 Their curriculum is a 1. In 2012, GEMMA was renewed and now includes Rutgers University and associations with universities in Central and South America. See http://masteres .ugr.es/gemma. Susan Stanford Friedman 425 two-year program that involves course work, a thesis, and as its major innovation, a “mobility” semester or year. Part of the students’ program involves moving to one of the other universities in the consortium for a semester or a year, thus maximizing exposure to a variety of faculty and curricula; at the same time, this mobility term promotes greater cross-European understanding and appreciation of different cultures and languages. The problems the GEMMA program has faced have been enormous, including the institutional differences in degree requirements and academic cultures, the limited funding available for students , and the sheer challenges of coordination across national and linguistic borders. But in GEMMA, the objectives of academic feminism for advanced degrees in women’s and gender studies and greater integration across national differences have converged successfully. In 2013, the GEMMA initiative entered a new phase with an award from the EU to spend two years planning a joint PhD based in the same seven universities: Bologna, CEU, Granada, Hull, Lodz, Oviedo, and Utrecht (with Associazione Orlando as partner). EDGES is the acronym for this well-funded, major initiative, and Lilla Maria Crisafulli at the University Bologna is the project coordinator overseeing the final report and working groups from each of the seven universities and Associazione Orlando.2 Some of the consortium universities already had some form of separate PhD degree program in women’s and gender studies (Bologna, CEU, Granada, Oviedo, Utrecht). But the ambition was to create a joint PhD among the seven universities based on the vision of GEMMA for feminist cross-European cooperation and enrichment. The goals included enhancing gender equality and diversity, offering an interdisciplinary and intercultural degree program, supporting the future employability of its students, and encouraging a synergy between academic institutions and the wider public and private sectors. For two years, members of the consortium met repeatedly to design a threeyear PhD degree program that featured, like GEMMA, a mobility year, with students spending time at one of the other consortium universities , under the supervision of their main advisor and a secondary advisor 2. GENDERGRADUATES, another feminist consortium of six universities, based in Utrecht between 2005 and 2010 and directed by Rosemarie Buikema, helped lay the groundwork for EDGES. GENDERGRADUATES graduated 39 PhDs in women’s and gender studies. 426 Susan Stanford Friedman at their mobility institution. In the fall of 2014, I was brought into the project as an outside evaluator, charged with speaking at conferences, attending meetings, and submitting a...

Understanding the international strategic alliances of SMEs: a case-study approach

As foreign firms and local SMEs in a market differ in their resources and sizes, the dynamics of strategic alliances formed between them are markedly different from the other types of cooperative ventures. Despite this, the extant literature has largely ignored the domain of SME international alliances and has focused mainly on the international alliances of large firms. The objective of this paper is to bridge this theoretical gap and provide integrated insights on the three domains of SME international alliances - formation, management and performance outcomes. To do so, the authors undertake case studies of four Indian SMEs in the manufacturing sector which have formed international alliances. Findings indicate that SMEs exhibit similarity across the three domains in their international alliances. The paper provides important research as well as practical implications.

Understanding the international strategic alliances of SMEs: a case-study approach

As foreign firms and local SMEs in a market differ in their resources and sizes, the dynamics of strategic alliances formed between them are markedly different from the other types of cooperative ventures. Despite this, the extant literature has largely ignored the domain of SME international alliances and has focused mainly on the international alliances of large firms. The objective of this paper is to bridge this theoretical gap and provide integrated insights on the three domains of SME international alliances - formation, management and performance outcomes. To do so, the authors undertake case studies of four Indian SMEs in the manufacturing sector which have formed international alliances. Findings indicate that SMEs exhibit similarity across the three domains in their international alliances. The paper provides important research as well as practical implications.

PhD in Women's and Gender Studies: The European Example

424 Feminist Studies 44, no. 2. © 2018 by Feminist Studies, Inc. Susan Stanford Friedman PhD in Women’s and Gender Studies: The European Example The growth of PhD programs in women’s, gender, and sexuality studies in the United States since Feminist Studies published its influential forums in 1998 and 2001 has been impressive, especially in the face of budget woes in public higher education, where most of the doctoral programs are located. As we consider the future directions of such programs , I offer here an account of exciting new developments in Europe from which I think we in the United States can learn. A feminist network of faculty in seven universities in six countries across Europe has been working across languages since the beginning of this century to develop cooperative ventures in women’s and gender studies. Funded by the European Union (EU), the network developed a joint Erasmus Mundus Master’s Degree in Women’s and Gender Studies , starting in 2006 and based in Granada, Spain; participants include the University of Bologna (Italy), the Central European University (Hungary ), the University of Granada (Spain), the University of Hull (England), the University of Lodz (Poland), the University of Oviedo (Spain), and the Utrecht University (Netherlands). Also involved is the Associazione Orlando, an independent institute in Bologna, Italy, founded in 1975 to promote feminist research, archives, and activism. This MA program, known by the acronym GEMMA, has graduated hundreds of students from all over the world and is still going strong.1 Their curriculum is a 1. In 2012, GEMMA was renewed and now includes Rutgers University and associations with universities in Central and South America. See http://masteres .ugr.es/gemma. Susan Stanford Friedman 425 two-year program that involves course work, a thesis, and as its major innovation, a “mobility” semester or year. Part of the students’ program involves moving to one of the other universities in the consortium for a semester or a year, thus maximizing exposure to a variety of faculty and curricula; at the same time, this mobility term promotes greater cross-European understanding and appreciation of different cultures and languages. The problems the GEMMA program has faced have been enormous, including the institutional differences in degree requirements and academic cultures, the limited funding available for students , and the sheer challenges of coordination across national and linguistic borders. But in GEMMA, the objectives of academic feminism for advanced degrees in women’s and gender studies and greater integration across national differences have converged successfully. In 2013, the GEMMA initiative entered a new phase with an award from the EU to spend two years planning a joint PhD based in the same seven universities: Bologna, CEU, Granada, Hull, Lodz, Oviedo, and Utrecht (with Associazione Orlando as partner). EDGES is the acronym for this well-funded, major initiative, and Lilla Maria Crisafulli at the University Bologna is the project coordinator overseeing the final report and working groups from each of the seven universities and Associazione Orlando.2 Some of the consortium universities already had some form of separate PhD degree program in women’s and gender studies (Bologna, CEU, Granada, Oviedo, Utrecht). But the ambition was to create a joint PhD among the seven universities based on the vision of GEMMA for feminist cross-European cooperation and enrichment. The goals included enhancing gender equality and diversity, offering an interdisciplinary and intercultural degree program, supporting the future employability of its students, and encouraging a synergy between academic institutions and the wider public and private sectors. For two years, members of the consortium met repeatedly to design a threeyear PhD degree program that featured, like GEMMA, a mobility year, with students spending time at one of the other consortium universities , under the supervision of their main advisor and a secondary advisor 2. GENDERGRADUATES, another feminist consortium of six universities, based in Utrecht between 2005 and 2010 and directed by Rosemarie Buikema, helped lay the groundwork for EDGES. GENDERGRADUATES graduated 39 PhDs in women’s and gender studies. 426 Susan Stanford Friedman at their mobility institution. In the fall of 2014, I was brought into the project as an outside evaluator, charged with speaking at conferences, attending meetings, and submitting a...

Aspectos socio-organizacionales y de gstión de Emprendimientos Cooperativos en Costa Rica

The following article explains strategic factors related to the area of promotion (environmental management, inclusiveness, institutional articulation, productive coordination, strategic alliances, innovation, food sustainability, new economic sectors) concerning the organization and operation of the Costa Rican cooperative ventures. Thus the organizational and operating selected cooperative ventures and cooperative experience is systematized through recovery and critical appraisal of these experiences to improve these and other practices from the lessons that emerge from the process itself and spread them to other stakeholders related to the activities of these cooperatives.

A Blue BRICS, Maritime Security, and the South Atlantic

Abstract Analysts frequently label the BRICS grouping of states (Brazil, India, Russia, China, and South Africa) as primarily an economic club emphasising economic performances as primary objectives. Co-operation of international groupings are rarely, if ever, set within the context of their access to maritime interests, security, and benefits. A second void stems from the lack of emphasis upon the economic benefits of secured maritime domains. In this vein, a common, but neglected aspect of the BRICS grouping’s power and future influence resides in their maritime domains, the value of which ultimately depends upon the responsible governance and use of ocean territories. The maritime interests of BRICS countries only become meaningful if reinforced by maritime security governance and co-operation in the respective oceans. Presently China and India seem to dominate the maritime stage of BRICS, but the South Atlantic is an often overlooked space. For BRICS the value of the South Atlantic stems from how it secures and unlocks the potential of this maritime space through co-operative ventures between Brazil, South Africa as a late BRICS partner, and West African littoral states in particular. Unfortunately, BRICS holds its own maritime tensions, as member countries also pursue competing interests at sea.

Equity and Efficiency in Shared Medical Facilities

The success of cooperative ventures is often highly dependent on the rules that govern participants. This is especially true when the stakes are high, as is so often the case when medical devices/facilities are shared and costs are large in terms of both dollars and patient congestion/delay. We argue that one cost sharing mechanism, namely the serial cost sharing rule, enjoys extraordinary equity and incentive properties and is especially well suited for adoption in health care contexts. Moreover, serial cost sharing is the one and only cost sharing rule to be endowed with these powerful equity and incentive features.

Mosques as Partners in Prevention

Abstract For a long time, the potential of mosque communities in facilitating integration of migrants or in taking preventive measures in combating neo-Salafi movements was not fully recognised. In contrast to widespread belief, mosque communities do not provide a breeding ground for future extremists, since processes of radi-calisation typically take place outside of mosque communities. They do, howev-er, as authors Rauf Ceylan and Michael Kiefer are keen to point out, take a key role in prevention work, since they pool people and resources and their range of influence extends far into the often marginalised neighbourhoods. Besides, they provide a sound religious education, which, so theologians assume, has an im-munising effect against processes of radicalisation. For this reason, mosque communities should be considered partners in prevention schemes, putting them on a par with state and social actors, and included into cooperative ventures. In this context, the authors present both effective and ineffe...

Animal Cards, supermarket stunts, and the World Wide Fund for Nature: Exploring the educational value of a business–environmental non-governmental organization partnership for sustainable consumption

This article explores cooperation between a commercial supermarket chain and an environmental non-governmental organization linking it to consumer perception of the “The Super Animals” collectable cards promotion initiative. The case study focuses on one particular joint project involving Animal Cards that was initiated by the supermarket Albert Heijn and the World Wide Fund for Nature in The Netherlands. Based on this case, environmental non-governmental organizations’ strategic choices in the context of contesting discourses of sustainability and consumption, as well as implications for environmental education, are addressed. This article combines three strands of the literature – on sustainable consumption, on strategic cooperation between commercial companies and environmental non-governmental organizations and on environmental education. It is argued that the Animal Cards initiative presents an ambiguous case by both attempting to enhance environmental awareness and promoting consumption, opening up questions about the value of such cooperative ventures to the objectives of environmental education. It is concluded that cross-sector partnerships have the potential to lead to improvements in corporate social responsibility and environmental awareness among consumers but simultaneously pose the danger of undermining the critical stance toward consumption.