Proposal for presentation in second international CIRIEC research conference on the social economy (1.-2.10.2009, Östersund)

Presentation proposal for the thematic area: The social economy and new public policies (interaction and partnerships with public and private actors)

Promotion of social economy in the region of Tampere city – Case cooperative entrepreneurship and intermediate labour markets

Social economy as a concept has still largely failed to become established and is unknown to the wider public. The official identification of the phenomenon is inadequate, even though its significance has lately increased significantly. The signatory hereto is an author to the first dissertation defining the Finnish social economy “Social economy in Finland – the jargon of insiders or a new cooperation economy” in 2006. It claims that social economy in Finland is a phenomenon mainly identified by experts familiar with the issue. The phenomenon, however, is real and concerns many people each day. It offers alternative ways to engage in business and to work. Community economy channels and generates true social and economical well-being, providing a counterbalance to the globalising market economy. In the world of people who have opted for the social economy, joint action is a value and economy is for people. This presentation focuses on the promotion of social economy in the region of Tampere city. Both of the cases that are presented are based on the operation programme of labour policy in the region of Tampere city, drawn up for attaining the targets of labour policy strategy in the region. The presentation tells both about the promotion of cooperative undertakings, shaping the intermediate labour markets and finding new opportunities namely on intermediate labour markets. The Cooperative Centre has provided experiences for already more than ten years, while the development of intermediate labour markets is again a project launched in 2008, reflecting the new contact points and growth opportunities of the social economy in the region. These examples together give a good insight into the promotion of social economy in the interaction of both the public and private sector.

Case 1. Tampere Region Cooperative Centre The signatory hereto has operated for more than ten years in the Tampere Region Cooperative Centre that is a counselling point specialised in the cooperative entrepreneurship in Finland. The task of the cooperative centre is to develop cooperative entrepreneurship and to support the operations of the cooperatives in the Tampere region as a promoter of the wellbeing of its members. The cooperative centre also functions as a national support organisation for business counsellors in issues related to cooperative action. The cornerstone of the operations of the Tampere Region Cooperative Centre is the daily counselling of new cooperative entrepreneurs. The content and quality of the counselling service has been developed and the counselling consists of various essential issues, such as legal counselling, drawing up the foundation documents of a cooperative, consultation on regulations, consultation on management, special issues related to employment relationships, guidance in drawing up a business plan, drawing up financial statements, and teamwork. Precise statistical data is generated on counselling, established cooperatives and effects on the community. No similar statistics are available in anywhere else in Finland.

Good practices produced by the cooperative centre include the following:

• Customer counselling process with its different fields, and materials provided to the customer
• Personal consultation on foundation, and guidance to founding groups
• Marketing materials on cooperative entrepreneurship:
• the first DVD in Finland that discusses the subject from the aspect of the founders of small cooperatives
• Brochures with success stories, which have already raised discussions of good case examples at the national level and formed the image of cooperative entrepreneurship
• The first brochure in Finland that tells about the formation of a cooperation network between companies
• A basic brochure that markets cooperative entrepreneurship
• Web pages (www.osuustoimintakeskus.net)
• Precise statistics on customer flows and yielded results
• The only analyses in Finland on the economic effects of cooperatives
• Innovative cooperation projects

Operations are based on the principle of as extensive cooperation and exchange of information as possible. The operation is an excellent example of a service financed by the public sector, promoting the development and publicity of social economy in the public, private and third sector.

Case 2. Development of social entrepreneurship and intermediate labour markets Intermediate labour markets mean the working opportunities between unemployment and the work at open labour markets (work with a support wage, training in work life, etc.) and related services that promote settling into work and coping with work. Intermediate labour markets are developed with e.g. the Välke project from various aspects namely in the Tampere region: • Structuring the services of intermediate labour markets and coordination of the operations of intermediate labour markets • Improving the effects of intermediate labour markets, especially so that work with a support wage would lead to employment at open labour markets with higher certainty than presently • Promoting the expansion of intermediate labour markets to new fields of operation and to new tasks, should any needs be identified during the project The project strives to structure intermediate labour markets and to identify different employment opportunities at these, various of which are available in the community economy. The project also has the objective of increasing actively the interaction between different parties and developing new ideas for the development of intermediate labour markets, such as social enterprises.

Author: Doctor of administrative science Niina Immonen Executive Director Tampere Region Cooperative Centre (returns from maternity leave on 1.6.2009) niina.immonen@osuustoimintakeskus.net Tel. +358 40 568 2284

Representative of Tampere City involved: Employment Administration Service Unit Head of Unit Matti Luukinen matti.luukinen@tampere.fi

Publications: Immonen N (2008), ZEF – kaksiulotteinen arviointimenetelmä yhteisötalouden analyysissä. In the work Sähköä kyselyyn – web-kysely tutkimuksessa ja tiedonkeruussa. University of Lapland, Rovaniemi. Immonen N (2006). Yhteisötalous Suomessa, sisäpiirin slangia vai uutta yhteistyön taloutta. Academic dissertation. 252 pp. Domus-Offset, Tampere. Immonen N (2004). Yhteisötalouden suomalainen malli – käsitteet, käytäntö ja teoria. Licentiate thesis, Faculty of Financial Administration, University of Tampere. Immonen N and Pättiniemi P (2002). National profiles of work integration social enterprises: Finland. EMES working papers (no.03/01).

Abstract of dissertation of Niina Immonen

The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the manifestation of social economy in Finland and the definition of the notion of social economy and produce middle-range theory of social economy in Finland. The study began by charting theoretical discussion on the social economy and closely related concepts in literature. The method applied in this research for the assessment of social economy was devised on the basis of the theoretical discussion as well as the author’s own experience and practical knowledge. The method was employed in outlining the focused interview used in the qualitative section of the paper. Focused interviews were conducted to study people’s perceptions of the social economy. The research approach was phenomenography, used as a basis for analyzing the categorization of people’s perceptions. The study also investigated the juridical form of organization of social economy operators and the presence of economic activity in their operation. Their economic activity was surveyed with the help of statistics ordered from Statistics Finland.

In Finland, social economy can be defined both through juridical forms of Community law and by measuring its economic effectiveness. The study reveals that the Finnish social economy employs some five per cent of all wage and salary earners (2003) and accounts for about five per cent of the wages and salaries included in the net national income (2003). Over the last ten years, the position of all juridical forms of social economy has strengthened in our country, and the increase of economic activity carried on by associations, in particular, can be statistically verified. The study shows that there is a clearly identifiable sector of economic activity in Finland, which can be called social economy.

In the Finnish context, social economy can be briefly defined as follows: “Social economy is economic activity carried on by co-operatives, mutual societies, associations or foundations in an effort to enhance socially and financially sustainable welfare among their members and the surrounding society through democratic co-operation.”

However, the definition of social economy is not without problems, because the activities are clearly divided between business organizations (co-operatives, mutual societies, social economy enterprises) and other incorporations (associations and foundations). This division poses a challenge to the definition of social economy, because, on conceptual terms, associations are more closely linked to the third sector and co-operatives to the private sector. The position of a social enterprise, as defined in legislation from the beginning of 2004, is unclear in relation to the social economy and requires more experience from the application of the law. It can be said, however, that the social enterprises which operate in the juridical forms mentioned in the definition above are a component of the Finnish social economy.

Based on the results of the phenomenographic focused interviews, the conceptualization of the social economy in Finland has been distributed among three circles - “outsiders”, “uncertain”, and “insiders”. With the help of this theoretical model is possible to get an overall view of the understanding of the social economy and its different levels in our country today.

As a concept, social economy is still more or less unestablished and unknown to the public at large. Most Finns are categorized as “outsiders” - people who are unaware of the phenomenon and the established concept of social economy. The phenomenon has not even been officially recognized in our country, even if its importance has been growing, notably in the recent years. A sign of the growing importance is the formation of the category “uncertain” in this study. While the persons uncertain of the concept of social economy have acquired some level of knowledge and some notions of the phenomenon, they have no comprehensive understanding of it.

There is a small group of “insiders”, who have a clear understanding of the contents of social economy and who use the concept in their own communication. Insiders are able to identify social economy actors, describe the values and policies of social economy, and understand which social trends contribute to its popularity.

So far, social economy in Finland is a phenomenon recognized mostly only by well-informed experts. But the phenomenon is real and affects many people in their daily life. It offers alternative ways of enterprise and employment. The social economy channels and generates real social and economic welfare and provides some counterweight to the globalizing market economy. In the world of people who have chosen the social economy, co-operation is a value and economy is for people.

This dissertation shows that even in our country there is a field of economic activity that can be called the social economy. It forms an increasingly recognizable economic sector at the interface of the public, private and third sectors. This study produces a first model of understanding for the definition of the concept of Finnish social economy and initiates a debate on the subject. Discussion on the role and importance of various social economy operators should be continued, including an analysis of the impact and boundaries of the various sectors of economy in our society.