Andrea Bernardi

School of Advanced Defence Studies · IRAD

Although the use of History has become increasingly discussed and more widely applied within Organization Studies (OS), its relevance for OS still remains far from centrally accepted. This article historicizes the relationship between Sociology and History as a means of better understanding the tensions, perceived and real, that exist between Histo...

This work compares the health cooperatives fêted in Maoist China in the 1960s to the New Rural Medical Co-operative Scheme (NRCMS) that has been operating in China since 2002. Organisational and ideological similarities between the old and new co-operative medical schemes are described. By mapping continuities and discontinuities in the way the co-...

This work presents a history of the co-operative firm in China from its origins in the early 20th century. The aim is to describe how in its evolution, the Chinese Co-operative Movement has diverged from the western notion of a co-operative. To understand the similarities and the divergence, we will consider a number of economic and cultural factor...

Inequality has been increasing for decades in both rich and developing countries and the academic literature addressing it struggles to provide explanations, let alone solutions. This paper is concerned with a relatively underexplored area, the relationship between macro-level inequality and organizational inequality. The core focus of the article...

Purpose – This paper analyses public sector accounting and organization reforms, focusing on the departments in charge of defence, military procurement and war between 1850 and 2000 in Britain. Over this period, three parliamentary acts, resulting from a power struggle between the Treasury and Parliament, produced the shift between two institutiona...

We have carried out an empirical study of WBOs in Italy since 1985, describing the role of two key institutions-the legal framework and the cooperative associations. WBO operations were officially recognized in 1985 by the Italian policy-maker. The research has led to establishing a sample, wider than any previously done in Italy, resulting from th...

This paper aims to highlight the role of solidarity funds in the development and support of national co-operative movements. Those are financial institutions specialized in supporting the start-up and growth of co-operatives. By adopting a case study approach, our analysis shows that solidarity funds emerged globally with similar objectives. Our in...

In this paper we present an empirical study on the perception of the cooperative firm among entertainment and performing arts workers. In particular, the study is based on workers belonging to associations established during the first pandemic emergency from Covid-19 in 2020. Our study reveals a perception of deterioration of the cooperative model....

Michel de Montaigne, nel saggio dedicato all'educazione dei giovani scriveva: 'Il faut voyager pour frotter et limer sa cervelle contre celle d'aultruy' (saggio 26, libro I). Nel 500, quella grande figura di intellettuale europeo, per molti versi comparabile a Erasmo da Rotterdam, elogiava il viaggio e l'incontro come strumento fondamentale per raf...

The Capability Approach, first developed by Amartya Sen, cab be used as a mean to analyse occupational health and safety related behaviours. Accidents at work more frequently occur among atypical workers and migrants, making this an interesting context in which to apply Sen's theoretical framework; namely showing how freedoms, rights, organisationa...

Gung Ho è la più antica associazione cooperativa cinese ed è la più vicina ai principi del movimento cooperativo internazionale. Tuttavia non è l’organizzazione più grande e potente della Cina e qui se ne spiegheranno le ragioni. L’origine e il ruolo della cooperazione in Asia, e in particolar modo in Cina e in altri paesi con una cultura confucian...

Whether you think you know all there is to know or you know next to nothing about the co-operative sector, this book is for you. An A to Z of the co-operative movement, this collection of short essays will introduce you to the diverse, broad, and multifaceted world of co-operatives. Co-operatives have a very long history, yet are still out there co...

This chapter is devoted to the need of the co-operative sector to be in tune with the spirit of the time. We argue that co-operatives have never been abstract entities but rather effective organizations born to serve the needs of members and users. The spirit of the time, the Zeitgeist, needs to be the beacon of the co-operative movement. The ident...

Cooperatives and China Gung Ho is the oldest Chinese cooperative association and is the closest to the principles of the international cooperative movement. It is not, however, the biggest and the most powerful cooperative organization in China. This chapter explains why. The origin and the role of cooperation in Asia, and particularly in China and...

This chapter deals with the recent crisis and a failed attempt at paradigm change. The worldwide protest movement has been ineffective in delivering an impact on policies and providing a feasible alternative. The co-operative movement and the protest movements have several points in common despite their lack of dialogue. The occupy movement needs a...

This work presents a history of the co-operative firm in China from its origins in the early twenth century. The aim is to describe how in its evolution, the Chinese Co-operative Movement has diverged from the western notion of a co-operative. To understand the similarities and the divergence, we will consider a number of economic and cultural fact...

This work compares the health cooperatives fêted in Maoist China in the 1960s to the New Rural Medical Co-operative Scheme (NRCMS) that has been operating in China since 2002. Organizational and ideological similarities between the old and new co-operative medical schemes are described. Bymapping continuities and discontinuities in the way the co-o...

The financial crisis triggered the economic recession and an ideological and political crisis of western capitalism. Since 2008 several grassroots movements attacked capitalism and its symbols worldwide. It is our central contention that the cooperative movement and the protest movements have several points in common, despite their lack of dialogue...

In 2003, the British Government described the students as “intelligent customers”. In this article I will describe the implications of such a premise, originally formulated by the Labour Government but also shared by the current Coalition Government. In the four sections of this article, I will describe the dimension of the university system and th...

This chapter, after a brief statistical analysis of occupational safety trends within Italy specifically and Europe in general, summarises different research perspectives on occupational well-being and safety. There is no doubt from the statistics that higher incidences of accidents and fatal accidents occur among non-standard workers than among st...

One of the ambiguities of the success of co-operatives is that they, despite the special legal status that several nations have attributed to them, find themselves under increased pressure to demonstrate that their institutional model delivers better services or jobs, or addresses market failures or improves market efficiency. It is with this tensi...

En este artículo se describe el papel destacado del sector cooperativo en el mercado laboral italiano. Se presentan datos empíricos originales sobre la dimensión del sector cooperativo, su estructura y la evolución de la productividad en las empresas cooperativas. Las diferencias entre empresas cooperativas y los datos del sistema económico italian...

Questo volume offre una prospettiva interdisciplinare sul lavoro in cooperativa e sulle prospettive di sviluppo del settore cooperativo. Gli strumenti di ricerca scientifica della scienza economica, della teoria dell’organizzazione e del diritto del lavoro permettono a questa monografia di offrire un quadro originale del lavoro cooperativo in Itali...

Labour Market and co-operative sector in Italy - This article describes the important role of the co-operative sector in the Italian labour market. We will present original data concerning the dimension of the co-operative sector, its structure and the trend of the productivity among the co-operative firms. The difference between the trend in the e...

La ricerca qui presentata analizza l'evoluzione delle relazioni industriali del settore elettrico dal 1987 al 2007 e si pone in continuità con l'analoga ricerca Le relazioni industriali all'Enel, che copriva il periodo 1963-1986. L'osservazione è stata allargata alle vicende dell'intero settore, caratterizzate da cambiamenti sia istituzionali che s...

The paper poses the question what is different about co-operatives and is co-operative action still relevant today? Why should policymakers pursue it in development strategies? In what way are co-operatives different in terms of economic theory and organisation theory? And if there are differences in organisation, human resource management practice...

Il testo analizza, relativamente all’Italia e agli ultimi sessant’anni, l’evoluzione delle relazioni di lavoro nella prassi e nella teoria insieme al succedersi di paradigmi organizzativi e di innovazioni istituzionali. Si descrive in parallelo la trasformazione del ruolo del sindacato e della direzione del personale nel quadro della regolazione de...

The paper poses the question what is different about co-operatives and is co-operative action still relevant today? Why should policymakers pursue it in development strategies? In what way are co-operatives different in terms of economic theory and organisation theory? And if there are differences in organisation, human resource management practice...

Is cooperative action modern or old fashioned? Why should policymakers pursue it in development strategies? In what way are cooperatives different in terms of economic theory and organisation theory? And if there are differences in organisation, human resource management practices, property rights and forms of collective action, what are the govern...