CollectieveKracht Science lab

The CollectieveKracht knowledge platform for Dutch citizen collectives is really taking shape. On the morning of 17 January 2022 we had an inspiring meeting with more than 20 scientists who together form the Science lab of CollectieveKracht. Two of them, Fijnanda van Klingeren (RSM) and Arjen Buijs (WUR) presented tools that can help citizen collectives to increase their resilience and to create impact. We are looking forward to the official launch of CollectieveKracht – together with scientists, financiers, government’s representents, network organizations and the citizen collectives themselves – on 11 February.

Werkconferentie Coöperatieven maken de stad (Dutch due to scope)

Een keur van gasten kwam op maandag 17 januari 2022 vanaf 16.00 uur langs tijdens de online werkconferentie Coöperatieven maken de stad: van Marleen Stikker (Waag Society), Tine De Moor (RSM) en Rutger Groot Wassink (gemeente Amsterdam) tot vele vertegenwoordigers van buurtinitiatieven en burgercollectieven. Samen gingen ze in gesprek over de samenwerking tussen burgers en overheid, juridische aspecten en de kracht en betekenis van de coöperatieve beweging in allerlei sectoren. The recordings can be found here.

Social entrepreneurship in the Netherlands, socio-cultural, political and legal contexts: open seminar talk by Maarten Hogenstijn

Maarten Hogenstijn, senior researcher social entrepreneurship at the Amsterdam University of Applied Sciences was the guest speaker of research team Social Enterprise and Institutions for Collective Action on 11 January. He talked a about the contextual developments that affected the design of legal frameworks for Dutch social enterprises. In the Netherlands, social enterprises are usually considered as the social side of business. Increasingly researchers and civil servants recognize that social enterprises can also been seen as the entrepreneurial side of the social economy.

Tradeoff between size and identity among platform cooperatives: open seminar talk by Jovana Karanovic

Jovana Karanovic, Assistant Professor RSM/Founder Reshaping Work, was the guest speaker of research group Institutions for Collective Action on 21 December. She elucidated why researchers need to look into the reciprocal and volatile relationship between identity and strategy of platform cooperatives, understand how these organizations make a strategic tradeoff between size and distinctiveness.

Video: explaining the SICADE model

We are happy to announce that our video ‘The SICADE-model to understand Institutions for Collective Action’ finished in second place at the World Commons Week ‘teaching the commons’ video contest of IASC. In the video, Damion Bunders explains the theoretical framework we use to study the long-term development and the resilience of institutions for collective action (ICAs). Discover if this model is a useful tool for your studies as well: watch the video on Youtube.

Vacancy: open PhD position at Rotterdam School of Management

Are you passionate about research on how businesses in past and present can be key drivers of social change? Then Rotterdam School of Management (RSM) invites you to apply before 15 January for our open PhD project. Topics of this research program include alternative organization forms such as social enterprises and partnerships, as well as alternative governance regimes such as commons and cooperatives. Research group Institutions for Collective Action one of the participants in this open PhD project We welcome applications from a wide variety of backgrounds and perspectives, including history, social sciences and management sciences. See the RSM website for more information.

Commoning in the care sector: open seminar talk by Leonie van Meeteren

Leonie van Meeteren, director business operations of care organization Amerpoort, was the guest speaker of research group Institutions for Collective Action on 14 December. She talked about her research on factors that contribute to commoning in the care sector to address social dilemmas, especially when both state and market mechanisms cannot provide the care that is required or desirable. Next week, our guest will be Jovana Karanovic of Rotterdam School of Management.

Collective Action and Governance in Worker Cooperatives: double open seminar talk by Adrien Billiet (KU Leuven) and Marco Lomuscio (UniTrento)

On 6 December, PhD students Marco Lomuscio (university of Trento) and Adrien Billiet (university of Leuven) made presentations entitled ‘Entrepreneurship and collective actions in worker-recovered enterprises’ and ’Beyond elections: The impact of selection methods on organizational governance dynamics’ The reflections from a practical point of view by Peter Bosmans, advisor cooperative design and strategic planning at Febecoop, made for an interesting discussion afterwards.

New team members

Research team Institutions for Collective Action is still expanding. On 1 December visiting PhD candidate Yifei Ma and community researcher Jeroen Boon started with our team. Yifei is working on forms of collective action in China. Jeroen will strenghthen our CollectieveKracht team. Welcome to them both!