The firm as a common. The case of the accumulation and use of capital resources in co-operative enterprises

Ermanno Tortia

MPRA Paper from University Library of Munich, Germany

Abstract: Contemporary literature dealing with the governance of the exploitation of common-pool natural resources was initiated by Elinor Ostrom in 1990, and has been growing fast ever since. On the contrary, within the same research stream, the study of the presence and economic role of common resources in entrepreneurial-organizational is, to date, under-researched. This work endeavours some attempt to fill this gap by: first, spelling out a new-institutionalist framework for the analysis of the accumulation and governance of common capital resources within organizational boundaries; second, by considering co-operative enterprises as the organizational form that, on the basis of historical record, and of behavioural and institutional characteristics, demonstrated to be the most compatible with a substantial role for common and non-divided asset-ownership and with its governance thereof. The economic forces influencing the optimal level of self-financed common capital resources in co-operatives are enquired. Also their governance is brought under the spotlight, evidencing: (i) the constraints that need to be fulfilled, and the potential benefits arising out of their presence; (ii) the compatibility and mutual adaptability between democratic governance in co-operatives and the governance of non-divided assets.

Keywords: co-operative enterprises; indivisible reserves; common resources; rivalry; non-excludability; capital accumulation; governance (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: B52 J54 K11 P12 P13 P14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2017-02-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cse and nep-hme
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