Emerging governance patterns from italian social cooperatives

Social cooperatives (hereinafter “SCs”) are a specific Italian form of non-profit enterprise usually owned and managed by a set of stakeholders, such as workers, volunteers and disadvantaged people (i.e. disabled, ex-convicts, minors misfits) or their relatives who benefit from the services provided by the SC itself. In Italy, SCs were codified by Law 381/1991 that recognizes their role as non-profit and private organizations operating in the care market. In this study several cooperative companies have been examined for the purpose of answering questions of an exploratory nature centered around explaining the reasons (why) and the mechanism (how) which lead to a renewed relationship with stakeholders, and – as a consequence – to strengthening the financial structures of social cooperatives.