Platform social enterprises as a new model for co-production

Titolo Rivista STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI
Autori/Curatori Maurizio Busacca, Flaviano Zandonai
Anno di pubblicazione 2020 Fascicolo 2020/2
Lingua Inglese Numero pagine 26 P. 61-86 Dimensione file 334 KB
DOI 10.3280/SO2020-002003
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The paper analyses the mechanisms of organisational integration in two social enterprises characterised by a strong orientation towards the creation and management of networks with the aim of gaining useful learning in the framework of the emerging debate on production and governance models that characterise platform organisations, in particular in the digital context. In order to do this, it deepens the dimensions of leadership, organisational knowledge and production in two Italian cases: Le Case del Quartiere, a network of social infrastructures in Turin, and TreCuori, a company and territorial welfare agency in Veneto. The two cases are analysed according to the literature of organisational studies which, since the 1980s, has deepened the issue of the progressive narrowing of organisational boundaries and the increase in interdependence between units and organisations variously located with respect to those boundaries. The main evidence that emerged from the case studies are two. The first, in contrast with the rhetoric of disintermediation associated with the sharing economy, identifies the key role of intermediaries who position themselves as third parties with respect to the demand and supply of goods and services in order to facilitate their meeting and, at the same time, foster the mechanisms of entrepreneurial use of knowledge and relationships. The second, with significant theoretical implications, identifies the "platform social enterprise" as an organisational model that introduces strong traits of cooperation in the relational systems that characterise mainstream platform-enterprises. The findings of the investigation offer an original contribution to the convergence between social innovation, collaborative economics and new governance models studies, with a shift from "platform capitalism" to "platform cooperativism" by organizations that use place-based social innovation models and give importance not only to relational and political-cultural factors, but also to co-production, co-working, collaboration and networking. Observed from this perspective, the platform social enterprise becomes a model to be more considered in order to propose a more cooperative, sustainable and democratic development trajectory of platforms.

L’articolo analizza i meccanismi di integrazione organizzativa in imprese sociali caratterizzate da un forte orientamento alla creazione e gestione di reti con l’obiettivo di ricavare apprendimenti utili nell’ambito del dibattito emergente sui modelli di produzione e governance che caratterizzano le organizzazioni-piattaforma. A tale scopo approfondisce le dimensioni della leadership, della conoscenza organizzativa e della produzione a partire da due casi italiani: Le Case del Quartiere, una rete di infrastrutture sociali a Torino e TreCuori, un’agenzia di welfare aziendale e territoriale in Veneto. I due casi sono analizzati alla luce del filone di letteratura di studi organizzativi che a partire dagli anni ‘80 ha approfondito la questione del progressivo assottigliamento dei confini organizzativi e dell’aumento dell’interdipendenza tra unità e organizzazioni variamente collocate rispetto a quei confini. Le principale evidenze emerse dai casi studio sono due. La prima, in contrasto con la retorica della disintermediazione connessa alla sharing economy, identifica il ruolo chiave agito da intermediari che si posizionano come terze parti rispetto alla domanda e all’offerta di beni e servizi per favorire il loro incontro e, al contempo, alimentare i meccanismi di uso in chiave imprenditoriale delle conoscenze e delle relazioni. La seconda, con significative implicazioni sul piano teorico, individua la ‘platform social enterprise’ come un modello organizzativo che introduce marcati tratti di cooperazione nei sistemi di relazione che connotano le imprese-piattaforma mainstream. Le evidenze ricavate dallo studio delle due esperienze offrono un contributo inedito alla convergenza tra gli studi di innovazione sociale, economia collaborativa e nuovi modelli di governance, con un passaggio dal "platform capitalism" al "platform cooperativism" da parte di organizzazioni che fanno leva su modelli di innovazione sociale place-based e che attribuiscono rilevanza non solo ai fattori relazionali e politico-culturali, ma anche alla coproduzione, al co-working, alla collaborazione e al networking. Osservata da questa prospettiva, l’impresa sociale a rete diventa un modello che andrà tenuto in maggiore considerazione per proporre una traiettoria di sviluppo più cooperativa, sostenibile e democratica delle piattaforme.

Keywords:Organizzazione Piattaforma; Common-Based Peer Production; Innovazione Sociale; Confini Organizzativi; Organizzazioni Distribuite e a Rete

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    DOI: 10.3390/su16031277

Maurizio Busacca, Flaviano Zandonai, Platform social enterprises as a new model for co-production in "STUDI ORGANIZZATIVI " 2/2020, pp 61-86, DOI: 10.3280/SO2020-002003