Alternative Entrepreneurship Project report

Transcription

1 Alternative Entrepreneurship Project report Unione Europea Fondo Sociale Europeo Ministero del Lavoro e della Previdenza Sociale Iniziativa Comunitaria Equal Regione Lazio Regione Lazio Alternative Entrepreneurship Project report

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6 Summary Foreword 1 Executive Summary 3 Part 1 - Introduction - Project Highlights 5 Rationale 5 Strategy 6 Objectives 7 Methodology 7 Activities 8 Working Group 10 Part 2 - Analysis 11 Chapter 1 - European Framework 11 The Lisbon Strategy 11 The European Employment Strategy 14 The Social Agenda 17 The European Social Fund 19 EU Promoting Women s Participation in the Labour Market 21 Chapter 2 - Italian Framework 25 Trends in the Italian Labour Market 25 Italy and the Lisbon Strategy 26 Employment and Social Inclusion Policies 28 Promotion of Women s Participation in the Labour Market 30 Female Social Enterprises 32 Lazio Regional Context 35 Data on Female Entrepreneurship in Lazio Region 36 Data on Female Social Enterprises in Lazio Region 41 Results in the Utilization of Funds under Regional Law 51/96 44 Chapter 3 - French Framework 49 France and the Lisbon Strategy 49 Self-employment 51 Promotion of Women s Participation in the Labour Market 54

7 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Part 3 - Actions 57 Chapter 4 - Individual level 57 A Different Concept of Enterprise 57 Characteristics of Female Entrepreneurship 60 Barriers in Female Business Creation 62 Methodological Guidelines for Business Support 62 Chapter 5 - Social Enterprise Level 67 A Viable Opportunity for Women 67 Characteristics of Social Enterprises 68 Social Enterprises and Self-sustainability 70 A Definition of Corporate Social Responsibility 71 Corporate Social Responsibility Instruments 75 SMEs and Social Corporate Responsibility 77 Corporate Social Responsibility Consultancy 81 Chapter 6 - Network Level 83 Networks and Knowledge Management 83 Explicit and Implicit Knowledge 85 Benefits of Networking 86 From Local to International 87 European Cooperative Society 88 Part 4 - Annexes 91 Annex 1 - Dissemination 93 The European Framework 93 The Italian Framework 99 Italian law 215/ Anti-trafficking in Italy 109 Social Enterprises 113 Female Enterprises in Lazio 117 Female Enterprises in Ile de France 123 Corporate Social Responsibility 127 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming 137 Between Welfare and Market 138 Social Balance as a New Tool of Corporate Information 146 CSR as an Opportunity for Women-led Social Enterprises 153 The Social Sector in France 165

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10 Foreword Building Europe, and developing common European solutions to common European problems, means co-operating with people, organisations and institutions in other Member States, learning from each other and together developing new activities, practices and systems. This is why transnationality is such a vital component of the EQUAL Initiative. Really effective and productive transnational cooperation is far from easy to achieve. It takes time and effort, commitment, resources, trust and goodwill, a willingness to be open and to learn from others, and a clear view of what you are trying to achieve. But, despite the obstacles, difficulties and challenges, the eventual rewards make it worthwhile. Generating practical and useful outcomes, and impacts on policy development in particular, is a crucial objective of the EQUAL Initiative and one in which transnational collaboration is expected to play a key role. From: EQUAL Guide on Transnationality

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12 Executive Summary This report is the result of two years of meetings and exchange of information and best practices between the Italian DP District Valley and the French DP Longue Marche on the issue of business creation in favour of disadvantaged people with inadequate or insufficient entrepreneurial competences and skills. This collaboration took place within the framework of the Equal Community Initiative of the European Union according to provisions set in the Transnational Cooperation Agreement (TCA ID Code 4682). The report is divided into three parts: Introduction, Analysis and Actions. The first part consists of a description of Project rationale, objectives and methodologies and provides a schematization of the activities carried out along the project and their related outputs. The second part illustrates the outcomes of the researches realized to acquire a thorough understanding of the economic and social context of the respective Countries, essential prerequisite for the identification of models and best practices and for the further development of training and services to promote and support business creation. Chapter 1 considers the European framework and namely EU employment and social strategies while Chapters 2 and 3 provide, for each Country, an analysis of national social and labour policies and relevant

13 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report data on private and social entrepreneurship at regional level. The third part deals with the actions undertaken by the working group in order to define a common shared model to develop a set of training and technical assistance interventions aimed at supporting disadvantaged people in creating and starting-up their own business. Chapter 4 analyzes and compares the data previously gathered focusing in particular on obstacles to business creation and provides a detailed description of the training process set to improve disadvantaged people skill and competences to favour their job inclusion in the labour market. Chapters 5 and 6 present the proposal elaborated by the working group utilizing a multi-level approach which implies vertical and horizontal actions involving disadvantaged people, social enterprises, local authorities and organizations and private enterprises on the basis of a concept of Corporate Social Responsibility.

14 Part 1 - Introduction - Project Highlights Rationale The transnational partnership (TP), according to TCA provisions, should have focused its activities to promote business creation practices for those groups facing situations of economic and social disadvantage that marginalize them from the labour market and from achieving their full potential. These groups include disabled people, women, long-term unemployed, youths, low-skilled workers and others. Although all these categories of the population suffer from discrimination, the forms and the reasons for such discrimination are notably different. Therefore solutions for reducing discriminatory practices can not be equally worth: they have to consider the specific characteristics of the target group and its socio-economic environment; identify viable business opportunities and services; provide an accessible, relevant and effective training as well as access to financial services in order to enable these people to engage in economic and income generating activities. Acknowledging the importance of setting specific measures and training to foster business creation in favour of disadvantaged categories, the TP deemed more useful to operate a selection and focus on a single target group in order to ensure to the project

15 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report the highest degree of effectiveness by developing a need analysis, an identification of opportunities and a respondent training programme tailored on its peculiar requirements. Women represent the largest group of the population suffering from such difficulties and inequalities in their pursuit of productive activities due to both direct and indirect constraints. Direct constraints may occur in accessibility to support mechanisms as training and credit while indirect constraints are usually related with a lack of recognition of women s differing role in society and its impact on employment. The number of women who are selfemployed across the European Union is very much smaller than that of men and the number of women entrepreneurs with employees is even lower. In 2005, self-employed women in industry and services in the EU-25 accounted for around 8.6% of the total number of women in work, half the portion of self-employed men. However there is increasing evidence that more and more women are becoming interested in starting a business. For this reason the TP agreed to focus its activities on defining innovative schemes to promote female entrepreneurship by generating and collecting experiences for new support models, thus discussing and exchanging best practices and actions to encourage the development of start-ups by women and to create a positive environment in which these women can more easily grow their firms. It is worth to mention that both strategy and solutions were designed to be flexible and adaptable to changing environments and contexts and therefore, with appropriate adjustments, they can be used to promote similar actions whether to promote women entrepreneurship also in different regional scenarios or to foster business creation among other categories of disadvantaged segments of the population (like disabled people, long-term unemployed, young people, etc). Strategy The definition of tailored instruments and tools to encourage and promote female entrepreneurship was consolidated by setting a comprehensive scheme to support creation of new entrepreneurship and its further effective management in a competitive environment, coherently with principles and objectives identified by the TP members. A balanced combination between disadvantaged women s specific needs and free market rules suggested the adoption of an innovative approach engraving on a triple level in order to: Provide a support model to evaluate competences, identify and select business opportunities and define specific training and coaching services to realize and develop women

16 Part 1 - Introduction - Project Highlights entrepreneurial potential (Individual Level) Boost quality and management efficiency of social enterprises to increase in type and quantity the number of services offered to strengthen their consistency and competitiveness and to generate virtuous processes of economic self-sustainability (Social Enterprise Level) Promote the development of networks both at internal and external level in order to improve social enterprises interlocution capabilities also envisaging a direct participation of all the other actors involved, as local authorities, institutions, entrepreneurial associations, etc. (Network Level) This model was structured on the basis of two essential assumptions: The process of business creation for disadvantaged people might require a longer extent of time and necessitate constant and specific provision of training and assistance Even in case of successful start-up, the mortality rate in the first five years of activity registers values above norm Therefore the TP deemed useful to structure and adopt a model that could impact not only on the single individual but also imply a structural change in business support mechanisms at territorial level through a more incisive engagement of the different institutional and economic actors involved thus fostering a positive climate for female entrepreneurs. Objectives The Project Alternative Entrepreneurship aimed to: Encourage female entrepreneurship as a factor for innovation and competitiveness through competences balance, identification of business opportunities, training and re-skilling, creation of organisational networks and sharing of good practices and experiences Promote social enterprises development thus improving their management skills and self-sustainability Induce local and institutional authorities and economic actors to conceive policies of development and improvement of their territorial economy Try new and innovative approaches and models to support female job inclusion and business creation and in a further extent mainstream and transfer them at national and European level Methodology Pursuing innovative solutions and developing joint systems to promote female entrepreneurship made the adoption of a common operative

17 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report methodology necessary to maximise the distinctive competences of each partner encompassing obvious differences in attitude and work culture to assure the highest valorisation to models, tools and actions defined and implemented along the entire duration of the initiative. Therefore the TP adopted participatory methods and techniques, pooling efforts and resources to foster partners active participation in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of the project and create a climate of creative thinking and a shared approach to problem solving. An effective and continuative communication among the TP members was achieved through periodic face to face meetings and the development of a web-portal used to share information, knowledge, skills and experiences since it was intended that forums, discussion groups and best practices sharing would have facilitated a process of mutual understanding. Furthermore all information collected, comparative researches and relevant documentation were there systemized and made available on the public section of the web-site as further complementary enhancement of the TP networking and dissemination strategy based on mainstreaming workshop and conferences. Activities To concretely achieve the abovementioned objectives and develop a common viable model to promote female entrepreneurship, the TP deemed essential to set and organize all Project activities according to a shared Work Programme comprising 5 different Phases (see Table below), thus planning the internal distribution of functions and responsibilities to ensure clear definition of tasks, to allow a implementation of the activities and to enable precise follow-up of all tasks.

18 Part 1 - Introduction - Project Highlights Phase 1 Organization and Network Definition of Project strategy and methodology Drafting of the Work Programme Assignment of tasks and responsibility Establishment of the network Phase 2 Research Definition of common methodologies of research Analysis of communitarian policies on matter of labour and social inclusion Analysis of the socio-economic environment with a specific focus on female entrepreneurship and social enterprises situation in the two Countries Analysis of measures and financial instruments to support entrepreneurship and business creation existing both at national and regional level Data elaboration Phase 3 Development of a Shared Model Comparison and evaluation of data collected in Phase 2 Identification of common elements in particular as far as obstacles and difficulties to business creation and social enterprises are concerned Identification of specific and tailored training and assistance to promote business creation Identification of additional services based on CSR to be provided by social enterprises Development of informal networks including all the actors involved at different levels in women entrepreneurship promotion Phase 4 Mainstreaming Organisation and participation to transnational meetings Organisation and participation to thematic workshops and conferences Realization of web-site and newsletter Phase 5 Evaluation and Monitoring Economic and operative monitoring of the Project Internal ongoing and final evaluation of the Project

19 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Working Group The transnational working group was composed by a stable team of resources identified by each DP as well as by some experts that joined the group to share their experiences with regard to some specific topics handled during the transnational meetings. Furthermore the actions carried out by the working group envisaged an alternation between on field activities realized during the transnational meetings and remote preparatory activities. In order to make transnational activities, experiences and subjects comparable, the working group deemed useful to define common templates for the analysis and the evaluation of the activities done both at remote and onfield level. Intesa Sanpaolo Formazione Proteo ASLC Retravailler 10

20 Part 2 - Analysis Chapter 1 - European Framework The Lisbon Strategy At the Lisbon European Council in March 2000 the European Union set itself a new strategic goal for the following decade: to make Europe the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world, capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion. The strategy was designed to enable the EU to regain the conditions for full employment and to strengthen cohesion by The policy measures proposed under the Community Lisbon Programme fall under three main areas: supporting knowledge and innovation; making Europe a more attractive place to invest and work; creating more and better jobs. According to the mid-term review of the Lisbon Strategy carried out in 2005, the results are, at best, mixed. The gap in terms of productivity and growth between Europe and its economic partners has continued to widen, and the ageing population represents a further challenge. Economic growth has risen from 1.8% in 2005 and is expected to reach 2.9% in 2007 and 2.4% in While most of the recent upturn is cyclical, structural reforms in the Member States have also contributed. Almost 6.5 million new jobs have been created in the 11

21 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report last two years. Another 5 million jobs are expected to be created up to Unemployment is expected to fall to under 7%, the lowest level since the mid-80s. The employment rate, currently at 66%, has moved much closer to the overall Lisbon target of 70%. For the first time in a decade, strong increases in employment have gone hand in hand with robust productivity growth. Productivity growth reached 1.5% in 2006, compared to an annual growth rate of 1.2% between 2000 and However, Europe is still lagging behind other leading economies both in investment in information and communication technologies (ICT) and in terms of their use to enhance productivity. Opening up network industries and services to competition has been slow and important obstacles to market entry remain. Likewise, efforts to improve the intellectual and industrial property framework and to speed up standardisation have not borne fruit. Employment growth has been impressive, although some regions and groups have benefited less. Many Member States have begun to reform their pension and early retirement systems. This has contributed to a large and sustained increase in the employment rate of older workers, although the 50% target is still some way off. The employment rate for women has increased significantly (at 57.2%, it is approaching the 60% target), even though Member States should take further steps to promote gender equality on the labour market. About half of the Member States have developed - or are developing - policies on the basis of a flexicurity approach. Yet the policy response remains fragmented. A sustained move from passive to active labour market policies is underway. Member States are reforming social security systems, especially through changes to their tax and benefit systems, so as to balance rights and obligations. More flexible labour contracts for particular categories (e.g. new entrants) have been introduced but have not been backed up sufficiently by opportunities to acquire new skills which can help people to advance in the labour market. The more difficult task of reforming the rules governing other kinds of contracts has received little attention. As a result, many labour markets remain segmented, with well-protected insiders and more precarious outsiders on contracts with uncertain prospects. The European Council has therefore decided to re-launch the Lisbon Strategy through a partnership for growth and jobs. The objective of this partnership will remain firmly anchored in sustainable development. However, in order to achieve it, Europe needs to focus on a more restricted number of priorities. Indeed, the achievement of stronger, lasting growth and the creation of more and better jobs would unblock the resources needed to realise our more general economic, social and environmental ambitions. 12

22 European Framework The European Council of March 2005 re-launched the Lisbon strategy by refocusing on growth and employment in Europe. By taking this decision, the Heads of State or Government have delivered a clear message concerning the Union s priorities over the next few years. The goal of the Lisbon partnership for growth and employment is to modernize EU economy in order to secure its unique social model in the face of increasingly global markets, technological change, environmental pressures and an ageing population. This strategy is also to be seen in the wider context of the sustainable development requirement that present needs have to be met without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs. One important element of the Lisbon re-launch is the overhaul of its governance structure to define more clearly the respective responsibilities at the national and the Community level in order to better match tasks and competences. The Commission must complement the efforts of Member States. As a consequence, policy actions at Community and Member-States level have been split into complementary but separate agendas. While the success of the Lisbon partnership for growth and employment depends predominantly on the Member States and their determination to introduce the necessary structural reforms, the Community dimension of the strategy contributes essential value added. Indeed, maximum synergies and efficiency can only be achieved if national reform measures are complemented with action at the Community level. The Community contributes to the overall economic and employment policy agenda by completing the internal market and by implementing common policies and activities that support and complement national policies. It will in particular concentrate on a number of key actions with high value-added: Support of knowledge and innovation in Europe, Reform of the state aid policy, Improvement and simplification of the regulatory framework in which business operates Completion of the Internal Market for services, Completion of an ambitious agreement in the Doha round, Removal of obstacles to physical, labour and academic mobility, Development of a common approach to economic migration, Support of efforts to deal with the social consequences of economic restructuring. The two cornerstones of the EU employment and social agenda are the European Employment Strategy on job creation and labour market reform strategies and a Social Agenda designed to ensure that the benefits of the EU growth reach everyone in so- 13

23 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report ciety and every region of the EU. The Social Fund supports the objectives financially. The European Employment Strategy Against a backdrop of high unemployment, the European Council launched the European Employment Strategy (EES) at the Luxembourg Jobs Summit in November This paved the way for Member States and the Commission, through cooperation and sharing of experiences, to reach common targets and objectives for more and better jobs in Europe. The European Employment Strategy is designed as the main tool to give direction to and ensure co-ordination of the employment policy priorities to which Member States should subscribe at EU level. Heads of State and Government agreed on a framework for action around common objectives and employment policy priorities. This co-ordination of national employment policies at EU level is built around an annual process laid down in the EU Treaty revision of 1998, which was integrated in a renewable three-year cycle since the re-launch of the Lisbon Strategy in An increase in employment rates is a prerequisite for being able to maintain and increase Europe s prosperity and for preserving and enhancing our social models in a changing world. Maintaining such values requires constant adaptation to the new environment generated by greater international competition, the demographic situation and the shift to a new paradigm based on knowledge. There is no necessary trade-off between the economic and the social dimension, neither between efficiency and equity issues, nor between productivity and employment. The purpose of the EES is to ensure that all these common concerns are addressed simultaneously in a coherent and comprehensive policy package. Employment plays both an essential economic and social role in the Strategy because it is only by getting more people into work that the Community can ensure that EU Countries cope with demographic change. Social inequities in the form of social exclusion and their related compensatory measures have huge hidden costs which are rarely shown in public accounting systems. Moreover, while growth is an essential component of the European Social Model, growth alone is not an efficient instrument to fight against poverty and social exclusion, unless it comes with falling inequality. Economic growth and even job creation do not lead automatically to reduced income disparities, in-work poverty, or regional disparities. In-work poverty is linked to low pay, low skills, precarious and often undesired parttime employment. To create a sustainable way out of 14

24 European Framework poverty and to contribute to economic growth and competitiveness, better quality jobs are required as well as enhanced investments in human and social capital. Within the EES action has been pursued to reduce regional disparities in terms of employment, unemployment and labour productivity, especially in regions lagging behind. Education and training are also critical factors to develop the EU long-term potential for competitiveness as well as for social cohesion. Europe needs to step up its efforts to improve both the efficiency and the equity of its education and training systems. Education and training policies should increase efficiency by raising the average skill level in the population to ensure a better match between skills and labour market needs and therefore raise both employability and productivity. They should also reduce inequality by improving the employment perspectives of those most in need, including the disadvantaged and the immigrants. This would allow education and training systems to contribute to activation and cohesion measures to ensure that all citizens can play their full part in society and the economy over the whole life cycle, e.g. through lifelong learning policies. In order to achieve the Lisbon objectives of more and better jobs, new forms of flexibility and security are needed for individuals of all ages and companies as well as for Member States and the EU. Individuals increasingly need employment security rather than job security, as fewer have the same job for life. Companies, including the many SMEs in Europe, need to be able to better adapt their workforce to changes in economic conditions. They should be able to recruit staff with a better skills match, who will be more productive and adaptable leading to greater innovation and competitiveness on the basis of flexicurity principles. Common priorities and individual objectives for Member States employment policies, are set out in multi-annual Employment Guidelines agreed jointly by all member states. The current guidelines cover the period They are part of the Integrated Guidelines for Growth and Jobs for , which also include economic management and are the basis for national reform programmes. The Employment Guidelines address the need to implement employment policies which aim to achieve full employment, improve quality and productivity at work, and strengthen social and territorial cohesion. They also cover ways of improving the match of labour market needs and available skills. They recognise that labour market flexibility needs to be combined with employment security and recognise the role of social partners. They advocate employment-friendly labour cost developments and wage-setting mechanisms, expansion and improvement of investment in human capital 15

25 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report and adaptation of education and training systems to new skill requirements. These policies should help to achieve an average employment rate for the European Union (EU) of 70% overall, at least 60% for women and 50% for older workers (55 to 64), and to reduce unemployment and inactivity. The new Employment Guidelines specifically fit within eight priorities: implement employment policies intended to achieve full employment, improve quality and productivity at work, and strengthen social and territorial cohesion promote a new lifecycle approach to work ensure inclusive labour markets, enhance work attractiveness, and make work pay for job-seekers, including disadvantaged people and the inactive improve matching of labour market needs promote flexibility combined with employment security and reduce labour market segmentation, having due regard to the role of the social partners ensure employment-friendly labour cost developments and wage-setting mechanisms expand and improve investment in human capital promote gender equality by conducting systematic gender impact assessment for new policy proposals, by increasing female participa- tion in key areas such as higher education and research, by promoting structures which enable women to keep their jobs, such as childcare facilities foster entrepreneurship to create more and better jobs notably by improving awareness of entrepreneurship as a career option mainly among the unemployed, women, young people and inactive persons, as well as by reducing barriers to the hiring of staff, especially in small firms; adapt education and training systems in response to new competence requirements. Each Member State is then required to draw up a National Reform Programme which describes how the Employment Guidelines are transferred into practice at the national level. Every year they have also to present the progress achieved over the last twelve months and the measures planned for the forthcoming year, which implies these Reports being both reporting and planning documents. The Commission reviews progress made at both national and Community levels and presents the EU Annual Progress Report based on regular monitoring and on evaluation of the implementation of the Member states national programmes. In this context a new governance of the EES has been proposed, intended to remain in place for three years and integrating employment policies with 16

26 European Framework macroeconomic and microeconomic policies. This is expected to maximise the synergies between the measures taken at the national level and Community actions, and to increase their efficiency. Such new governance initiated a new working method at EU level, which was to become known as the open method of co-ordination. It is based on five key principles: subsidiarity (balance between European Union level and the Member States), convergence (concerted action), mutual learning (exchanging of good practice), integrated approach (structural reforms also extend to social, educational, tax, enterprise and regional policies) and management by objectives. The Social Agenda The social systems of the Member States now face a series of significant common challenges such as the need to adapt to the changing world of work, new family structures, persistent gender inequalities, demographic changes. Failure to adapt and modernise social protection systems would increase the risk of more unemployment, poverty and social exclusion. Some groups of people are more likely than others to have difficulties accessing resources, rights and services necessary for their full participation in society. The young have the highest at-risk-of-poverty rate, at 19% for children aged 0-17, and 18% for the age groups. The at-risk-of-poverty rate then decreases with age as individuals progress in the labour market, before it rises again after people retire and cannot rely anymore on income from work. Older women, without exception, are at greater risk of poverty than older men, who are on the whole no more exposed to the risk of poverty than their younger counterparts. Social protection can provide relief from poverty but does not in itself help individuals and families durably elude poverty. If they are to be effective in combating poverty and social exclusion, social transfers must be accompanied by adequate health care, education, housing, social services and measures facilitating integration into the labour market for those capable of working. This is why many Member States are increasingly focusing their policies on promoting individual self-sufficiency through an employment-friendly social protection system that fosters participation in the labour market. In 2005, long-term unemployment affected 3.8% of the active population in the EU27 (3.9% in the EU-25), on average more men (3.9%) than women (3.7%) but there are considerable differences between Member States. Employment policies have a key role to play in promoting adequate living standards and greater social cohesion. In the EU as a whole, the risk of poverty is nearly 2.5 times greater for those who are not in work than for 17

27 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report those who are. However, the at-riskof-poverty rate is still relatively high even for those in work. In-work poverty is linked to low pay, low skills, precarious and often parttime employment. Quality employment is essential to lift individuals out of poverty and in order to promote it is necessary to develop employability, in particular through policies to promote the acquisition of skills and life-long learning. It is also necessary to put in place sound macroeconomic policies to facilitate employment creation and a stable economic climate conducive to higher investment in human capital on the part of employers. To make a decisive impact on the eradication of poverty and social exclusion, Member States together with the European Commission, in the framework of the Lisbon Strategy, adopted a common strategic approach focused on the achievement of three main objectives: To provide access for all to the resources, rights and services needed for participation in society, preventing and addressing exclusion, and fighting all forms of discrimination leading to exclusion; To assure active social inclusion of all, both by promoting participation in the labour market and by fighting poverty and exclusion; To promote social inclusion policies that involve all levels of government and relevant actors, including people experiencing poverty, and are efficient and effective and mainstreamed into all relevant public policies, including economic, budgetary, education and training policies and structural fund programmes. The Social Agenda covers therefore policies designed to provide jobs, fight poverty and promote equal opportunities for all, including for mobile workers, so that they can enjoy the same social security and pension rights throughout the EU. These policies are designed in partnership with public authorities at every level from local to national, employer and worker representatives, and non-governmental organisations. It is also a framework for supporting member states in reforming pensions and health care, tackling poverty and the employment and social issues emerging as population s age, as well as fostering equal opportunities, and eradicating inequality and discrimination. The added value of the Social Agenda is beyond doubt because it facilitates the modernisation of national systems against a background of far-reaching economic and social changes. It supports the harmonious operation of the single market while ensuring respect for fundamental rights and common values. The Agenda develops a two-pronged strategy. Firstly, it emphasises its role in strengthening citizens confidence. This confidence is essential for managing the process of change and plays a key role in encouraging economic 18

28 European Framework growth. The Agenda describes the combination of Community instruments for improving the quality of its implementation and presents, in this context, three key conditions for success: an intergenerational approach, a partnership for change and the need to seize the opportunities offered by globalisation. Secondly, it presents key measures under two major headings, which are covered by the Commission s strategic objectives : employment (under the prosperity objective) and, linked to that, equal opportunities and inclusion (under the solidarity objective). The Agenda combines the consolidation of a common European framework with the implementation of diversified measures to respond to specific needs. In this way, it supports the motto United in diversity, which is proclaimed by the Constitutional Treaty. The European Social Fund Provided for by the Treaty of Rome and operating since 1962, the European Social Fund (ESF) is one of the four EU Structural Funds specifically designed for promoting the overall harmonious development of the Community and a gradual closing of the gaps between the citizens and the Regions of the European Union. More precisely, the ESF is the EU financial instrument designed to support the European Employment Strategy so as to prevent and combat unemployment and to invest in human resources, thereby promoting a high level of occupational and social integration, parity between men and women and economic and social cohesion. The ESF is likewise the only Structural Fund acting horizontally in all the EU Countries and Regions. The main objective of the ESF is to combat unemployment: the ESF aims at training a more qualified workforce prepared to face the new challenges of the market and to prevent long-term unemployment. For this purpose, the ESF contributes to the creation of new and better jobs together with the development of workers skills, above all for the weaker categories and for individuals who encounter particular difficulty in finding or maintaining employment, or in re-entering the labour market. The ESF likewise supports the Member States in their attempt to introduce and implement new active employment policies and new systems to combat unemployment, thereby adapting their actions to the specific conditions of the various Regions. The actions financed by the European Social Fund are basically aimed at: combating and preventing unemployment as well as encouraging the reinsertion of the long-term unemployed in the labour market supporting the professional integra- 19

29 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report tion of young people and individuals who re-enter the labour market after a period of absence promoting equal opportunities for all in access to the labour market, with particular focus on individuals at risk of social exclusion promoting and improving vocational training, education and guidance and lifelong learning policies encouraging and improving access and integration in the labour market thus improving and maintaining worker employability as well as supporting occupational mobility promoting and supporting the development of a skilled, qualified and adaptable workforce promoting the development of both the business spirit and the conditions facilitating job creation promoting the strengthening of the human potential in the field of research, science and technology improving the access and participation of women in the labour market In all these objectives, the ESF also fosters the transversal promotion of local development policies, the development of the Information Society and the respect of equal opportunities between men and women. With a view to pursue its objectives, the European Social Fund (ESF) finances both actions specifically targeted to individuals and actions specially designed for structural initiatives so as to improve the vocational education and training systems and the better functioning of the labour market. The actions of the European Social Fund are generally targeted to all the citizens of the European Union; however, most of the actions are nevertheless designed for specific categories of beneficiaries, in particular: long-term unemployed or individuals at risk of long-term unemployment young first-job seekers disadvantaged people women The Community Support Framework (CSF) is the document which contains both the strategy and the priority actions of the Structural Funds in a certain Member State or Region, thereby defining the specific objectives of such actions together with the financial contribution of the Structural Funds and other financial resources. The European Social Fund contributes to the implementation of CSF and, in particular, provides total financing for the Objective 3 Community Support Framework. The Objective 3 Community Support Framework is to pursue both an economic growth and the expansion of employment, supported by a process of reform and renewal in the education, training and labour-market systems. The policy fields affected by the strategy concern the pathways for learning and job insertion, the response to labour demand emerging from the labour market, and the instruments and serv- 20

30 European Framework ices targeted to promoting the match between labour supply and demand as well as the improved qualification of the workforce. The resources are distributed among six priorities, one of which (priority E) is specifically devoted to support Specific Measures to Improve Access and Active Participation of Women in the Labour Market, pursued through an integrated approach of policies targeted to draw women into the labour market, thus eliminating the social and structural conditions hindering female participation. The CSF serves as a basis for drawing up the National Operational Programmes (NOP) namely the documents that each Member State draws up to define the actions to be undertaken and ensure the implementation of the planned action lines - and for guaranteeing the co-ordination of all the Community structural support measures in the Regions interested by the various Operational Programmes. In the programming period the ESF (with a financial envelope 60 billion) has supported important priorities of the European Employment Strategy (EES) including active labour market policies, the development of human resources, the integration of vulnerable groups and gender equality on the labour market. For the programming period (with a financial envelope of 70 billion for the ESF), the ESF priorities have been further synchronised with those of the EES. The measures that fall within the Employment Guidelines (including a range of flexicurity policies) are eligible for ESF support, and in many cases the European Regional Development Fund can also provide financial support. Among the actions that can be funded are training at company level and active labour market measures, including job-finding assistance of the unemployed, lifelong learning and the promotion of self-employment and entrepreneurship. EU Promoting Women s Participation in the Labour Market Gender equality is a fundamental right, a common value of the EU, and a necessary condition for the achievement of the EU objectives of growth, employment and social cohesion. The EU has made significant progress in achieving gender equality, thanks to equal treatment legislation, gender mainstreaming, specific measures for the advancement of women, action programmes, social dialogue and dialogue with civil society. The European Parliament has been an important partner for progress. Many women have attained the highest levels of education, entered the labour market and become important players in public 21

31 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report life. Nevertheless, inequalities remain and may widen, as increased global economic competition requires a more flexible and mobile labour force. This can impact more on women, who are often obliged to choose between having children or a career, due to the lack of flexible working arrangements and care services, the persistence of gender stereotypes, and an unequal share of family responsibilities with men. Progress made by women, including in key areas for the Lisbon Strategy such as education and research, are not fully reflected in women s position on the labour market. This is a waste of human capital that the EU cannot afford. At the same time, low birth rates and a shrinking workforce threaten the EU s political and economic role. The Lisbon employment targets call for a 60% employment rate for women by At present, it is at 55.7% and is much lower (31.7%) for older women (55-64 years old). Women also have a higher unemployment rate than men (9.7% against 7.8%). The gender dimension of the Lisbon strategy for jobs and growth must be strengthened. Compliance with equal treatment legislation and an effective use of the new Structural Funds (e.g. training, entrepreneurship measures) can help increase women s employment. The individualisation of rights linked to tax and benefit systems can also ensure that it pays for both women and men to work. Despite EU legislation on equal pay, women earn 15% less than men and this gap is decreasing at a much slower pace than the gender employment gap. Its persistence results from direct discrimination against women and structural inequalities, such as segregation in sectors, occupations and work patterns, access to education and training, biased evaluation and pay systems, and stereotypes. Tackling these issues requires a multifaceted approach and the mobilisation of all parties. Women constitute, on average, 30% of entrepreneurs in the EU. They often face greater difficulties than men in starting up businesses and in accessing finance and training. The recommendations of the EU Entrepreneurship Action Plan make on increasing women s start-ups through better access to finance and the development of entrepreneurial networks need to be further implemented. Social protection systems should remove disincentives for women and men to enter and remain on the labour market, allowing them to accumulate individual pension entitlements. However, women are still likely to have shorter or interrupted careers and, therefore, fewer rights than men. This increases the risk of poverty, especially for single parents, older women or for women working in family-based businesses. It is essential that social protection systems ensure that these women have access to 22

32 European Framework adequate benefits, in particular when they retire. The EU is then committed to the elimination of all discrimination and the creation of an inclusive society for all. Women members of disadvantaged groups are often worse off than their male counterparts. The situation of ethnic minority and immigrant women is emblematic. They often suffer from double discrimination. This requires the promotion of gender equality in migration and integration policies in order to ensure women s rights and civic participation, to fully use their employment potential and to improve their access to education and lifelong learning. 23

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34 Part 2 - Analysis Chapter 2 - Italian Framework Trends in the Italian Labour Market In the last 15 years growth rates of Italian economy showed a progressive decrease in an international context whereby Europe in a whole has developed in a lesser extent than United States and BRIC Countries. European Countries reveal problems in growth and competitiveness which in general may be ascribed to an inferior innovation capacity of the productive system and to a minor decree of market competitiveness. In Italy the perception of this common slowdown was more pronounced than in the rest of Europe due to a significant increase in GDP differential in the second half of the 90s followed by a substantial stagnation of the economy between 2002 and 2005 up to the recent positive bounce of Moreover the slowdown in terms of growth was associated to substantial losses in Italian export shares in global markets and an even more marked decline of labour productivity. The greater incidence of such slowdown is determined by a progressive accumulation of internal unsolved structural delays which have restricted Italy s potential for growth and ability to compete and exacerbated macroeconomic instability and social tensions. The reasons for these delays are to be found in a major regulatory 25

35 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report burden on the economy, a lack of ability of the enterprises to increase their scale, low productivity rates among employees and a widespread lack of funding devoted to research and innovation. Nevertheless, despite the still existing problems, in 2006 the Italian economic activity showed encouraging signals since GDP grew by 1.9% and a breakdown of domestic demand reflected a sharp acceleration in capital spending. The growth rate in 2006 is not exceptional in a long-term perspective but it was sufficient to reverse the existent negative trend and stimulate an additional labour demand of relevant proportions. According to the Italian Statistics Agency (ISTAT) survey of the Country workforce, the number of people in work in Italy at June 2006 was above 23,180,000 with an increase in 536,000 people (2.4%) compared with the equivalent period in The survey also reveal signs of changes in the labour market. Growth in the number of people in work is in significant extent imputable to regularization of immigrants position, which determined an increase in 162,000 units in the workforce. But the main constituent item derived by the growth of working population over the age 50 among whom an increase in 242,000 units was recorded. Other interesting factors to be considered are related to the number of people employed on a contract basis (+120,000 units) and the resumption in the growth of women in the workplace with an increase by 2.9%. Such dynamism in the occupational trend has to be attentively considered in the definition of labour policies whose aim is still to increase the occupational rate in Italy, which is currently far from reaching the European average and the one set by the Lisbon Strategy. Italy and the Lisbon Strategy Attract and retain more people in employment, increase labour supply and modernise social protection systems, improve adaptability of workers and enterprises, increase investment in human capital through better education and skills: these are the ultimate goals of the economic and social policies underpinning the Lisbon Strategy. This means increasing both activity rates and productivity, against a more solid backdrop of long-term financial stability. Improving Italy s ability to compete over the long term is the challenge to face in order to promote lasting, sustainable growth for the Country and encourage a greater social cohesion. Impacts of globalization on national economies and sharp economic growth of new emerging Countries are critical issues for all EU Countries. To enhance its competitiveness, Ita- 26

36 Italian Framework ly s strategic priorities are converging in efforts to raise the potential growth rate of the economy through measures involving productivity factors, the economic and regulatory framework and the features of the productive system itself. Thus these actions will concretely lead to greater innovation and research, easier access to capital markets, businesses growing in size and increased ability in attracting foreign investments. In particular according to the National Reform Programme Italy is strongly committed in achieving five main objectives to speed up and improve the quality of its growth and namely: to improve the market efficiency, by increasing competition and simplifying legislation, through actions to reduce entry barriers to protected markets, liberalize services and shorten the time required to obtain administrative authorizations; to promote research and innovation by setting framework conditions, instruments and incentives for companies to invest in research, including fiscal measures to leverage private research, as well as targeted incentives to strengthen public-private partnership. Italy confirms the goal of reaching a degree of investment in research equal to 2.5% of GDP by 2010, with two-thirds to be funded by the private sector; to improve the attractiveness of jobs, quality at work and labour pro- ductivity growth, prevent exclusion from the labour market, support integration in employment of people at a disadvantage and encourage investment in human capital, by modernizing and strengthening of labour market institutions, notably employment services and enhancing efforts in terms of lifelong training and effectiveness of the education system; to upgrade infrastructures, concentrating funds on priority projects (especially cross-border ones) to improve general productive efficiency and reduce the disparities between Central/Northern Italy and Southern Italy; to reconcile protection of the environment with technological progress, through developing technologies to increase energy efficiency and support Italian business competitiveness. Italy, in adopting the policies announced in the DPEF and budget 2007 in addition to the measures already adopted, intends to bring State and market together on a virtuous path, in accordance with the Lisbon Strategy, to unlock the Country s potential for growth. 27

37 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Employment and Social Inclusion Policies Despite good performances recorded in the last years in terms of jobs created, Italy is unfortunately still a long way off reaching the European objectives of a 70% employment rate and a 60% female employment rate by Pronounced regional disparities still persist. The Italian labour market currently displays a high degree of fragmentation in terms of types of job offered and as a result also high levels of temporary employment and low job security. In order to tackle these delays, Italy is geared towards developing the quality of work, to attain a higher level of social equity, combat regional disparities and protect the weaker classes of society, in compliance with the relaunched Lisbon Strategy. To support employment growth and reduce regional disparities the Italian government introduced the so-called tax wedge to reduce the cost of employing a person, in terms of taxes and contributions as measured against their gross pay by a total of five percentage points as follows: 60% (three percentage points) for the businesses, and 40% (two percentage points) for the employees. This measure applies solely to the cost of permanent employees, in order to reduce the percentage of people employed temporarily. Costs related to apprenticeship and training contracts and for research and development as well as employment of persons with disabilities are also deductible for tax purposes. Tax-related and contributions-based policies are aimed at achieving an immediate recovery of competitiveness which will be reflected in more stable employment positions and reduced fragmentation in terms of types of employment. To help in matching supply and demand for work and improve employment services, various information systems are being integrated both at national and local level (as the socalled Borsa Lavoro ) while a system for monitoring key labour market indicators has already been established. Furthermore, to strengthen social cohesion, it is essential that even social policies start overcoming their traditional boundaries to intersect more and more with labour policies, combining competitiveness and social inclusion according to a workfare viewpoint. In this sense Law 30/03 on Occupation and Labour Market clearly states that the provision of economic and financial incentives to foster growth and reduce social exclusion is important but not sufficient since it is equally essential to implement innovative practices to defend human rights and to reduce discriminations, since a higher degree of social inclusion has to be pursued also by assuring a full exploitation of 28

38 Italian Framework the potential of the knowledge society and of the new information and communication technologies. Therefore, new instruments to promote social inclusion shall be defined targeting the most vulnerable categories in particular i.e. young people, women, and workers over the age of 50 combining income support measures and continuous training since the competitiveness of productive systems can not be disjoint by the quality of the education and training systems. Ensuring a higher degree of social cohesion along with the creation of more and better jobs is founded on investment in human capital: it is crucial to structure processes of life-long learning according to individuals attitudes and needs thus developing an accreditation system of the professional competences, valorising and exchanging good practices, fostering the quality of the training offer and increasing the participation of adults in training. This implies that training should comprise either compulsory education system and apprenticeship courses or advanced technical education and life-long learning. The structure of the labour market must also be compatible with the needs of individuals private lives according to flexicurity logics. Paid maternity and paternity leave will be extended in two directions: a) by including workers employed on a contract- or non-permanent basis among those eligible for such entitlements; b) by increasing the age of children in respect of which it is possible to take such leave. A first step in this direction has already been achieved with the approval of the 2007 draft budget law, which Detractions for dependent family members are translated into tax deductions that are equal for all and are significantly higher. Cheques payable to nuclear families have been increased and tax deductions were approved to reduce the tax burden on those with average-low incomes and support the finances of families, especially those with children. The policies described above will contribute actively to a redistribution of wealth and a social inclusion policy, both directly (i.e. via the provision of cheques for children) and indirectly (by increasing the female employment rate, and hence helping to raise household incomes). Along with the issue of funding, a new form of governance is being defined which will see both institutional and non-institutional parties involved in social inclusion policies. In this sense the government is committed to strengthening co-operation between the different levels of responsibility, and re-launching dialogue with the social parties, with the social private sector and with representative associations. Action to combat social exclusion is aimed at people living below the pov- 29

39 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report erty line, the elderly, people living in areas which are at geographical risk (some parts of Southern Italy and especially suburban areas of the main Italian cities), and immigrants. Promotion of Women s Participation in the Labour Market In Italy women s participation in the labour market is still low if compared with European rates: according to Eurostat data, Italy s differential with EU rates exceed 10 percentage points. Although women represent 51.4% of the population, they are only 28% of the workforce, 46.3% of the wage-earning population and 53% of people searching for a job. Female participation is also hampered by an unemployment rate which is rather double than the male one in all geographical areas of the Country and by the persistence of relevant quotas of concealed, irregular or precarious labour. Considering women s presence in the labour market, it has to be remarked that despite a high level of education, they face difficulties due to both horizontal and vertical segregation and to still existing disparities in economical treatment. Furthermore women still bear the major burden of domestic and care work in families. In addition while men s activity rate grows with their progressive aging reaching its climax between years, for women it happens between years. Women with children have a probability of 46% to exit the labour market, six times more than women without children. And only half of them manages to be reinserted after a certain period because of a scarce possibility of reconciling work and family life. Therefore policies to promote women s participation were aimed at: developing specific positive actions to increase their employment level (Law 30/03 on Occupation and Labour Market) guaranteeing woman access to work through local development projects (Law 125/91 on Equal Opportunities in the Labour Market) ensuring an adequate female presence in orientation, education and training initiatives improving the living and working conditions of women by enhancing social services (Law 53/00 on Support to Maternity and Paternity; Law 1044/71 on Municipal Kindergartens) promoting female business creation and entrepreneurship (Law 215/92 on Female Entrepreneurship; Law 488/92 on Productive Activities; Law 185/00 on Self-Employment; Law 608/96 on Unsecured Loans) In the last years a specific attention was paid in promoting an entrepreneurial culture and encouraging more women 30

40 Italian Framework to become involved in enterprise and grow existing businesses since it has significant potential to impact positively on female employment rates and in general on Italy s economic performance. Furthermore business ownership or self-employment presents an attractive solution for a large number of women to enable them to balance work with other priorities. For women with comfortable incomes and support networks it is fairly easily attainable. For others (i.e. women over 50 or immigrants) it may be more than a necessity. According to a recent survey of the Italian Chambers of Commerce Association (Unioncamere) women s enterprises (>50% of female shareholders) are 23.5% (1,174,543) of the total of active enterprises in Italy (4,995,738). Businesses owned by women take a variety of legal forms. However some forms are more popular: they are much likely to be registered as soletraders (74%) or limited and unlimited partnerships (19.6%). The sum of the two percentages shows that more than 93% of women s enterprises is comprised in these two categories. Jointstock companies are only 5.3% against 12% of the total of enterprises. Women-owned businesses operate across a wide range of industrial sectors. Sectors in which women-owned businesses are well represented include retail, wholesale, business services and agriculture. By contrast, there are few women-owned businesses in sectors such as manufacturing, construction and transport. Although health and social services share is only 8.9% of the total of women s enterprises, they are the economic sector with the highest feminization rate (more than 35%). An explanation can be found in the fact that women tend to become self-employed in easy entry service industries because these sectors reflect previous work experience and are cheaper to set up and run. Women-led firms in general recorded a lower turnover than other businesses: in total, 44.5% of women-owned firms had an annual turnover lower than 50,000. The total employment created showed an average of 5.4 employees per business. This compares with wholly maleowned businesses where employment averaged 7.8. Women-owned businesses were also less likely to have grown substantially in employment after twelve months in business. Most women entrepreneurs depend on their business as their only or main source of income. However, they are less likely than men to own more than one business and are twice as likely to have part-time employment in addition to owning their enterprise. Furthermore, even though sources of business finance used by women and men are similar, fewer women use institutional finance such as bank loans 31

41 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report and overdrafts to finance their business. Women-owned businesses are more likely to use informal sources such as family savings, household income, inheritance, grants and friends as sources of business finance. Nevertheless strong commitment and business capabilities are not always enough to overcome constraints which interfere with entrepreneurs professional performance. Factors representing barriers are mostly related with access to finance, access to networking opportunities and lack of appropriate business support and they are common both for men and women. But women face additional problems as the impact of caring and domestic responsibilities and often low levels of confidence and self-esteem. Although self-employment is a viable career path for women, more needs to be done to create better conditions and opportunities for women to start and run a business. Long-term policies to promote female entrepreneurship have to focus on the educational system and the mid-term information and define role models which draw a realistic picture of female entrepreneurship to encourage women to take the chance of being self-employed. In particular: Measures supporting enterprise start-ups should concentrate on sectors that can provide women with an adequate income, thereby increasing women s financial self-sufficiency. Strategies to move women into higher value markets in traditional or new sectors are therefore important. Training measures should also include entrepreneurship development training in order to foster self-confidence attitudes important to starting and managing one s own business. Networking can prove a valuable source of inspiration and exchange of experience at all stages of business development. Network event can also be linked to informal business support provision as advisory, training and/or mentoring programmes. Different methods of providing access to finance, such as loan guarantees or partnerships with formal financial institutions can reduce the costs of providing credits to micro entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs in particular. Measures to promote social enterprises as a profitable business option for women considering that women in this market segment already play a vital role. Female Social Enterprises Since the 80s the number of entities and organizations providing social and assistance services in the competitive market has been steadily increasing. The reasons of such growth have to be traced in the structural changes oc- 32

42 Italian Framework curred in the Italian society (decline of the role of the family in providing social support, progressive ageing of the population) as well as in the emerging of new needs related to the so-called post-materialist poverties (i.e. homelessness, drug abuse, immigration and long-term unemployment) which the Italian welfare system was not sufficiently able to tackle. Tied to specific local contexts, a large number of initiatives started developing, organized mainly as associations which heavily relied on voluntary work while public support was limited at best to the provision of some financial aid. The success of many of these organizations in satisfying the increasing services demand explains their growth in size and number and their transformation into more structured units, providing services in a stable way and employing paid workers. A first recognition of the legitimacy of private initiatives in the social service sector occurred in 1998 when the Constitutional Court deliberated on the right of any citizen to establish and manage private organizations to supply social services. As a consequence in 1991 two important laws were issued to recognize and regulate the two main private institutional forms that had developed in the previous years: Law 266/91 on Voluntary Organizations Law 381/91 on Social Cooperatives A step further was taken in 2005 with the enforcement of Law 118/05 and the introduction of social enterprise as juridical form in the Italian Civil Code in the attempt of harmonizing the legislation on Third Sector entities and fostering their potential of growth in the competitive market. Furthermore the concept of entrepreneurship has been definitively separated by the one of lucrative purpose, that is it has been recognized the existence of enterprises whose primary aim is not to obtain a return on capital. The concept of social enterprise comprises all businesses which are directly and continuously involved in producing and trading goods and services for community benefit and general interest. Social enterprises added value as to traditional businesses lays in their efforts to supply services with a high degree of relationality, foster networking logics among Third Sector entities and help in producing positive externalities for the community. The status of social enterprise may be acquired by: Associations, foundations, volunteering organizations, NGOs Any form of partnership or jointstock company (defined as per Title V of the Civil Code), cooperatives, consortia Public and local entities as well as private businesses whose surpluses are redistributed only among the shareholders can not obtain the status of social enterprise. 33

43 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report The plurality of legal forms recognized by the Law testifies that social enterprises are defined more by their nature than by their legal form: what is really relevant is their social aims and outcomes, the basis on which their social mission is embedded in their structure and governance and the way they use the profits generated through their trading activities. Nevertheless a social enterprise must fulfil some requirements and namely: To be constituted by public deed To reinvest its surpluses in the business or allocate them to the indivisible reserve (which can never be divided among members) To draw up and register with the Enterprise Registrar an act containing its patrimonial and financial status To keep journal and inventory book To draw up social balance To promote participatory methods of governance To have the majority of its administrators as members As far as the economic activity is concerned, social enterprises can operate in the following sectors: Social services Health and care services Education Training Environmental protection Cultural property protection Vocational training Services for social enterprises Furthermore the status of social enterprise can be acquired by those organizations which independently by their sector of activity carry out entrepreneurial activities aimed at the insertion of disabled or disadvantaged people in the labour market if these people represent at least 30% of their workers. Currently the form of social enterprise which better combine entrepreneurial attitude and social aim is represented by social cooperatives. According to provisions set out by Law 381/91, social cooperatives can be of two types: A-type social cooperatives which deliver social, health and educational services B-type social cooperatives which provide work integration for disadvantaged people Although Law 381/92 provides that all cooperatives must choose one of these two types, it does not clearly differentiate between them and as a consequence other two types of cooperatives were formally recognized: C-type or mixed social cooperatives which carry out activities related to delivery of socio-educational and health services and work integration for disadvantaged people Consortia which associate different social cooperatives The structure of the ownership respects the democratic principle of one person, one vote. As far as the decision making power is concerned, there are no differences among the 34

44 Italian Framework various member of the social cooperatives. All members have the same rights and the same weight in the decision-making process. Since social cooperatives are employer organizations, they make use of the different kinds of market contracts (part-time or fixed term contracts) within the framework of the national contract for social cooperatives which regulates the working relations inside them. According to the latest ISTAT survey on social cooperatives, in 2005 there were 7,363 social cooperatives active on the national territory with an increase by +19.5% in comparison with 2003 (6,159) and +33.5% compared with 2001 figures (5,515). And to confirm the relative novelty of this phenomenon, more than two third were established after 1991 (71.7%). Considering their regional distribution, most of social cooperatives are located in Lombardy (1,191) then followed by Lazio (719), Sicily (589), Emilia-Romagna (584), Veneto (564) and Puglia (545). Since 2003 the number of social cooperatives has been increasing in many Italian regions, in particular in Sardinia (64.1%), Calabria (53.6%), Liguria (53.2%), Campania (23,.%) and Lazio (21.7%). As far as their typology is concerned, the majority of social cooperatives (4,345, equal to 59%) belongs to A- type social cooperatives, followed by B-type cooperatives (2,419, equal to 32.8%), mixed cooperatives (315, equal to 4.3%) and social consortia (284, equal to 3.9%). In general in the Northern and Central Italy the percentage of B-type social cooperatives tends to be higher than the national average, while in the South the percentage is more in favour of A-type ones. In 2005 the social enterprises annual turnover was about 6.4 billions. Values were not equally distributed among the different types of social cooperatives: 64.7% is produced by A-type cooperatives, 21.2% by B-type ones, 10.7% by consortia and 3.4% by C-type cooperatives. Members of social cooperatives were estimated in 262,389 units, whose 255,583 as physical persons and 6,806 as juridical persons. Among physical persons, more than 65% of members were women. The incidence of the female component is even more remarkable when workers are considered. Out of 278,849 people employed in social cooperatives 71.2% are women: in particular they are 74% of the salaried workers while their percentage decreases as far as their number among religious and volunteers is concerned. Lazio Regional Context To define tailored instruments and tools to encourage and promote female business creation and entrepre- 35

45 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report neurship, it was deemed useful to decline some of the assumptions stated in the national framework in the Lazio regional context. In particular a thorough analysis was carried out as far as women-led enterprises and social enterprises are concerned. The aim was to collect relevant data on female presence in the Lazio labour market both in terms of sectors of activity and numerical incidence. Furthermore in order to provide the highest degree of completeness to the picture, it was decided to consider the impact of public funding as measure to promote female entrepreneurship, thus analysing data related with funds disbursed under Regional Law 51/96 in favour to both private and social women-led enterprises. Data on Female Entrepreneurship in Lazio Region In Lazio Region, over a total of 363,153 enterprises, women-led enterprises are 73,753, that is 20.3% of the total. In the period the growth rate of female enterprises was +6.7%. In particular, in 2005 Rome was the Italian Province which registered the most relevant increase in terms of enterprises lead by women (+4%). Province Female Enterprises Total Enterprises Percentage (%) Frosinone 10,336 38, % Latina 9,708 46, % Rieti 3,070 14, % Rome 42, ,912 18,81 Viterbo 8,139 38, % Lazio 73, , % The highest feminization rate belongs to Frosinone Province, where almost 1/3 of enterprises are lead by women. The lowest is the one of Rome Province although it is the city with the highest number of female enterprises. 36

46 Italian Framework Also the dynamism of female enterprises has been much higher than the one of non-female enterprises (4% versus 1.7%) The proportional variation of womenled enterprises in the two-year period was as follow: Sector Italy Lazio Region Agriculture Fishery Mining Manufacturing Energy Construction Retail / Wholesale Tourism Transport & TLC Financial Services Business Services Education Health Other public services Not Classified

47 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report The majority of women-owned enterprises operates in the tertiary sector (79.7% with a peak of 87% for the new enterprises established between 2003 and In Rome Province which concentrates the highest number of enterprises the sectorial distribution is as follows: The consolidation of women s presence in sectors with a traditional female vocation (retail and trade as well as social services) has been accompanied by a significant increase in initiatives in divisions where the feminization rate used to be low as industry, business services and TLC. As already mentioned the average feminization rate in Lazio is 20.3% but as it is shown in the table below in some sectors (as social and educational services in particular) it is nobly much more substantial: 38

48 Italian Framework The analysis of dimensional parameters (number of employees and turnover) of women-led enterprises was carried out according to EU classification of Small and Medium Enterprises. The two parameters have been separately considered, thus the distribution of the enterprises in the different categories varies accordingly (i.e. Micro-Enterprises are 50.84% as per their number of employees and 47.56% as per their turnover). Type Number of Employees Number of Enterprises % of Total Micro-Enterprise , % Small-Enterprise , % Medium-Enterprise , % Big-Enterprise More than % Total 73, ,00% According to ISTAT data for 2005, the number of people employed in female enterprises is of 663,000, equal to 27.4% of the total (2,420,800 people). On average women-led enterprises have 9 employees as to 6 of men-led enterprises. Therefore female entrepreneurship proves to be an essential actor in the employment scenario of Lazio Region. 39

49 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Considering their turnover, women s enterprises classification results as follow: Type Turnover (Millions ) Number of Enterprises % of Total Micro-Enterprise Less than 2 35, % Small-Enterprise , % Medium-Enterprise , % Big-Enterprise More than 50 1, % Total 73, ,00% 40

50 Italian Framework Other two data deserve to be considered. The first one attains the number of foreign women entrepreneurs who showed the highest degree of dynamism ever: in the last five years the increase in enterprises run by foreign women was around +108% (against a national growth rate of +69.9%). The second one refers to women entrepreneurs age: 25% are between 30 and 40, 31.1% rank between 18 and 29 years old and 8.1% are less than 18 years old. Data on Female Social Enterprises in Lazio Region According to ISTAT data for 2003, in Lazio Region the number of social cooperatives in the period increased by 30% growing from 454 to 591. Province Coop. A Coop. B Coop. C Consortia Total Frosinone Latina Rieti Rome Viterbo Lazio As far as members are concerned, the regional trend follows the national one showing a prevalence of the female component. Province Physical Persons Men Women Total Juridical Persons Frosinone Latina Rieti , Rome 4,605 6,247 10, Viterbo , Lazio 5,984 8,596 14,

51 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report The same ratio is confirmed also when the different categories of employees are considered. Women are over 66% of the total employees. Full-time Employees Part-time Employees Interim Employees Total Province M W Tot. M W Tot. M W Tot. M W Tot. Frosinone Latina Rieti ,026 Rome 1,929 2,775 4,704 1,068 2,153 3,221 1,029 2,325 3,354 4,026 7,253 11,279 Viterbo ,101 Lazio 2,182 3,141 5,323 1,493 3,541 5,034 1,156 2,813 3,969 4,831 9,495 14,326 In 2003 social cooperatives in Lazio Region registered production values of 347,031,000 Euro, which is around 587,192 Euro per cooperative. Production costs appear proportional to revenues and amount to 332,893,000 Euro. As far as the percentage component is concerned, it is remarkable that type-a cooperatives are more likely to have the highest production values and revenues. Furthermore it has to be noticed that 71.18% of cooperatives revenues depend on health and care services supplied under the provisions of agreements signed between cooperatives and public local authorities. The distribution of social cooperatives according to their main sector of activity is as per table below: Province Recreation Education Health Social Assistance Social Cohesion* Promo. of Coop.** Total Frosinone Latina Rieti Rome Viterbo Lazio * it refers to type-b and type-c cooperatives ** it mainly refers to consortia 42

52 Italian Framework In social cooperatives, as it was already mentioned, the feminization rate both among members and employees is considerably relevant. In particular, out of the total of social cooperatives active on the regional territory, 122 are likely to be considered women-led ones since more than half of their members and employees are women. It is worth to notice that women s social cooperatives indicators concerning their distribution by province, typology and sectors of activity reflect in due proportions the same trends that have been already identified for social cooperatives in general. Considering their typology, women-led social cooperatives are also more likely to belong to type-b (52), followed by type-a (48), type-c (17) while only 5 of them are consortia. Province Coop. A Coop. B Coop. C Consortia Total Frosinone Latina Rieti Rome Viterbo Lazio

53 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Their distribution according to main sector of activity is as per table below: Province Recreation Education Health Social Assistance Social Cohesion* Promo. of Coop.** Frosinone Latina Rieti Rome Viterbo Lazio * it refers to type-b and type-c cooperatives ** it mainly refers to consortia Total A remarkable difference emerges when the origin of revenues is considered: while, as previously mentioned, more than 70% of social cooperatives depends on public funding, in the case of women-led ones this percentage decreases to 59%. Results in the Utilization of Funds under Regional Law 51/96 Under the provisions set in Regional Law 51/96 on Interventions to Support Female Entrepreneurship In Lazio Region in compliance with art. 45 of Lazio Region Statute, Law 215/92 on Female Entrepreneurship and communitarian directives on equal opportunities between men and women, Lazio Region promoted start-up and development of companies and enterprises operating on the regional territory by granting credit facilities (grants related to assets) and/or assigning regional funds, in the form of co-financing, to finance women s entrepreneurial initiatives in productive sectors as agriculture, manufacturing, trade, tourism and services. Furthermore, to foster the opportunities of self-employment available for women, regional institutions were deputed to create information desks, to organize courses and seminars on entrepreneurial culture, to provide technical assistance, consulting and training. Beneficiaries are enterprises which respond to the dimensional criteria of small 44

54 Italian Framework and medium enterprise according to European standards and to the subjective criteria of prevailing female participation (that is sole companies whose owner is a woman, cooperatives and partnerships whose at least 60% of their members are women, joint-stock companies whose at least 2/3 of shares are hold by women). Applying enterprises can present investment projects to start-up or purchase business activities or to realize business innovations. Financing could be used to cover expenses to set up the company, purchase equipment and machineries and rent premises intended for production. Since the aim of the law is not simply to assure financial support to women s enterprises (new or already existing ones), funds might be also used to pay expenses for training courses both for entrepreneurs and employees and supply of services concerning productive processes and products innovation, patents and licences, marketing and advertising as well as reduction of environmental impact. Applications have to be submitted only during the opening period of calls; after being evaluated as eligible, they are listed and then financed according to funds availability. Part of the funds are provided in the form of unsecured grants (for an amount that cannot exceed 75% of the total Investment) while the remaining funds are disbursed (usually in two instalments) as easy-terms loans to be reimbursed in a 10-year period. Available data on utilization of incentives as per Law 51/96 presently refer to IV and V calls for assignment of funds. Applications IV Call V Call % Value % Value Short-listed , ,367 Financed Excluded Submitted , ,866 The relevant functional gap among the short-listed projects and the number which was actually financed is imputable to a lack of public funding. To understand the applicants nature, a survey was carried out on a sample of 207 enterprises out of 528 which submitted their requests for financing. The analysis of data shows that aspiring entrepreneurs education level is in general medium-high (more than half has a high school degree or a university di- 45

55 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report ploma) and 25% of them, even before applying for such incentives, used to carry out entrepreneurial activities or comparable ones. Motivations that boosted applicants in starting their own business are mainly related to the sphere of self-realization expressed by a desire of being autonomous in the organization and management of their activities and of seeing their competences duly valorised. Another relevant reason lies in the existence of entrepreneurial traditions inside their provenance family. Sectors of Activity Enterprise Situation Service Trade Production Agriculture Total Value % Value % Value % Value % Value % Set up To be set up Not yet set up Total The majority of these enterprises are newly established (64% were set up after 2001) and according to their turnover and number of employees can be ascribed to the category of small enterprises. As far as their legal form is concerned, preference is given to legal forms which require low starting capitals, thus most of businesses are likely to be one-man companies (57.5%), followed by partnerships (17%) and cooperatives (11.5%) 46

56 Italian Framework while joint-stock companies are only 14% of the total. Considering their dimensions, sectors of activity and capitals availability, it appears as an expected consequence that the operational perimeter of most of these enterprises is extremely circumscribed: almost 80% of them operates at most at regional level as it is shown in the table below: Another interesting aspect refers to the occupational spin-off generated by these investments: out of a total of 653 new jobs created, 497 were occupied by women. It is also remarkable the persistence of traditional typologies of job contracts as to new typologies introduced by Law 30/03 on Occupation and Labour Market which should help women in reconciling professional and family life. Survey results also showed that incentives provided under Law 215/92 represented an essential instrument to promote female entrepreneurship. In 42% of cases it was considered extremely useful to realize investment projects in a short period and in 20% of cases it was decisive for the enterprise establishment providing the aspiring entrepreneur with funds otherwise unavailable. 47

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58 Part 2 - Analysis Chapter 3 - French Framework France and the Lisbon Strategy Accomplishing European requirements, France, on December 2005, transmitted its National Reform Programme For Economic and Social Growth containing the major reforms to be adopted to ensure both the economic and employment growth. The European Commission Annual Report for 2005 concerning French situation remarked the need of: More incisive return-to-work financial incentives New work contracts for filling available vacancies Mobilisation of public service for employment Greater support for people searching for a job The same Report stated the necessity of adopting a First Employment Contract (CNE Contrat de Nouvelle Embauche) aiming at fostering employment especially in small enterprises with less than 20 employees. Acknowledging the guidelines contained in the Report, the French Government (leaded by Chirac and Villepin) introduced this new type of contract. In 2005 the Government also promulgated a new Programmatic Law on Social Cohesion which comprised a number of interventions aiming at ensuring a greater transparency in the 49

59 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report labour market to favour social inclusion of young people, women and disadvantaged persons. New employment contracts were created as well as new institutions, involving all the different social parties. The initial plan aimed to: Provide stable employment for 800,000 young people Create a new figure, the étudiant des métiers, to develop the concept of apprenticeship Promote social cohesion through the development of the concept of alternation Support employment assistance by means of activity contracts Develop social economy Favour the return-to-work of longterm unemployed Define a new employment pact Promote the development of health and care services Foster business creation and self-em- ployment initiatives towards unemployed and disadvantaged people Promote equal opportunities for women and men After three years from the Lisbon Strategy re-launch, results showed a remarkable improvement: thanks to the reforms promoted by the Government, GDP registered an increase of 0.2 percentage points, reaching 2.5% in Employment rate, in the same period, was even more dynamic: almost 6.5 million jobs were created in the two-year period Employment contracts were made less rigid in order to favour the insertion of young people in the labour market. But, if the introduction of such reforms allowed a reduction of the unemployment rates, conversely they increased the gap between regular employees and temporary ones, where the last are penalised both from the economic and social point of view. 50

60 France Framework Self-employment Self-employment, that is the creation or the takeover of an enterprise by young unemployed, women or disadvantaged people, is a viable alternative to unemployment. According to an INSEE survey the most relevant motivations for startingup a business are as follow: Motivations for Starting-up a Business Men Women Average Be indipendent Desire of facing new challenges Increase his/her own income Opportunity offered to create a new enterprise New ideas on products, markets and services Successful examples of other entreprenurs Being unemployed I decided to start my own business Being unemployed I had to start my own business Only opportunity to practise The trend of business creation registered in the last years a continuous growth. According to INSEE data for 2007, 321,000 enterprises were set-up (+13% confronted with 2006 data): 42% of which started by unemployed thanks to specific incentives. These incentives, offered to unemployed willing to create their own enterprise, are managed by the agency ACCRE (Aide aux Chômeurs Créateurs ou Repreneurs d une Entreprise). Among the beneficiaries there could be also redundant employees, unemployed registered in the ANPE (Agence Nationale Pour l Emploi), people receiving ASS, API and RMI subsides and all those who have the requirements to apply for emploi jeunes contracts (for young people between 18 and 26 years old or who are older than 26 years old but long-term unemployed). Support provided by ACCRE consists in the exemption of social security contributions payment for a year. To apply for these incentives, the beneficiaries have to start-up or takeover a business in the legal form of individual enterprise or any other form with 51

61 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report the exclusion of joint-stock companies and to own more than 50% of the capital. Considering the trend in enterprise creation, it can be noticed that the increase is regular until 2002 and that it rushes in 2004 after the so-called Law Dutreil on Economic Initiative entered into force. The same rhythm is kept in 2007, after a phase of relative stability occurred in 2005 and 2006, probably related with a greater difficulty in accessing to French Government s subsides. As far the enterprise structure is concerned, it is interesting to observe that 87% of the businesses created or taken over by former unemployed do not have any employee. 52

62 France Framework Privileged sectors of activity are as follows: Sectors of activity % Evolution Agro-alimentary industry 19.0 Other industries 17.5 Construction 11.4 Trade 14.6 Transports 23.0 Financial activities 14.3 Real estate 2.9 Business services 9.0 Private services 15.1 Education, health, social activities 15.3 Total 12.5 As it is shown in the graphic below, enterprises are uniformly distributed on the French territory, excluding Auvergne and Limousin regions where the concentration decreases. 53

63 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Promotion of Women s Participation in the Labour Market During the 60 s women s activity rate was around 35%, while today it has reached 48%. This increase is due to an evolution in the social context jointly with a change in the mentality and recognition of women s rights. Another positive factor is related with the development of the tertiary sector which offered new employment opportunities and where women had lesser insertion difficulties. In some economists opinion, such job insertion had positive effects on the economy due to the fact that women have a more marked attitude to consume. Furthermore, according to a NOW survey, women offer an added value to the system in consideration of their better education and of their different knowledge and approach (savoir faire). Despite these considerations, women are still more vulnerable to unemployment, under-employment and precariousness. Women s participation in the labour market and in the creation of entrepreneurial activities shows positive trends also thanks to a number of initiatives promoted by the European Union (as NOW Project - New Opportunities for Women). Nowadays, in France, women represent 48% of employed people, 30% of entrepreneurs and 37% of people taking over already existing enterprises. But, due to persisting socio-economic reasons, they still face difficulties in affirming their entrepreneurial emancipation. Women often have to face many obstacles related with the poor broadmindedness of the traditional economic actors: maternity is still considered a risk by the business and also the financial system is reluctant to promote female initiatives, if they do not posses substantial guarantees. Another obstacle is represented by the poor presence of women as members of entrepreneurial associations due to their men-oriented structure. Most of female enterprises operate in the so-called tertiary sector: trade, restoration and public catering, business and private services. Womenled enterprises are more likely to be smaller than men s enterprises and the number of their employees is smaller. The new governmental programme Promoting Women s Entrepreneurship aiming at fostering equal opportunities for women and men is based on ten main initiatives: Improving quantitative knowledge on female entrepreneurship through the répertoire Sirene now is only possible to know if the managers of individual enterprises are men or women. A revision of the statistical 54

64 France Framework Employees > 15 years old per sector of activity % MEN % WOMEN Agriculture & fishery Agricultural industry Production industry Automotive Heavy industry Light industry Energy Costruction Trade Transports Financial activities Real estate Business services Private services Education, health, social Administration Total system is therefore required Creating an Observatory on Female Entrepreneurship Promoting a media campaign on female entrepreneurship aiming at awakening and informing entrepreneurial actors, and financial ones in particular, to female entrepreneurship Awakening young women to job diversification with the objective of developing their entrepreneurial spirit and helping them in facing stereotypes Reinforcing women entrepreneurs support through entrepreneurial networks Developing devices for remote training (e-learning etc.) Promoting support to female enterprise creation through dedicated incubators and specific grants Developing dedicated guarantee funds to consolidate financial support measures Assuring monitoring during the different phases of development of the entrepreneurial activity Allowing women on congé parental to start-up their own business. 55

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66 Part 3 - Actions Chapter 4 - Individual level A Different Concept of Enterprise In the last years, as stated in the Analysis, the European Union and the Member States, in order to guarantee a stronger and lasting economic growth and the creation of more and better jobs, adopted a model of sustainable development which integrates economic development policies and social inclusion ones and which is steadily centred on boosting business creation and small business start-ups, especially those run by new or would be entrepreneurs. Furthermore, the great changes occurred in the economic system during the last decade (as the rise of new phenomena like globalisation, new economy and knowledge society) caused a transformation of the traditional rules both in the production and supply of goods and services as well as an incontrovertible mutation of the labour market, fostering the development of new atypical job forms which appear to be more flexible and innovative but characterised by an excessive precariousness and lack of adequate labour protection. The combination of all these factors determined an increase in the demand, especially for microand small enterprises, and a high qualitative differentiation of the aspiring entrepreneurs, with a 57

67 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report substantial growth of people belonging to the weaker categories of society (immigrants, young, unemployed, women, etc.) for whom, in many cases, the decision of creating a business depends on logics and motivations unlike from those applied by a traditional entrepreneur. An enterprise could be established not only to grant a better allocation to available economic resources but also because there is a clear difficulty in entering the labour market or to solve a needy situation by undertaking a self-affirmation process. But sometimes the potentialities of entrepreneurship and business creation as tools of social and economic integration are too much emphasised: they represent a great occupational opportunity prospected to young unemployed; they are proposed to women as an achievable way to manage their time and so to favour a conciliation between family and business; to immigrants to facilitate the process of social integration. People tend to forget that entrepreneurship and business creation are probably the most difficult way to enter the labour market and to underestimate the risk of starting-up pseudo-entrepreneurial activities of low profile or in the worst extend destined to fail. Considering the mortality rate of enterprises has in fact its relevance, in particular when weak categories of the population get involved in the process of business creation in order to avoid the risk that it turns into an economical failure but also into a social one (with repercussions that often involve families and employees too). Also because it has to be considered that besides the typical obstacles that may affect the business creation process, this new class of aspiring entrepreneurs belonging to weaker categories of the population have to face specific problems linked with their particular condition of disadvantage: lack of awareness and professional knowledge, lack of basic entrepreneurial culture referred both to start-up and further management phases, lack of information or difficulties in acceding to tools and organisations providing support to entrepreneurs. It is therefore extremely important to recognise the complexity of the dynamics related with the process of business creation which can be many and of different nature: from the decision of starting-up a business to its legal form, to the kind of investments to be realised, how to organise the production, how to select its personnel and so on. The factors to be considered are numerous and not only of economic nature: decisions can be influenced by the entrepreneur s origins, by the presence of opportunities on the territory, by his professional ambitions and aspirations, by his former experiences, by the expectations of other people involved in the enterprise and by his ability in 58

68 Individual Level mobilizing economic resources. An enterprise is the result of a complex and even unpredictable ingredients, which could lead to complete different entrepreneurial activities if assembled in a different way. Some of these aspects are tangible, that is they refer to material resources which can be measured, other are intangible as cognitive dynamics or social relations whose development and evolution are difficult to be predicted and above all to be measured. Although it is common opinion that starting a business is complex, according to current representations on matter of business support, enterprise creation is still presented as a process of consequential steps which present a growing linear trend. Following this logic, once the business plan is drafted, the aspiring entrepreneur has to access to economic and financial resources to start the production and later the supply of his products, then the enterprise will consolidate and grow in dimension. Starting a business appears to be like climbing a stair: each phase of the business creation process is a step which almost automatically brings to the next one. This vision is extremely far from the reality of business creation process: the modalities according which the different phases are related one to the other, their duration and their development are variable and changeable. Each phase of the process represent in fact a micro-process on its own which may vary in duration, show a certain discontinuity and present a strong interdependence with other phases, since, although they are strictly correlated one to the other, they often proceed in parallel and not consequentially. This means to strive to offer a picture more striking to reality without spreading illusions and false myths, but telling the untold about business creation. In other words, the business support services to be provided have to go beyond the logic of a pure generalist technical assistance and start clearly representing the complexity of the business creation process stressing the relevance of social and cognitive dynamics and tackling themes inherent to entrepreneur s personal expectations, motivations and intentions, to the relational sphere of the enterprise structure and to the role that the different stakeholders of the enterprise should play. This implies, as a consequence, the adoption of a different interpretative paradigm of the concept of enterprise which has to be considered either as an economic subject (as per its classic economic definition) and as a process of social activation characterized by psychological, social and relational dynamics, as much evident as the enterprise, in the case of micro- and small-enterprises, tends to coincide with the entrepreneur who created it. The acceptance of this new paradigm leads, in terms of business support, 59

69 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report to a reconsideration also of the assistance that has to be offered which as to be as much as tailored and personalised as possible on the basis of a client-centred approach should move from the identification of the specific characteristics and needs of the target group in order to define the most respondent and viable business opportunities designed with enough flexibility to meet changing market demands, to provide accessible, relevant and effective training as well as access to sustainable financial instruments. Furthermore, especially for aspiring entrepreneurs belonging to disadvantaged categories, such a business support has to overcome the limits of the start-up phase and continuing even afterwards for the entire duration of the entrepreneurial experience, assuming that in the reality start-ups will not finish neither after the enterprise consolidation due to the unpredictability and constant mutability which implicitly characterize any business experience. Characteristics of Female Entrepreneurship Women s contribution to economic activity and employment has increased over time and there is growing evidence that more and more women are becoming interested in small business ownership and/or in starting up business. Women are a relatively new group of entrepreneurs compared with men, which means that they are more likely to run younger businesses. In general, despite the broad similarities between men and women in their characteristics when stating a business, it is possible to identify some specific peculiarities in female entrepreneurship. Men and women appear on average to have some different motivations for self-employment. Whilst both are looking for autonomy, women are more likely to see this as the ability to combine work with other commitments. Furthermore, although they each want autonomy through self-employment, this means different things: men appear to be seeking greater personal freedom to be their own boss and make decisions over business and product development whereas women want more flexibility aver where and when they work in order to balance conflicting demands of home, childcare and employment. Women s businesses tend to concentrate in retailing and service industrial sectors while they are under-represented in more traditional industrial sectors. This may be the case because proportionately more women than men are employed in sectors such as education, health, finance and business services and people tend to start businesses in 60

70 Individual Level sectors they have worked in. This can also be the reason why women are more likely to become self-employed in easy entry service industries since these sectors reflect previous work experience and are cheaper to set up and run. However, these areas are often highly competitive and associated with lower than average survival rates and high level of churning. The available evidence indicates that women-owned firms in general under-perform in the marketplace relative to similar male-owned ones. This is presumed to be due to their lower ability to build up appropriate resources such as finance, human capital form education, training and employment experience as well as social capital (relevant professional and social networks) and the cultural capital of credibility. Much of this capital is created for both sexes through waged work but women are generally found in employment positions that may make it less likely that they can build these personal and external resources to the same extent. Women, in fact, tend to be in jobs that involve little control or power. If a woman does not establish networks, she will not have access to customers and suppliers or if she does not build up financial or marketing skills, this will be a disadvantage to future business creation. For some women in this situation, they will be more likely to set up businesses or become self-employed in those sectors that require few of these skills and contacts and which tend to be those which experience poor growth, are high risk and over-crowded. Additionally, limited access to highly paid employment reduce women s opportunity to possess substantial levels of personal savings to invest in new enterprises and, together with periods in and out of full and part-time work, may result in unfavourable credit histories which may influence the leading decisions of banks and other financial providers. Women also appear to use a third of the financial capital to start their business than men, irrespective of sector, are more likely to rely on limited personal savings and rarely access to venture capital funding. They are likely, as a consequence, to be slower growth and run the risk of being undercapitalized. This determines that the long-term growth performance of enterprises is strongly affected by resources mobilized at start-up. Difficulties in acquiring startup resources in fact lead many women to start businesses that are underresourced and evidence suggests that this has a long-term effect on business performance. The smaller size of women s businesses and the lack of high growth performance are often seen as a direct result of constraints experienced at start-up. 61

71 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Barriers in Female Business Creation As for the characteristics, it is possible to identify some specific barriers and constraints affecting women s enterprise creation. Most of these are common to any person who aspires to become entrepreneur but the degree of relevance differs in the case of female entrepreneurship. In particular key factors that affect the start-up process and prospects of women-led businesses include: Level and quality of advice/training/ support required especially where women have been out of the labour market or lack experience; Length of time required form preto post-start-up (in many cases this can exceed months); Lack of basic entrepreneurial and planning skills (management, strategy, marketing, production and sales); Difficulties in acquiring relevant information concerning normative frameworks, market trends and labour market; Difficulties in accessing to entrepreneurial networks; Impact of caring and domestic responsibilities which still are more demanding for women than for men; Difficulties in acquiring appropriate finance and fewer opportunities to gain access to credit due to lack of collaterals, small amounts of credit requested and negative perception of female enterprises by loan officers; Low levels of confidence (in most cases women are more likely to fear failure) and self-esteem. Methodological Guidelines for Business Support Due to the importance hold by enterprise promotion both at European and national levels, there is a growing number of organisations and institutions whose aim is to provide business support services for aspiring entrepreneurs (Chambers of Commerce, employers associations, consultancy agencies etc.), in most cases even specialised in offering training and technical assistance to potential entrepreneurs belonging to disadvantaged categories. Through a set of well-developed tools, they are able to provide efficient and effective support services to help these people in identifying their needs, in analysing their competences, in preparing their business plans and in informing them on legislative procedures required to set up a business as well as on the eventual existence of incentives or grant schemes supporting start-ups. Hereupon the intention is not to 62

72 Individual Level substitute the existing technical assistance and training paths to support business creation but to provide, on the basis of the different concept of enterprise previously defined, some hints and suggestions that could be used as operative guidelines to set a model of business support more suitable and tailored on women s motivations and needs in starting-up their own enterprise. A very first element to be considered is a question of language. Women do not like the traditional language of business. The words enterprise, business and entrepreneur are seen as unattainable and not something women are interested in aspiring to. Women who are asked why they want to start a business very rarely talk about making a lot of money. More often they are motivated by providing an excellent service, quality and adding value to their community or society: essential foundations for any successful business. Women are also more likely to see starting a business as a route to work which complements their values or enables them to balance their lives, rather than an end in itself. Therefore the language has to be simple, clear and effective and avoid the use of jargon or intimidating terms. At the same time it is important to adopt in business training and counselling a holistic approach to business development rather than just focusing on maximising profit, in order to help women in recognising the broader value of entrepreneurial skills such as taking initiative and responsibility, innovation, flexibility and speed of response. A second relevant factor is related with the necessity of confronting stereotypes. Like everyone else, women tend to start businesses in areas where they have some experience or particular interest and large number of new businesses started by women are in the service sector, food, catering and retail. Whilst many of these sectors are currently booming, business advisers and bankers very often have quite fixed perceptions of what a business should be. Narrow definitions of what constitutes proper business can leave women feeling they will not be taken seriously. Conversely, women trying to work in sectors traditionally dominated by men can be held back by unhelpful stereotyping. None of those pre-conceptions about women and the roles they should take are helpful or professional. Patronising attitudes about the types of businesses they choose to start can make women feel undermined. Confidence can be sapped at every stage of starting a business. This attitude is also related to women s cautious approach to business startup: compared with men they are more likely to let fear of failure stop them from creating their own business and less likely to think they have the skills to start a business or see good business opportunities. This is the reason why 63

73 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report it is vital to have pre-enterprise courses that focus on personal development as well as business feasibility and aim to empower ethos: they should give people the tools to make their own decisions and include modules on assertiveness and confidence building as well as personal development modules to help women in reframing failure as an important learning experience and to overcome unrealistic fears. Training should also integrate recognition of existing skills, helping women to understand that they are not starting from scratch. A third element attains to realism. The final efficacy of a business support strategy strongly depends on the modalities adopted to present the process of business creation in the most realistic way as possible, with specific reference to the problematic situations and obstacles that the aspiring entrepreneur will have to face as well as to the opportunities she will be able to recognise and catch. Focusing from the very beginning on risks and obstacles is extremely important to help women in developing the ability of identifying them to reinforce their capacity of reaction in facing difficulties as well as to promote their attitude in preventing them. The adoption of a realistic approach is crucial especially in dealing with people who do not have previous entrepreneurial experiences in order to avoid the risk of creating false illusions or expectations on business creation which in most cases lead to inevitable failures. It is important to let these people clearly understand, as already stated in the first paragraph of this chapter, that the process of business creation is ruled by complex dynamics; that it may require years, that a good idea is not enough to set-up a successful business; that even mistakes are relevant in the process of learning how to properly run an enterprise. In other terms, it is matter of overcoming the traditional prescriptive approach of business support which cannot be limited to a provision of information on procedures to be followed to start-up an enterprise but also has to describe what concretely happens during this process focusing on the representation of real situations to provide a clear understanding of the entrepreneurial context in which they will have to operate. A fourth relevant aspect to be considered concerns the planning. Managing a small enterprise is sometimes more difficult than managing a big one, since usually there are less financial resources available, the entrepreneur has to manage alone a number of responsibilities and tasks, the enterprise itself is more exposed to local risks related with the peculiar characteristics of the territory where it operates and last but not least the fact that the professional dimension is not separated from the familiar one. Considering all these 64

74 Individual Level different dynamics that impact on the enterprise management, it is worth to promote, along with the traditional financial and economic planning (business plan etc.), the adoption of a wider and more flexible planning to achieve a perception as global as possible of the enterprise. This leads to the adoption of a strategic approach in the management of the activities and therefore it helps in developing a preventive focus on what could be relevant for the enterprise in the different specific phases of its development. The planning has to be organised in order to stimulate the entrepreneur in taking into consideration in good time what is really important, in order to avoid the risk of developing improvisationoriented approaches or the continuous adoption of emergency solutions. Fifth and last element specifically attains to business support and training which, as a consequence, have to be as much as tailored and individualised as possible. From the very beginning it is important to draft a sort of identikit of the aspiring entrepreneur and her business, clearly identifying the characteristics of the future enterprise as well as its general and specific needs to develop suitable long-term plans of business support that last even after the start-up phase for the entire duration of the entrepreneurial experience. 65

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76 Part 3 - Actions Chapter 5 - Social Enterprise Level A Viable Opportunity for Women Acknowledging fact that women, as reported in the previous chapter, have to face specific constraints and barriers in their process of business creation and that most of women-led businesses tend to concentrate in the third sector, social enterprises offer a viable opportunity to overcome women s difficulties according to two different ranges of reasons. The first reason attains to the intrinsic nature of social enterprises. A social enterprise can be defined as any business venture created for a social purpose (mitigating/reducing a social problem or a market failure) and to generate social value while operating with the financial discipline, innovation and determination of a private sector business. Although social enterprises transcend traditional non-profit sectors and apply as equally to health, environment, education and social welfare as it does to economic development or job creation programs, they display some common characteristics: 1. Enterprise Orientation - They are directly involved in producing goods or providing services to a market. 2. Social Aims - They have explicit social and/or environmental aims such as job creation, training or the provision of local services. Their 67

77 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report ethical values may include a commitment to building skills in local communities. Their profits are principally reinvested to achieve their social objectives. 3. Social Ownership - Many social enterprises are also characterised by their social ownership. They are autonomous organisations whose governance and ownership structures are normally based on participation by stakeholder groups (e.g. employees, users, clients, local community groups and social investors) or by trustees or directors who control the enterprise on behalf of a wider group of stakeholders. They are accountable to their stakeholders and the wider community for their social, environmental and economic impact. Profits can be distributed as profit sharing to stakeholders or used for the benefit of the community. Women, it was evidenced, among the motivations to start-up their businesses are less interested in optimising profits rather than in providing an excellent service, quality and adding value to their community or society. Furthermore, for its associative nature, social enterprises may challenge women s empowerment process, thus offering an effective support in encompassing difficulties due to ascertained women s low levels of confidence and self-esteem. The second reason relies on the market opportunities offered nowadays by the third sector. Whether born out of financial necessity or program innovation, the phenomenon of social enterprise is exploding. After a period of slow growth, the social economy has risen significantly in the last few years and currently represents one of the most promising emerging economic fields both in terms of occupational opportunities and innovation, as it is also acknowledged in the EC Green Paper on Entrepreneurship published in Such a growth of the Third Sector depends also by the increasing commitment of governmental institutions and private business on matters tackling environmental or social issues, which is generating completely new perspectives in the relations between public and private as well as between profit and non-profit, which represent new market opportunities for social enterprises. Characteristics of Social Enterprises Although there is no universally accepted definition of social enterprise, it can be described as a revenue-generating business with primary social objectives whose surpluses are reinvested for that purpose in the business or in the community, rather than driven by the need to deliver profit to shareholders or owners. Therefore its 68

78 Social Enterprise Level key distinguishing characteristics are social and societal purpose combined with an entrepreneurial spirit of the private sector. That means that social enterprise combines in a different extent entrepreneurial nature and social dimension. As the traditional non-profit organisations (associations, voluntary organisations, charities and cooperatives), social enterprises aim to achieve social, cultural, community economic and environmental outcomes and operate mainly in the following three fields: Work integration (training and integration of unemployed persons); Personal services (e.g. childcare services, services for elderly people, proximity services, aid for disadvantaged people) and Local development of disadvantaged areas (e.g. social enterprises in remote rural areas, neighbourhood development/rehabilitations schemes in urban areas). But, unlike non-profit entities, they are operated as a business: their activity is established strategically to create social and/or economic value for the organization; it has a long-term vision and it is managed as a going concern; growth and revenue targets are set for the activity in a business or operational plan. Nevertheless, it is important to strive that a social entrepreneur differs from a traditional entrepreneur in two important ways: Traditional entrepreneurs frequently act in a socially responsible manner but their efforts are only indirectly attached to social problems. Social entrepreneurs are different because their earned income strategies are tied directly to their mission. Secondly, traditional entrepreneurs are ultimately measured by financial results: the success or failure of their companies is determined by their ability to generate profits for their owners. On the other hand, social entrepreneurs are driven by a double bottom line, a virtual blend of financial and social returns. Profitability is still a goal, but it is not the only goal, and profits are re-invested in the mission rather than being distributed to shareholders. Therefore, distinguished by their dual value creation properties economic value and social value social enterprises have the following characteristics: Use business tools and approaches to achieve social objectives Blend social and commercial capital and methods Create social and economic value Generate income from commercial activities to fund social programs Market-driven and mission-led Measure financial performance and social impact Meet financial goals in way that contributes to the public good Enjoy financial freedom from unrestricted income Incorporate enterprise strategically to accomplish mission. 69

79 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Social Enterprises and Self-sustainability According to one of the most commonly quoted (Prof. J. Gregory Dees of Stanford University in 1998), a social enterprise is defined by five factors: adopting a mission to create and sustain social value (not just private value); recognizing and relentlessly pursuing new opportunities to serve that mission; engaging in a process of continuous innovation, adaptation, and learning; acting boldly without being limited by resources currently in hand; and exhibiting a heightened sense of accountability to the constituencies served and for the outcomes created. Earned income is never mentioned. Successfully running a business means to have the ability to take a business to the point at which it can sustain itself on internally generated cash flow, not grants or subsidies. It allows nonprofit organisations to congratulate themselves for being entrepreneurial without ever seriously pursuing sustainability or self-sufficiency. The Social Sector has traditionally been driven by a dependency model, relying primarily on philanthropy, voluntarism and government subsidy, with earned income a distant fourth. But in the last years the rules of the game have changed dramatically: operating costs have soared, resources available from traditional sources have flattened, the number of non-profits competing for grants and subsidies has exponentially increased, and the number of people in need has escalated. Due to this reason, non-profit organizations started incorporating some form of revenue generation through commercial means into their operations. Income-generating activities are not conducted as a separate business, but rather are integrated into the organization s other activities. These activities usually realize little revenue relative to the organization s overall budget and traditional fundraising contributions and government subsidy. The little attention paid to the productive sphere to exclusive advantage of social aims tend to orient their entrepreneurial activities towards low valueadded services (as assemblage, green maintenance, recyclable-waste collection, parking, basic data processing, catering, laundry, typography, joinery etc.) which usually present lower than average productivity rates and high level of churning. It is required to widen and better qualify the productive activities and the organisational-managerial structure of social enterprises in order to increase their possibilities in terms of entrepreneurial development by identifying new and more competitive market opportunities without distorting their model and final aim. That implies a greater focus on the internal development of the enterprise dynamics: an 70

80 Social Enterprise Level investment in research and innovation, a redefinition of social enterprises business and organisation to avoid risks related to managerial deficits as well as an identification of new modalities of coordination and cooperation with traditional profit enterprises. A concrete possibility to achieve these goals is to start operating as services providers on the competitive market. But what kind of services? Answers, as for any other business, are the most disparate and varied. A marketable opportunity could be defined moving from a positive analysis of the social enterprise concept, thus identifying its success factors and its points of strength, that is to say those distinctive elements that make social enterprises peculiar. Social enterprises are multi-stakeholders enterprises. The organisation is based on participative modalities and its corporate governance is the expression of a plurality of different stakeholders (employees, volunteers, disadvantaged people, members, sponsors, public and private juridical persons, territorial representatives, etc.) which allow the enterprise to internally mediate eventual conflicts and to act coherently with the interests of the different partners. Social enterprises are democratic and participative organisations whereby the different stakeholders are involved in the corporate decision process while democratic management allows a management based on mutuality and not on mere profit principles. Social enterprises main strength and resource are given by human capital. They operate constantly investing in their employees growth through education, on-the-job training, professional and specialised training. Social enterprises are rooted on the territory and act for the wider benefit of the community. Social enterprises know how to use their social dimension to establish relationships based on trust and fidelization of public and private interlocutors with whom they get in contact. All these characteristics also attain, as it will be detailed in the next paragraph, to the concept of Corporate Social Responsibility and therefore used to provide consultancy services to small and medium enterprises willing to implement CSR principles. A Definition of Corporate Social Responsibility The last twenty years have seen a radical change in the private sector s relationship both with the state and civil society. Globalisation, deregulation, privatisation and a redrawing of the lines between state and market have changed the basis on which private enterprise is expected to contribute to the public good. Meanwhile, the rela- 71

81 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report tionship between companies and civil society has moved on from paternalistic philanthropy to a re-examination of the roles, rights and responsibilities of business in society. The combination of these dynamics have led to the emergence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) which, according to the EC Green Book on CSR, a concept whereby companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their business operations and in their interaction with their stakeholders on a voluntary basis. Being socially responsible means not only fulfilling legal expectations, but also going beyond compliance and investing more into human capital, the environment and the relations with stakeholders. The experience with investment in environmentally responsible technologies and business practice suggests that going beyond legal compliance can contribute to a company s competitiveness. Going beyond basic legal obligations in the social area, for example, training, working conditions, management-employee relations, can also have a direct impact on productivity. It opens a way of managing change and of reconciling social development with improved competitiveness. CSR is therefore above all a sensitizing concept : a term that draws attention to a complex range of issues and elements that are all related to the position and function of the business enterprise in contemporary society. On the one hand it focuses on how issues are organised internally (CSR internal dimension), on the other hand it stresses the growing importance and influence of the business and societal context (CSR external dimension). Within the company, socially responsible practices primarily involve employees and relate to issues such as investing in human capital, health and safety, and managing change, while environmentally responsible practices relate mainly to the management of natural resources used in the production. They open a way of managing change and reconciling social development with improved competitiveness. Such internal dimension directly impacts on: Human resources management - CSR in human resources management could include lifelong learning, empowerment of employees, better information throughout the company, better balance between work, family, and leisure, greater work force diversity, equal pay and career prospects for women, profit-sharing and share ownership schemes, and concern for employability as well as job security. Responsible recruitment practices, involving in particular non-discriminatory practices, could facilitate the recruitment of people from ethnic minorities, older workers, women and the long-term unemployed and people at disadvantage. 72

82 Social Enterprise Level Health and safety at work - Companies, governments and sector organisations are increasingly looking at additional ways of promoting health and safety, by using them as a criteria in procuring products and services from other companies and as a marketing element for promoting their products or services. Occupational safety and health criteria have been included to varying degrees into existing certification schemes and labelling schemes for products and equipment. Certification schemes of management systems and subcontractors focusing primarily on occupational safety and health have also been launched. Adaptation to change - Restructuring in a socially responsible manner means to balance and take into consideration the interests and concerns of all those who are affected by the changes and decisions. In particular, this involves seeking the participation and involvement of those affected through open information and consultation. Furthermore, restructuring needs to be well prepared by identifying major risks, calculating all the costs, both direct and indirect, associated with alternative strategies and policies, and evaluating all of the alternatives which would reduce the need for redundancies. By engaging in local development and active labour market strategies through involvement in local em- ployment and/or social inclusion partnerships, companies can lessen the social and local impact of large scale restructuring. Environmental impact - In general, reducing the consumption of resources or reducing polluting emissions and waste can reduce environmental impact. Environmental investments are normally referred to as win-win opportunities - good for business and good for the environment. Corporate social responsibility extends beyond the doors of the company into the local community and involves a wide range of stakeholders in addition to employees and shareholders: business partners and suppliers, customers, public authorities and NGOs representing local communities, as well as the environment. Rapid globalisation has encouraged discussion of the role and development of global governance: the development of voluntary CSR practices can be seen as contributing to this. The external dimension has a return on: Local communities - Companies contribute to their communities, especially to local communities, by providing jobs, wages and benefits, and tax revenues. On the other hand, companies depend on the health, stability, and prosperity of the communities in which they operate. Many companies become involved in community causes, notably by 73

83 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report means of provision of additional vocational training places, assisting environmental charities, recruitment of socially excluded people, provision of childcare facilities for employees, partnerships with communities, sponsoring of local sports and cultural events or donations to charitable activities. companies increasingly use these relations to support the integration of their affiliates into various markets in which they are present. The familiarity of companies with the local actors, the local environment traditions and strengths is an asset from which they can capitalise. Business partners and consumers - Large companies are at the same time business partners of the smaller ones, be it as their customers, suppliers, subcontractors or competitors. Companies should be aware that their social performance can be affected as a result of the practices of their partners and suppliers throughout the whole supply chain. The effect of corporate social responsibility activities will not remain limited to the company itself, but will also touch upon their economic partners. Some large companies demonstrate corporate social responsibility by promoting entrepreneurial initiatives in the region of their location. Examples for such practices include mentoring schemes offered by large companies to start-ups and local SMEs, or assistance to smaller firms on social reporting and communication of their corporate social responsibility activities. Corporate venturing constitutes a further way for large companies to facilitate the development of new innovative enterprises. Corporate venturing means that the large enterprise takes a minority stake in a promising start-up and promotes its development. Human rights - Under increasing pressure from non-profit entities and consumer groups, companies and sectors are increasingly adopting codes of conduct covering working conditions, human rights and environmental aspects, in particular those of their subcontractors and suppliers. Codes of conduct should be applied at every level of the organization and production line. Full disclosure of information by companies is important, including to local communities, as part of an ongoing dialogue with them. Training for local management, workers and communities on implementation is equally important. Furthermore, the emphasis must be on a developmental approach - one which stresses continuing gradual improvements to standards, and to the code itself. In the case of child labour, companies should not just 74

84 Social Enterprise Level respect the letter of the ILO conventions by dismissing contractors who use child labour, but should also, for example, help to tackle child poverty by assisting children into education. Global environment - Through the transboundary effect of many business-related environmental problems, and their consumption of resources from across the world, companies are also actors in the global environment. They can therefore pursue social responsibility internationally as well as in Europe. It is impossible to draw up a definitive list of issues and policies, which constitute CSR. These will be different for different companies and can shift over time as changes in risk and regulation, challenges to reputation and developments in best practice redefine the boundaries of what is acceptable, possible and profitable for a company to do. Nevertheless it is possible to map out CSR in terms of a number of key interlocking dimensions, which can each range from the most narrow, compliance-based, reactive modes to the broadest, most strategic and potentially most significant in terms of addressing major social and environmental problems. Corporate Social Responsibility Instruments As definitions CSR become more refined and organisational practice of CSR applies to an increasing number of activities aspects subject to standardization are growing. Many instruments focus upon a single issue, stakeholder or industry. Narrow instruments are unable to capture the net impact of a company s overall activities or help to understand high-level trade-offs and crosscutting issues. Therefore there are also a number of broader CSR instruments which combine a number of issues, such as GRI. As societal expectations for CSR become more defined, CSR-related instruments fulfil a vital need in providing robust process guidance and indicators of both historic and future environmental, social and financial performance. CSR-related instruments have the potential to enhance performance of whole companies, significantly advancing the realisation of CSR across sectors, industries and whole economic regions. Recently, there has been much activity in CSR instrument generation, as a wider array of mechanisms for measuring, evaluating, improving and communicating corporate performance in relation to social environmental and ethical criteria are currently being developed. Not all of these instruments 75

85 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report are comparable in scope, intent, implementation or applicability to particular companies, sectors or industries. They include both auditable instruments as well as broad guidelines, codes of conduct, charters, investment screening mechanisms and benchmarks. Instruments by which organisations can be measured are vitally important in order to compare and contrast levels of performance. Initially, the function of instruments is to establish minimum levels of performance. They also help organisations to manage the quality of their processes or systems designed to manage impacts and processes. Over the course of time, the use of instruments encourages, facilitates and mandates best practice. A range of initiatives and styles exist with huge diversity in both the scope and content of instruments, as well as in their attendant documentation and associated monitoring systems. These differences depend in large part upon the particular subject area that the instrument is seeking to address together with the orientation of the bodies from which the instruments emanate. Codes of conduct are commitments made by organisations or imposed by them on their economic partners. Labels are signs that aim to identify a product or a service according to certain criteria, whether it is ecological, biological or social. They are based on the product s intrinsic qualities or the manufacturing process and can in this way be associated with codes of conduct. Certification is conferred on a product or a body when it complies with a certain standard, and when this compliance has been verified. Many codes of conduct and labels are the object of certification, but many of these are simple declarations that are not subject to a verification process. Moreover, the verification process can vary from one certification to another and while some permit self-declaration (ISO 14001), others require verification in partnership with NGOs. The various instruments are broadly grouped into four key ways of working: Aspirational principles and codes of practice Guidelines which provide broadly agreed methods of substantive performance for companies but which lack external audit mechanisms. Some may include a self-reporting element (for example companies which sign up to the UN Global Compact, the Ethical Trading Initiative and the Global Sullivan Principles), while others are subject to external oversight either informally or formally. Guidelines for management systems and certification schemes Auditable guidelines for implementing, reviewing and external certification compliance to the standard. Some instruments of this type are organisation based (such as EMAS), some are site based (such as SA8000) and some are product based (such 76

86 Social Enterprise Level as the FSC criteria). These instruments enable business to enhance its internal processes for CSR-related activities as well as establishing credibility with consumers or other user groups through certification or verification. Rating indices typically used by socially responsible investment agencies Sets of criteria used by ratings indices and social investment funds to identify companies considered acceptable for socially responsible investment. Individual funds have their own screens, and individual investors are able to choose the fund whose screens cover their own concerns. However, a recent development has been the independent social investment indices developed by the FTSE and Dow Jones companies. Accountability and reporting frameworks Process guidelines which cover reporting and accountability mechanisms (such as AA1000S and GRI). These instruments do not specify substantive levels of performance which must be met, but provide a framework for communicating and responding to stakeholder concerns in relation to social, environmental and economic performance. In addition, CSR instruments exist within a framework of national regulation and a backdrop of international agreements, in particular the ILO conventions and the Universal Decla- ration of Human Rights. Most CSR-related instruments tend to address only one of the three pillars of sustainable development (social, environmental or economic). Many, such as SA8000 which concentrates on labour issues, are topic specific within a particular area. With the exception of the GRI, those that do address all aspects of the triple bottom line tend to privilege one area depending on their overarching aim to address either social or environmental issues, with other areas receiving less coverage. The table in the next page highlights the most utilised CSR instruments. SMEs and Social Corporate Responsibility From an enterprise size perspective, most of the existing key concepts and tools addressing CSR issues have been developed by and in the context of large enterprises. But, especially at European level, most of the enterprises range in the category of small and medium enterprises. In a different extent of large corporations also SMEs contribute to the development of their local communities in a variety of ways. It occurs when businesses perform their traditional economic functions of earning profits, expanding employment opportunities, and reinvesting for future growth but also when enterprises develop their communities by 77

87 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Instrument Eligible Companies Companies Covered Sectors Covered Stakeholder Focus Aspirational Principles and Codes of Practice Scope of Operational Coverage Business Process Operations Coverage UN Global Compact Global All Broad All Global Amnesty Global All Sullivan Principles OECD Guidelines Global (includes non-profit & public bodies) OECD-based multinational companies All Local communities, staff Local communities, staff Personnel, security Employment, community investment Global Global All Broad All Global ECCR/ICCR Global All Broad All Global SA 8000 ISO 900 / ISO EMAS EU Eco-label DJGSI FTSE4Good ASPI Management System and Certification Schemes Global Global (includes non-profit & public bodies) European (includes nonprofit & public bodies) Companies selling to EU markets Down Jones quoted companies FTSE quoted companies EU quoted companies Manufacturing All Industrial focus Limited range of consumer products Rating Indices All All All Staff Employment Site based Customers, staff, suppliers (ISO 9000) Quality / environmental management Global n/a Manufacturing Global n/a Staff, staff in supply chains, local communities Staff, staff in supply chains, local communities Community, customers, suppliers & shareholders Accountability and Reporting Framework Products, design, manufacture & disposal All All All Product based Global Global Global GRI Global All Broad Reporting Global AA1000S Global All Broad Stakeholder engagement Global 78

88 Social Enterprise Level enhancing the environment (in a general sense) in which they operate. From a theoretical perspective, SMEs involved in CSR activities as well as multinational enterprises may obtain a number of business benefits from these activities. Examples include: An enhanced enterprise image and reputation. The enterprise s ability to attract capital, trading partners and customers is enhanced, as well as its ability to access and build contacts with policy-makers and other relevant economic players. An increased sales and customer loyalty for the products and services of companies perceived to be responsible with their community and the environment. Enterprise efforts intended to enhance supplier networks or improve employee morale often lead to increased productivity and quality and reduced complexity and costs. Better control and management of risks in different domains such as finance or customers attitudes. An increased ability to attract and retain employees, resulting in a reduction in turnover and associated recruitment and training costs and a higher motivation amongst employees. This benefit seems to be important, especially at a time when the young generations are a small proportion of the population in some European Countries. The table below provides some examples of CSR activities that SMEs could implement according to different categories of shareholders: Shareholders and owners Employees Customers Natural Environment Wider community (including public authorities) Contractors / suppliers Reporting of socially responsible business practices to shareholders Definition of mission that includes non-financial objectives Engagement in the empowerment of employees Prioritisation of employee health and safety issues Provision of opportunities to share in company growth and profitability Encouragement of employee/management communication Support employees possibilities to balance work, family, and personal development commitments Monitoring of quality, safety and environmental impacts of products and services Prompt response to customer complaints Commitment to minimising negative impacts and optimising resources Performance of full life-cycle analysis on all products/services Incorporation of environmental values into purchasing decision Involvement in philanthropic activities that meet community needs Partnership with community-based organisations that support business success (i.e. promotion of entrepreneurial initiatives in the region) Recruitment practices aimed at disadvantageous groups Sensitivity to local customs and cultures Compliance with human rights standards Incorporation of social/environmental values into purchasing decision Avoiding of business relationship with companies that use illegal practices (i.e. child labour) Active engagement in supply chain risk management. Checking up of socially responsible practices through the whole supply chain Prompt response to supplier complaints 79

89 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Many EU SMEs are already involved, although to different degrees, in CSR activities but they are not yet defining social responsibility as an issue to be incorporated into the enterprise s core business activities, so that CSR activities are in most cases occasional and unrelated to the business strategy. The key motivation for involvement is related to ethical reasons. Despite the importance of the ethical considerations, only a minority share of the European SMEs involved in social activities is unable to identify any business benefit derived from them. The two main benefits identified by SMEs include an improvement of the loyalty of customers and better relations with the general community/ public authorities. Involvement in social responsibility is more hampered by attitudinal reasons than by lackof resources. On the contrary there are several barriers amongst SMEs to become involved in environmentally responsible activities due to negative company culture towards the environment, unawareness of the environmental impacts of the business, scepticism towards the business benefits associated with positive environmental improvements and, finally, the recurrent shortages of time, financial and staff resources, together with a lack of technical expertise and skills. In any case it extremely important to stress that contents, nature and extent of the SMEs CSR activities clearly show a number of distinctive and intrinsic characteristics which include: In most small firms, ownership and management/control are usually concentrated in the same hands, so the entrepreneur plays a central and key role in the development of an SME that allows him/her to make personal choices about appropriate ways to allocate funds. Thus, the personal preference of top management and owners is the most influential factor affecting the type and extent of SMEs external community involvement. Small business managers/owners are strongly embedded in their local communities. Thus, SMEs rely much more than large enterprises on the health, stability and prosperity of the local communities in which they operate, since most of their clients and the majority of their employees come from the surrounding area. Therefore, the reputation of a company at its location, its image as an employer, producer or actor in the local scene, certainly influences its competitiveness. SMEs often lack personnel, financial and time resources. On the one hand, SMEs are more economically vulnerable than large enterprises, a problem that implies that long-term investments in, i.e. CSR activities not clearly related to the core business, are regarded as secondary by owner-managers and very often are therefore postponed. 80

90 Social Enterprise Level Personal relationships and close individual contacts are more frequent ticipative criteria and deeply rooted erned according democratic and par- in smaller businesses. The enhanced on the territory. All these elements possibilities of personal contacts can be ascribed to CSR attitudes and between the owner-manager and characteristics: social enterprises may employees, financing partners, suppliers, customers and, sometimes, CSR issues into a structured set of transform this implicit knowledge on even competitors very often help services to be offered on the competitive market in the form of CSR to build trustful and open business partnerships in a way impracticable consultancy services for SMEs which in larger firms. However, if things due to lack of personnel, financial and go wrong, the existence of a personal relationship may add pressures to accomplish to CSR requirements on time resources are not in a position to both sides. their own. Social enterprises could provide targeted assistance to companies to advance their CSR performance, thus in Corporate Social developing a better working environment in which to function, gain cred- Responsibility ibility and enhance their reputation in Consultancy the eyes of the public. With reference to CSR internal dimension, social enterprises could provide counsel to help them develop policies and approaches that address their corporate governance processes as: CSR enhances long-term business value, particularly with reference to customer reputation, employee loyalty and innovation. If there is a business case for CSR, it follows that businesses have incentives to acquire CSR products and services. Traditionally social enterprises have covered the field of social inclusion, development aid, health and education, human rights, fight against poverty and so on. Social enterprises, as it happens in Italy, are required by law to present annually their social balance. Furthermore, as stated in the previous paragraph, social enterprises are multi-stakeholder enterprises gov- Developing business principle and codes of conduct Developing policies on areas of specific concern, e.g. regarding diversity, harassment, complaints, environment and human rights Developing a strategy that integrates the purpose, values and vision of the enterprise in a manner that ensures that CSR is implemented into both day-to-day operations and longer term activities Integrating CSR into corporate gov- 81

91 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report ernance Integrating CSR into management systems, including its alignment to purpose, values and vision as well as appropriate structure and resourcing Or as workforce is concerned, social enterprises could assist companies in: Providing training and development opportunities for employees, including financial support and allowing time off work Planning career development by setting structures and systems in place supporting deliberate growth and development of individuals (on-thejob training and job-rotation) Promoting knowledge management and organisational learning Conducting job appraisals supported by job specific performance reviews and skills needs assessments With reference to CSR external dimension, social enterprises could foster the establishment of strategic partnerships with businesses and local authorities for the realisation of specific projects to promote local development. Such strategic partnership means that joint actions are taken, whereby one or other shared objective can be attained with each party retaining its own identity, values and independence. 82

92 Part 3 - Actions Chapter 6 - Network Level Networks and Knowledge Management Globalization and technological advances in recent years have led to a proliferation of networks on community, national, regional, and global levels. While the terms networks and networking are currently in vogue in a variety of disciplines, these concepts are nothing new. Networks, in one form or another, have been around for ages. In pre-agricultural societies, individuals formed communities, and one s contribution to the community depended on the utilization of the perceived strength of the individual. Hence, some people became hunters and others became gatherers, and the sum welfare and sustainability of the community was improved as a result. Another example is provided by labour unions which in the nineteenth century arose in cities as a way to cope with the new challenges of industrialization. Workers found support and protection in community and created a vehicle for social change advocacy that would improve their welfare. Today, professional associations are a vital way for members to stay up-to-date on research and current practices, as well as a means to help members obtain and retain credibility. 83

93 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report In each of these scenarios, networks arose as a mechanism for improving the welfare of the individual by simultaneously improving that of all members of the group. A variety of network sub-categories exists, including communities of practice, knowledge networks, sectoral networks, social change or advocacy networks, or service delivery networks, just to name a few. This variety points to the fact that networks are created for a variety of purposes and embody a variety of structures. No formula exists for how and why network develops. Network formation can be instigated by external or internal sources, or for practical or value-based reasons. Networks can form either from the top down or from the bottom up. In fact, it is often a combination of all of these things that serves as the impetus for network formation. Furthermore, as it was evidenced in Chapter 5, networks in the meaning of ties and relationships among different subjects are essential in the process of business creation as well as for its further development in the form of relations with clients, suppliers and public authorities or in membership to entrepreneurial associations and chambers of commerce and so on. Even more crucial is networking referred to social enterprises which are deeply rooted on the territory and need to establish lasting ties with the different actors operating at local level. Strategic partnerships among social enterprises, private businesses and local public authorities could therefore be a powerful tool whereby to start fostering local development by establishing networks that consider the interaction between systems. Networking could be useful to collaborate on research, projects in the field or a social action agenda, social capital is being built and new approaches to development challenges are being born. Therefore, a group whose members may once have thought of themselves as unlikely partners find themselves at the same table. To succeed in having strategic partnerships networks working, first, network members must be encouraged to dare to share (i.e. be confident enough in their work that they are willing to share it with others). This sharing can be facilitated by the creation of an open environment in which people are willing to analyze and learn from both successes and mistakes. Second, network members must have the capacity to fully contribute. This can be fostered by creating time and space for learning and reflection. Thirdly, network members must be committed. Strong commitment is naturally fostered when members make the priorities of the network match their own and they see the network as adding value to their work. Simply raising awareness of the potential that members have in contributing to change in their organizations may help to strengthen commitment. Lastly, net- 84

94 Network Level works must possess the generative capacities identified in our framework if they are to be able to build these same capacities in their members. Social enterprises, local authorities and private sector could experiment through networks a different way to cooperate and sharing their different expertise to identify innovative solutions to common problems. Sharing complementary expertise is aimed at bringing a competitive advantage for each member, thus improving the development of the entire network and conversely for the entire community: i.e. social enterprises could be helped in fostering their managerial competences while private business could learn how to start empowering processes to the benefit of their employees. Such networks should therefore operate according to principles of knowledge management. Knowledge management has been defined as effectively connecting those who know with those who need to know, and converting personal knowledge into organizational knowledge. Network members have to learn how to use these systems and processes not only to manage what they know, but to create and share new knowledge with others, and put that knowledge into action to achieve their organisational objectives. Knowledge is much more than information, and knowledge management goes beyond information sharing. Through the process of sharing information, new ideas are born and knowledge is actually created. Knowledge and intellectual capacities are now recognized as strategic assets that are as valuable as more tangible ones. This approach is essential to strengthening strategic partnerships as well as to identifying tailored, needs- and capacities-based approaches to local development. Explicit and Implicit Knowledge Explicit knowledge (that which is written down, recorded or codified in some manner) is often used almost interchangeably with information in the knowledge management/knowledge network context. The mapping and sharing of knowledge focuses primarily on individual explicit knowledge and its relation to organizational explicit knowledge (often referred to as corporate memory ). In moving towards collaborative work processes, organizations often begin with knowledge mapping or knowledge elicitation, reviewing the intellectual capital of the organization (reports, manuals, etc.), identifying expertise within the organization, identifying gaps in the corporate knowledge base and recording these in a systematic way. In a network, this process of capturing and aggregating the explicit knowledge of 85

95 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report individuals and organizations is a significant task. It creates the basis upon which a network can begin to work together. In the creation of new knowledge and the effective application of that knowledge, networks must also recognize the importance of tacit and implicit knowledge Tacit knowledge is the understanding of how to do things. It is created by doing, by personal trial, error, reflection and revision (understanding how to research and develop new policy recommendations, learning how to run a community consultation or learning how to negotiate a policy change with a decision-maker). It is difficult, however, to articulate what that how to actually is. The transfer of tacit knowledge, therefore, is facilitated through shared processes (working together, mentoring and so forth) in addition to the physical transmission of written or recorded content. Balancing explicit and implicit knowledge means undertaking a process of capacity building which involves all the networks members and which will lead to: Creation of best practices Improved interventions and approaches Improved project/program design Stronger partnerships, collaborations, and institutional linkages Improved networking Creation of new ways of learning and working together; creation of an environment for learning and experimentation Recognition of possibilities for collaborative actions. Benefits of Networking There is a great deal of variation in terms of expected member contribution and benefits. Though knowledge and information sharing are important activities of most networks, the core of the network is the relationships among its members. The benefits provided by membership in a network increase the value of the work done by each member: Increased access One set of benefits to network membership comes from increasing access: to information, expertise, financial resources, etc. A multiplier effect Network membership can achieve greater accomplishments through utilization of the multiplier effect, which is created by effective networks. As mentioned earlier, since the value of the network is greater than the sum of its parts, individual member can achieve farther reach and greater impact in relation to their own organizational goals when they participate in networks Increased visibility Increasing visibility of issues, good work and 86

96 Network Level best practices, and contributions of underrepresented groups (such as youth or women) Reduced isolation Increased credibility From Local to International Social enterprises lays their foundations on fostering of human capital and knowledge; their outputs do not consist in most of the cases on production of material goods but on creation and transmission of relational knowledge: through such a knowledge they are able to transform an interpersonal relation in an event (a service, a course, an activity) inserted in a specific organisational dynamic which leads to an exponential increase of the knowledge itself by its articulation in procedures, analysis practices and selected solutions. Knowledge potentially has no boundaries and therefore, according this perspective, it is possible to imagine a broadening of social enterprises activities, with special reference to human capital development, enterprise organisation, workers participation in corporate governance, needs analysis and training, which may overcome the local dimension of social enterprises and project them towards an international dimension. To make this step forward, social enterprises could adopt the same logics governing industrial districts internationalisation. Nowadays global economy represent a risk but also an interesting challenge and opportunity both for private businesses and social enterprises, whereby their activities could extend out of their traditional narrow limits of the local ambit of action. Considering that social enterprises added value mostly consists in fostering relational dynamics, their internationalisation process could be found on their relational competences: widening of their networks and social ties, broadening of value-production processes, ability to develop effective operative models on the basis of former experiences and capacity of develop innovative context-tailored practices. Social enterprises contribution to global economy can be relevant in terms of: Occupational impact as quality and quantity of new jobs created; Multiplier effect of networks on the development of a shared transnational cultural identity; Reinforcement of participative democracy; Ability in reaching and involving the most vulnerable categories of the population; Specific competencies that can improve institutional dialogue at local, national and European level. 87

97 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report European Cooperative Society In the European Union there are at least 300,000 cooperatives which provide 2.3 million jobs and influence the everyday life of more than 140 millions of citizens who are members in cooperatives. Social enterprises in the form of social cooperatives could start internationalising their activities by adhering to the European Cooperative Society. Such initiative has been launched in 2004 in order to have a completion of the internal market and the improvement it brings about in the economic and social situation throughout the Community not only in terms of removal of trade barriers but to foster the adaptation of the structures of production. For that purpose it is essential that companies of all types, the business of which is not limited to satisfying purely local needs, should be able to plan and carry out the re-organisation of their business on a Community scale. Anxious to ensure equal terms of competition and to contribute to its economic development, the Community therefore decided to provide cooperatives, which are a form of organisation generally recognised in all Member States, with adequate legal instruments capable of facilitating the development of their cross-border activities, through collaboration, cooperation or mergers between existing cooperatives in the different Member States, or through the creation of new cooperative enterprises at European level. With the adoption of the Regulation on the Establishment of the Legal Form of the European Company, a genuine single SCE entity has been established. These new texts do in effect permit the creation of a cooperative by persons residing in different Member States or by legal entities established in different Member States. With a minimum capital requirement of Euros, these new SCEs can operate throughout the internal market with a single legal identity, set of rules and structure. They can expand and restructure their cross-border operations without the costly and timeconsuming exercise of setting up of a network of subsidiaries. Cooperatives from several different countries can also now merge as SCEs. Finally, a national cooperative operating in a different Member State from the one in which it has its registered office can be converted into a European cooperative without first having to be wound up. But it is not only of interest to cooperatives. It also provides an ideal legal instrument for companies of all types wishing to group together for their common benefit, for example in order to access markets, achieve economies of scale or undertake research or development activities. European Cooperative Society could 88

98 Network Level be therefore used not only to strengthen the relationship among cooperatives all around Europe but also as a starting point to develop strategic partnerships among social entities, private businesses and public institutions at European level according to the model presented in Chapter 5. 89

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100 Part 4 - Annexes 91

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102 Annexes Annex 1 - Dissemination The European Framework The Annexes that compose this section of the Report refer to dissemination, mainstreaming and evaluation of the activities carried out by the working group along the two years of the implementation of the Project. While Annex 3 (Evaluation) does not present any specific peculiarity since it simply presents the results of the internal evaluation of the project and its activities, a few words have to be spent on the logic that was followed in the drafting of Annex 1 (Dissemination) and Annex 2 (Mainstreaming). According to Equal initiative s principles, dissemination means sharing information and raising awareness of the DPs work and the results achieved while mainstreaming implies the transfer and, eventually, the adoption of lessons learned. But despite their difference, both dissemination and mainstreaming involve identification of good practices and often use the same tools (reports, presentations, events and so on). In order to avoid confusion, it was agreed to include as Annex 1 the outputs that can be considered as pure dissemination and namely the presentations available on the web-site illustrating the Project progress and working documents, while in Annex 2 are presented the workshops and events organized by the working group as mainstreaming, although obviously they have some elements that can be ascribed to dissemination. 93

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104 Annex 1 - Dissemination - The European Framework 95

105 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 96

106 Annex 1 - Dissemination - The European Framework 97

107 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 98

108 Annexes Annex 1 - Dissemination The Italian Framework 99

109 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 100

110 Annex 1 - Dissemination - The Italian Framework 101

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112 Annexes Annex 1 - Dissemination Italian law 215/92 Law 215/92 is a national law managed by Economic Development Ministry, exclusively dedicated to female entrepreneurship. It envisages also the possibility for Regions to finance 50% of the regional programme for promotion and coordinate positive actions to sustain female entrepreneurship, according to their objectives and programme instruments. 103

113 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Main law objective is to encourage and develop women s entrepreneurship, by promoting entrepreneurial training, qualifying entrepreneurial professionalism. The programme provides for strictly integrate measures directed: to promote women entrepreneurship training to develop technical and managerial assistance and consultancy services addressed to female entrepreneurship to carry out information and support initiatives to spread business culture among women. The ones concerning: Start up of new activities Purchase of already existing activities (even machines, equipments, patents and software expenses are admissible) Fulfilment of advanced corporate projects By out of real services (only consultancy expenses are admissible) 104

114 Annex 1 - Dissemination - Italian Law 215/92 It is addressed to women who intend to create an enterprise on their own: Individual firms, Cooperatives, Partnerships Joint stock Companies The companies must satisfy the following requirements: They must be small companies They must have female management (prevalently): Individual company (firm): a woman must be the owner Partnerships and cooperative: women must be partner at 60% In capital companies: women must own 2/3 shares of the whole registered capital; women must be part of the management for at least 2/3 of the whole management Keep the same corporate framework for at least 5 years; Do not transfer the acquired estates for at least 5 years since facilities concession date; Bring the investments to an end in 2 years, since facilities concession date. 105

115 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Agriculture Manufacturing and assimilated Commerce Tourism Services Programmes must provide for an investment whose total is between ,00 and ,00 General plants (wiring, heating plant, air conditioning, alarm system, etc) Equipments and machines, furniture and control systems included Acquiring of software and patents Architecture works (including design and job direction expenses in the limit of 25% of total expense for plants, machines and equipments) Design and job direction expenses cannot exceed the 5% of architecture works expenses. Feasibility studies and business plans in the limit of 2% of the accepted investment cost. Expenses can be charged since the day after the company has sent its request. In case of company requiring the facility, even previous expenses are admitted. 106

116 Annex 1 - Dissemination - Italian Law 215/92 The procedure of selections happens by public notice. Facilities are allowed in the limit of the available resources, based on a sector divided ranking. The supply of contribution is going to be distributed in two phases: at first the company gets 30% of contribution and then 70% of it, respecting the development of the works. 107

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118 Annexes Annex 1 - Dissemination Anti-trafficking in Italy 109

119 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 110

120 Annex 1 - Dissemination - Anti-traffiking in Italy 111

121 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 112

122 Annexes Annex 1 - Dissemination Social Enterprises 113

123 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 114

124 Annex 1 - Dissemination - Social Enterprises 115

125 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 116

126 Annexes Annex 1 - Dissemination Female Enterprises in Lazio 117

127 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 118

128 Annex 1 - Dissemination - Female Enterprises in Lazio 119

129 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 120

130 Annex 1 - Dissemination - Female Enterprises in Lazio 121

131 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 122

132 Annexes Annex 1 - Dissemination Female Enterprises in Ile de France 123

133 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 124

134 Annex 1 - Dissemination - Female Enterprises in Ile de France 125

135 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 126

136 Part 4 - Annexes Annex 1 - Dissemination Corporate Social Responsibility 127

137 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 128

138 Annex 1 - Dissemination - Corporate Social Responsability 129

139 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 130

140 Annex 1 - Dissemination - Corporate Social Responsability 131

141 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 132

142 Annex 1 - Dissemination - Corporate Social Responsability 133

143 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 134

144 Annex 1 - Dissemination - Corporate Social Responsability 135

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146 Annexes Annex 2 - Mainstreaming Mainstreaming is defined as a process which enables activities to impact on policy and practice. This process includes identifying lessons, clarifying the innovative approach that produced the results, their dissemination, validation and transfer. It goes beyond dissemination since it represents the phase of transfer and the way in which other actors take account of the results, approaches and key elements elaborated by the DPs. To profitably transfer lessons learned and best practices identified along the two years of activity as well as to share information and raise awareness of the work carried out by the DPs members and of the results achieved, the transnational working group organized different workshops and meetings addressed both to national partners of the Project and to external audiences (local and public authorities, social operators, beneficiaries ). Workshops revealed to be not only an effective way to share expertise and experiences through networking and to present tangible outcomes and products but also a concrete opportunity to validate the innovative shared model identified by the working group through a process of mutual empowerment which involved both the DP members and the audience. Participants were directly stimulated and asked to provide suggestions and inputs on the basis of their personal 137

147 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report and working experience with the expressed objective of testing the sustainability and the transferability of the theoretical model from the project to practice. Hereunder the speeches delivered during a workshop held in Sviluppo Lazio premises are reported to provide a clear example of the dissemination and mainstreaming activities carried out. Between Welfare and Market by Stefano Marturini The Equal Project District Valley actually comprises two projects: a sectorial one and a geographical one. The subject is the same for both projects: the strengthening and the development of social cooperation. In the methodology we have chosen, we deemed useful to have an interaction between the projects to finalize them toward one of the common objectives of all communitarian projects, which is mainstreaming. Considering all the communitarian initiatives in the last fifteen years so also those preceding Equals it is clear how one of the crucial elements is the mainstreaming of the actions realized. A number of absolutely extraordinary projects were in fact realized, which lead to a great innovation in their sector of pertinence (which fundamentally was support of disadvantaged people) but in the majority of cases they remained pilot experiences, exemplar cases which never succeeded in translating in a real institutional culture of services. Equal tried to adopt a different approach: each project in order to be eligible had to present as a formalized partnership between public and private, this as a structural element to realize an effective mainstreaming and therefore to systemize the outcomes produced by the interventions. Nevertheless first results show us that also in this case mainstreaming is not working both at national level and, even to a larger extent, at transnational level. Bearing in mind this problem, for these projects, we tried at least to establish a strong relation between them to realize a horizontal mainstreaming between the two initiatives. Due to problems occurred in the startup phase, related with the change of some partners, we had to revise some actions and redefine the project, rejecting from the very beginning the idea of difficult and complicated attempts of carrying out a quantitative analysis of the phenomenon under exam, that is the social cooperation. We deemed interesting to set up a research since it is important to gather information on a sector, the social one, which for its nature is extremely heterogeneous and complex to be classified in terms of structures and models. Our research therefore focused its objectives and contents on some important issues pertaining social sector and 138

148 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming social cooperation, in particular. The first subject we analyzed concerned the organizational models. A social cooperative is and must be an enterprise from the economic point of view, meaning that it has to be sustainable, since, if not sustainable, it would fail in reaching its goals, that is job integration of disadvantaged people. Sustainability should therefore imply that a social cooperative is an enterprise able to act in the competitive market and as a consequence it should be structured according those organizational models suitable for any enterprise in order to be entrepreneurially successful. But it does not work like this for social cooperatives due to their intrinsic nature since their roots and their strength certainly do not lay in the economic and entrepreneurial culture: they start from different assumptions and present very heterogeneous structures. Our research tried to identify these organizational mechanisms, which are often implicit and spontaneous, by carrying out both a desk analysis and a feed one in order to have them structured and to evaluate how social enterprises (and social cooperatives in particular) interpret and use these different models. A second issue was related with social entrepreneur s competences. Social entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs in all respects but in the meantime they are also non-entrepreneurs in all respects, since they possess different and complementary competences. As we have already stated, it is true that the social cooperation is enterprise but despite this social entrepreneur s competences are not exactly like those belonging to traditional entrepreneurs since he requires some qualities and competences, often transversal ones, which are peculiar of social enterprises. It exists therefore a synthesis of competences which mix relational competences and traditionally entrepreneurial ones. We tried to understand in this heterogeneous universe if it were possible to identify some transversal and horizontal characteristics to elaborate a training profile for social entrepreneurs. A third point refers to the access to credit. Here I do not believe I have to spend many words mentioning all those situations almost ever rich in human capital but scarce in material and financial resources and with poor guarantees. And it is not only due to a resistance of credit operators in front of weak enterprises, as social cooperatives are, but it also depends by a lack of consciousness of the social entrepreneurs in terms of credit needs in order to carry out their activities. A further theme of research referred to spin-off models. We started considering the so-called Biagi Law and in particular its article 14, related to Law 68/99 (Law on Mandatory Employment of Disabled People). Article 14 envisages the possibility for an enterprise to pay to a social cooperative the salary of the disabled person that 139

149 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report should have been employed to respect the terms of the law in terms of training path and competences provision to be later employed in the enterprise. This article is extremely controversial both for associations and labour unions which debate on its opportunity and correctness, with serious motivations on both sides. We tried to examine the problem without being involved in this quarrel, not focusing a literal observance of article 14 (that is for the enterprise to employ a disabled person, to put him in a cooperative and pay for his salary and costs) but thinking to the possibility for the enterprise to externalize part of its productive activities according a spin-off model, through the establishment of a new enterprise and obtaining the result to have more disadvantaged people inserted in a productive system and to provide more opportunities of growth for social cooperation. We tried to understand how spin-off phenomena impact on the entrepreneurial world and we discovered that in Italy around 70% of the new firms originate from spin-off. Last part of the research was more focused on Lazio Region, which means on a specific territory of analysis, and referred to still existing problems affecting social cooperation, which we tried to solve or at least to open a discussion, through focus-groups, to organize services really able to provide answers and support to the identified needs. Outputs of both projects are training products: once understood which the organizational models are and to have them explicit and identified the typical professional profile of a social entrepreneur, we elaborated a training path that those working in the social cooperation sector might easily use. The other training proposal (currently implemented) gathers the social operators and banking operators in a joint training action to stimulate a mutual knowledge and foster the overcoming of some existing misunderstandings in order to establish a different relation between social cooperation and financial sphere. Testing at national level will be carried out in Foligno with the direct involvement of the Councillorship for Social Affairs. The other subject, also relevant, is in fact related with Law 328 which envisages the planning for geographic territories, defined as districts, of all social and support services. The law allows the provision of precise answers to specific needs directly identified and evidenced by disadvantaged people. In our opinion, as we stated at the very beginning during the project planning, the law itself is genial but in its implementation something is missing. What is missing? The entrepreneurial world is missing. If we are not able to create a link between social policies and local development policies and those dealing with social inclusion, there will always be something lagging behind and precisely those 140

150 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming people willing to become part of the labour market and their valorisation, that is job insertion policies. There we realized the so-called districts of the social economy, inserting our training path in regional policies. Why? Because we would have wanted, at least once, to concretize the mainstreaming process by supporting an institutional initiative, already strong and real, but unfortunately regional timing does not correspond to project timing. So we realized our B plan: an alliance with a consortium of social cooperatives (COIN) widespread at national level and comprising almost 70 of them and realize with them this joint training activity on the contents already mentioned. I do believe that the third sector represents a new and innovative model of development. There are a lot of thing at political and cultural level that can confirm this assumption. We have to remember some steps that determined real changes and epistemological break-ups in psychiatry, where everything started, that is its de-institutionalization. By considering this process three steps have to be underlined. First step occurred when a subside was given to patients: from simple beneficiaries of a service, they were given the possibility to pay for it and therefore they became consumers, people that in a sort of extent are part of the economic mechanisms. Second step was determined by their inclusion in the labour market, where they were transformed in producers, or, even better, in workers thus really involved in the community life. These two steps required years before being realized and lead to a change and an improvement also for social operators who had to manage the job inclusion of these disadvantaged people. This process brought to a correspondent development of organizational models: from simple mechanisms of welfare (subsidies) we went through the so-called community welfare (networks). Now, and it the last step to be achieved, through the social cooperation, we have to realize a real workfare. Why can social cooperation be considered a model of development? Because, out of the persisting problems to be faced, social cooperation is able to conjugate in the meantime productive mechanisms and welfare. Today in Italy it represents around 5% of the Gross National Product, 6% in the United States. If politicians and entrepreneurs will be able to understand the potential of social cooperation, thinking in strategic terms and not in tactical ones, then it is realistic believe that the third sector could represent a new model of development. Tra Stato e Mercato di Stefano Marturini Il Progetto Equal District Valley in realtà è composto da due progetti: 141

151 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report uno di carattere settoriale e uno di carattere geografico. Il tema trattato è lo stesso per entrambi i progetti: il rafforzamento e lo sviluppo della cooperazione sociale. Nella metodologia scelta abbiamo ritenuto opportuno far interagire i progetti tra di loro finalizzandoli a quello che è uno degli obiettivi più importanti, comune a tutti i progetti comunitari, il mainstreaming. Considerando le iniziative comunitarie degli ultimi quindici anni, quindi anche quelle precedenti agli Equal, si evince come uno degli elementi cruciali sia la messa a mainstreaming delle azioni realizzate. Sono, infatti, stati realizzati numerosi progetti assolutamente straordinari che hanno rinnovato molto all interno del settore di cui si occupavano, fondamentalmente dell aiuto alle fasce deboli, sia in termini di aiuto diretto che di interventi di sistema, ma nella maggioranza dei casi sono rimasti esperienze pilota, casi esemplari che non sono mai riusciti a tradursi davvero in una cultura istituzionale di servizi. Equal ha cercato di adottare un approccio diverso: ogni progetto per essere eleggibile doveva presentarsi come una partnership tra pubblico e privato formalizzata, questo come elemento strutturale per riuscire a rendere possibile il mainstreaming e quindi la messa a sistema dei risultati prodotti dagli interventi. I primi risultati ci dicono però che anche in questo caso il mainstreaming è fallimentare: lo è a livello nazionale e lo è a livello transnazionale, forse in misura ancora maggiore. Tenendo presente questo problema, riguardo ai due progetti in questione, abbiamo cercato almeno di metterli in relazione forte tra di loro per realizzare quantomeno un mainstreaming di carattere orizzontale tra le due iniziative. I problemi di avvio dei progetti, legati al cambiamento di alcuni partner, ci hanno portato a rielaborare le azioni e a reimpostare i progetti scartando fin dall inizio l idea di difficili e macchinosi tentavi di analisi quantitativa del fenomeno della cooperazione sociale. Abbiamo pertanto pensato di organizzare una ricerca perché è importante comunque assumere informazioni su questo settore che per sua natura è estremamente eterogeneo e sfugge a classificazioni che tendano a strutturare in termini di modello quanto viene fatto nel campo dell impresa sociale e della cooperazione sociale in particolare. La ricerca ha incentrato i suoi obiettivi e i suoi contenuti su alcune grandi tematiche relative alla cooperazione sociale. Il primo tema analizzato riguarda i modelli organizzativi. La cooperativa sociale è un impresa e deve essere un impresa dal punto di vista economico, ovvero deve essere sostenibile, perché senza la sostenibilità dell impresa, la cooperazione sociale fallisce nei suoi obiettivi che sono quelli di integrare al lavoro persone che vengono dalle fasce deboli. La sostenibilità do- 142

152 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming vrebbe quindi tradursi in un impresa capace di stare sul mercato e di conseguenza uniformarsi con tutti quei modelli organizzativi che le imprese normalmente richiedono per riuscire ad avere successo imprenditoriale. Non è così per la natura della cooperazione sociale: le radici dalle quali trae la sua forza, la cultura di intervento, non sono certamente nel mondo economico ed imprenditoriale; parte, infatti, da presupposti molto diversi e presenta una struttura molto eterogenea. La ricerca ha pertanto inteso identificare quelli che sono i meccanismi organizzativi, anche impliciti, ovvero quelli che spontaneamente si realizzano attorno al modello che la cooperazione sociale sviluppa. La ricerca di questi modelli organizzativi è realizzata sia attraverso un analisi di carattere desk che di carattere feed mira a strutturarli e a valutare in quale modo l impresa sociale (e le cooperative sociali in particolare) si appoggiano a questi modelli. Un secondo filone di ricerca riguarda le competenze dell imprenditore sociale. Si tratta di un imprenditore a tutti gli effetti ma anche di un non-imprenditore a tutti gli effetti, nel senso che racchiude in sé competenze diverse. È vero che la cooperazione sociale è impresa ma è anche vero che le competenze dell imprenditore sociale non si sovrappongono esattamente a quelle dell imprenditore tradizionale perché richiedono alcune qualità e alcune competenze, spesso di carattere trasversale, che sono peculiari dell impresa sociale, senza le quali la cooperazione sociale non riesce ad andare avanti. C è una sintesi di competenze che appartiene da una parte alle competenze di carattere relazionale e caratteristiche tipiche dell imprenditore tradizionale. Abbiamo quindi cercato di capire in questo universo eterogeneo se era possibile risalire a delle caratteristiche trasversali e orizzontali che consentissero di elaborare un profilo formativo per l imprenditore sociale. Un terzo punto è quello dell accesso al credito. In questa sede non credo di dover spendere tante parole in termini di accesso al credito menzionando le tante situazioni che sono quasi sempre a forte capitale umano e a scarsissimo capitale di altre risorse materiali e finanziarie con tutto il sistema di garanzie che è debole. Non è solo la resistenza del mondo del credito a fronte di aziende che sono deboli, si tratta anche, ragionando sul mondo delle cooperative sociali, di una mancata consapevolezza da parte degli operatori sociali di necessità di credito per portare avanti le attività. Un ulteriore argomento di ricerca ha riguardato i modelli di spin-off. Siamo partiti da un ragionamento molto preciso che trae i suoi argomenti dalla Legge Biagi e in particolare dall articolo 14 della Legge, legato alla Legge 68/99 (Legge sul collocamento obbligatorio dei disabili). Secondo l articolo 14 esiste la possibilità per un azien- 143

153 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report da di pagare alla cooperativa sociale lo stipendio della persona che si sarebbe dovuta assumere per rispettare l obbligo in termini di percorso formativo o di preparazione ulteriore di competenze per l ingresso in azienda. È un articolo estremamente controverso sia per le associazioni dei disabili che per i sindacati che dibattono in merito sua opportunità e correttezza, con motivazioni serie da entrambi i lati. Abbiamo pertanto cercato di affrontare la questione cercando di non entrare in questa conflittualità molto accesa con una nostra idea, ovvero non pensare tanto ad un osservanza letterale dell articolo 14 (l azienda prende un disabile, lo colloca in una cooperativa sociale e ne paga lo stipendio e i costi parcheggiandolo lì) ma piuttosto pensando magari ad esternalizzare parte delle proprie attività produttive secondo modelli di spin-off, attraverso la costruzione di una nuova impresa e ottenendo il risultato di integrare più persone in difficoltà all interno di un sistema produttivo e dando maggiori opportunità di crescita al mondo della cooperazione sociale. Siamo andati a cercare di capire cosa succede nel mondo imprenditoriale rispetto ai fenomeni di spin-off e abbiamo scoperto che il 70% circa delle imprese in Italia nasce da spin-off. L ultima parte è un analisi più centrata sulla Regione Lazio, quindi su un territorio ben specifico di analisi, e si propone di lavorare sui punti critici della cooperazione sociale, soprattutto attraverso focus-groups al fine di organizzare dei servizi che siano in grado di dare risposta e sostegno ai punti critici evidenziati. Da entrambi i progetti emergono dei veri e propri prodotti formativi: una volta che siamo riusciti a capire quali sono i modelli organizzativi e a renderli espliciti e che abbiamo identificato il profilo professionale tipico di un imprenditore sociale, abbiamo elaborato un pacchetto formativo utilizzabile da coloro che affrontano il mondo della cooperazione sociale. L altro pacchetto formativo (attualmente in corso) riunisce gli operatori della cooperazione sociale e gli operatori del credito in un azione formativa congiunta al fine di stimolare la reciproca conoscenza e favorire il superamento di alcune diffidenze e mancate consapevolezze per aprire una partita diversa del rapporto tra cooperazione sociale e mondo del credito. La sperimentazione livello nazionale sarà condotta a Foligno e vedrà la partecipazione diretta dell Assessorato alle Politiche Sociali. L altra idea abbastanza importante è, infatti, quella che attiene alla Legge 328 che prevede la pianificazione su territori geografici ben definiti in termini di distretti di tutti i servizi sociali e di sostegno. È una legge che consente di individualizzare sulla base dei bisogni evidenziati da persone che appartengono alle fasce deboli il tipo di risposte ai bisogni che vengono colti. Noi abbiamo sostenuto anche in sede di elaborazione 144

154 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming del progetto che la Legge 328 è geniale ma che nell applicazione manchi un pezzo. Quale pezzo manca? Manca il pezzo del mondo imprenditoriale. Perché se non si riesce a legare tra loro le politiche sociali e le politiche di sviluppo locali e di integrazione sociale è un lavoro che rischia sempre di rimanere monco mancando l ultimo pezzo, quello che riguarda chi deve inserirsi nel lavoro e la sua valorizzazione, ovvero le politiche di inserimento lavorativo. Lì abbiamo realizzato, dopo aver inseguito per mesi la Regione Lazio, quelli che vengono definiti i distretti dell economia solidale, ovvero inserire il nostro percorso formativo all interno della politica regionale. Perché? Per rendere una volta tanto concreto il processo di mainstreaming e quindi per finalizzare le risorse e sostenere una iniziativa istituzionale già forte e già presente ma purtroppo i tempi regionali non coincidono con i tempi del progetto. Quindi abbiamo messo in atto il piano B che è quello di stabilire un alleanza con un consorzio di cooperative sociali di livello nazionale (COIN) che ha associate circa una settantina di cooperative sociali e con loro facciamo questa azione congiunta di formazione dei cooperatori sociali sui contenuti di cui prima. Il terzo settore ritengo sia un modello di sviluppo nuovo ed innovativo. Ci sono molte cose di carattere politico e culturale che mi danno ragione. Ricordiamo alcuni passaggi che sono stati vere e proprie rotture epistemologiche nel mondo della psichiatria da cui tutto è partito, ovvero dalla de-istituzionalizzazione psichiatrica. Attraverso questo processo di superamento possiamo evidenziare almeno tre passaggi. Il primo passaggio è stato che agli utenti è stata riconosciuta una pensione: da semplici utenti di un servizio, è stato concesso loro di pagarlo e pertanto sono stati trasformati in consumatori, in persone che in qualche modo sono parte dei meccanismi dell economia. Il secondo passaggio si è avuto quando sono stati integrati attraverso il lavoro, trasformandoli da consumatori a produttori, o, come è più corretto dire, a lavoratori che quindi a pieno titolo partecipano alla vita della collettività. Questi due passaggi hanno richiesto anni per essere realizzati e hanno portato anche ad una crescita degli operatori sociali che hanno dovuto affrontare l inserimento lavorativo delle persone deboli. Ciò ha trovato un corrispondente sviluppo di adeguati modelli organizzativi: siamo passati da meccanismi semplici di puro welfare (sussidi) al cosiddetto community welfare (meccanismi di rete). Si tratta ora terzo ed ultimo passaggio, di realizzare, attraverso la cooperazione sociale, il workfare. Perché la cooperazione sociale può considerarsi un modello di sviluppo? Perché al di là dei tanti nodi critici che permangono, la cooperazione sociale riesce a coniugare meccanismi produttivi e welfare nella stessa soluzione. Oggi in Italia rappresenta circa il 145

155 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report 5% del Prodotto Interno Lordo, negli Stati Uniti il 6%. Se la classe politica e imprenditoriale riescono a capire in termini strategici e non tattici il valore della cooperazione sociale allora è realistico pensare che il terzo settore possa presentarsi come un nuovo modello di sviluppo. Social Balance as a New Tool of Corporate Information by Letizia Salemme In the course of time, corporate information of Italian companies improved both toward their external and internal background; this quantitative and quality improvement, in addition to a new awareness of social problems, must be considered a result of a decisional process at a strategic level, which is indented to create behavioural guidelines. Social balance was born just because a company needs to communicate its purpose, its own mission, its values. That s why already in 1993 Unipol Group Social Report and in 1994 State Railways Social Balance it was needed to explain what social balance information is representing and how much importance company assigned to this document. In fact, it is pointed out that as Social Balance is meant an account rendering model concerning quantity and quality of relationships between the company and the stakeholders representing the whole society, aiming to define an homogeneous, exact, complete and transparent picture of the complex interdependence among economic and socio-political factors concerning all corporate choices. Social Balance is a potentially extraordinary tool, it represents the authentication of an ethical profile, the element justifying an entity s role, not only in structural terms but mostly in moral terms in front of the referent society; it is an opportunity for emphasizing its own relationship with the territory, it is a chance for affirming the idea of the company as a good citizen, that is an economical entity who, by pursuing its own interest, will contribute to improve life quality of the members of the community, which it is part of. Company mission and its sharing are important elements for obtaining the consensus of its own customers, of its own staff and of public opinion. Therefore, it can be stated that the company social responsibility feeling starts in the wealth distribution moment, occurring in an economical system focusing change, operators concerted action and information. This is the activity domain of social cooperative companies, which, as collective companies, do assign a very strong importance to social responsibility to the extent of including it 146

156 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming among social aims to pursue. However, it could not be different, considering that such responsibility is taken on when company organization is tending to an interaction with the environment and with the external entities; in fact, since the cooperative company considers stakeholders support as a necessary element, it is esteemed of fundamental importance trying to satisfy demands coming from discussion with stakeholders. Therefore, social balance is an information tool, which is useful to all stakeholders toward cooperative company, but it can be considered also an effective placement tool for all people wanting to produce it within the cooperative company. Considering that social balance is also a dissemination tool of business culture and it was emerging as a report of company role in its external and internal background, it is needed to point out that an element strongly conditioning its achievement is the lack of a writing standard pattern. All companies, which edited this document, have personalized its content and composition. That s the reason for presenting within Equal project District valley a practice manual explaining the organization procedures for editing this document, and to organize an educational event, to whom all Lazio social cooperative companies interested to this argument could take part for investigating all subjects mentioned in the practice manual. Besides the investigation on social balance writing methods, in this manual it will be shown a specimen which can be adopted by social cooperative companies, provided with examples and abstracts of social balances already edited by other companies. Proteo Spa carried on a small survey within social cooperative companies of A type (those aiming the pursue of public interest for human improvement and for citizens social integration through the management of educational and social-sanitary services), of B type (those aiming as well the pursue of public interest for human improvement and for citizens social integration, but carrying on different activities agriculture, industry, trade, services- which are targeted to the placement of disadvantaged people), within integrated social cooperative companies (carrying on both type A and type B activities) and within a syndicate of social cooperative companies in Lazio. This survey pointed out that most of these cooperative companies would intend to edit social balance because it is felt as an efficient tool for communicating their own values, but till now they did not presented any such document for lack of information and lack of capability to report about company social responsibility. Through District Valley Equal Project it will be tried to give a theoretical and organizational input to these 147

157 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report companies in Lazio, trying to provide means for communicating their values and their nature of social company. In such way, it will be shown that social company purpose is also caring for everyone coming in a relationship with it, considering a future larger participation of citizens and of whole community to the achievement of common targets, which are not necessarily of an economical nature (environment defence, improvement of human resources relationship, consumer direct relationship, incentives to a greater interest for art and culture, and so on). This project is aimed to increase the number of social cooperative companies which are interested in creating organizational rules for the right use of information tools reporting analysis and reports about mutual function between economical and social aspects. Reputation and image acquired by a company in the social and economical context in which it is acting are fundamental for determining its strategies. In fact, if a company is able to communicate all necessary information to obtain a competitive gain in social field, it is surely able to properly communicate with its interlocutors. Partners have a strongly positive perception about the organization and they consent to a freely accepted code of behaviour, whose drafting they were directly involved in. The company culture meant as an open system must be read considering four factors: Legitimation: there must be a correspondence between environmental rules and values; Efficiency: company must be able to satisfy expectations of the different company interlocutors who control its strategies and behaviours and provide for resources (material, financial resources, etc.); Appreciation: members should be emotionally involved in the organization (loyalty feeling, active participation at all levels, etc.); Utility: company must be capable to satisfy needs and personal interests of group members. But which are the rules that a social balance should follow for it could be regarded as correct and truthful from an information point of view? Since social balance is a document containing quality and quantity references, it is necessary that it will observe both ordinary accounting rules as well as all those rules, whose observation will improve a wider reliability of such a document. Principles to consider are: Social balance utility for receivers; Qualitative and quantitative information integrity; Comprehensibility and clearness; Neutrality and impartiality; Prudence principle; Comparability; Homogeneity; Continuity and methodology implementation both in the accounting 148

158 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming report as well as in the accounting principles and assessment criteria; Competence principle; Significance and prominence of reported data; Cost as basic assessment criteria; Social balance writing procedure in accordance with right accounting principles; Information verification. It is to underline that reliability and transparency of information supply to stakeholders are included among company responsibility toward social context and, furthermore, a company can be considered innovative, competitive and socially useful only if it can demonstrate: Seriousness and managing efficiency; Credibility; Reliability and transparency; Confidence and loyalty feeling; Active participation to community improvement. Coming back to social balance, we should point out that it has not a typically economical content and it appears easily readable for every recipients, but it could not be regarded as a reliable tool if reported information is not subject to a right selection, made accordingly to its significance and relevance. In fact, it should be impartial, scientific, neutral, verifiable and evident and its intelligibility and readability should be consequence of explaining annotations, schedules, graphics and diagrams, which must be included in this document. In social balance too, the basic assessment criteria is represented by operational cost, so that it can be maintained the relationship between social balance quantity references and the accounting data of the annual financial report. In conclusion, it can be stated that social cooperative company is the most qualified entity for adopting social balance as an information tool about its mission because, as it already emerged with an activity orientation to partners and consumers satisfaction, through social balance it can succeed in naturally according the financial report accounting reality with the social reality. In other words, by editing social balance, cooperative company finally succeeds in leaving the typically economic--social company conception, manifesting the socio-economical conception, which is surely more suitable with its nature. Il bilancio sociale quale nuovo strumento di informazione societaria di Letizia Salemme L informazione societaria delle imprese italiane con il trascorrere degli anni è migliorata sia verso l ambiente esterno che verso l ambiente interno; il mi- 149

159 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report glioramento qualitativo e quantitativo, oltre ad essere conseguenza della presa di coscienza delle problematiche sociali, deve ritenersi il risultato di un processo decisionale a livello strategico rivolto alla creazione di linee guida comportamentali. Il bilancio sociale nasce proprio perché l impresa sente il bisogno di comunicare lo scopo del proprio esistere, la propria missione, i propri valori. Ed ecco che già nel rapporto sociale 1993 del Gruppo Unipol e nel bilancio sociale redatto nel 1994 dalle Ferrovie dello Stato si sente la necessità di spiegare cosa rappresenta l informazione contenuta nel bilancio sociale e quanta importanza l impresa attribuisce a questo documento. Si evidenzia infatti che per bilancio sociale si intende un modello di rendicontazione sulle quantità e sulle qualità di relazione tra l impresa e gli stakeholders rappresentativi dell intera collettività, che mira a delineare un quadro omogeneo, puntuale, completo e trasparente della complessa interdipendenza tra i fattori economici e quelli socio-politici connaturati e conseguenti alle scelte d impresa. Il bilancio sociale è uno strumento potenzialmente straordinario, rappresenta infatti la certificazione di un profilo etico, l elemento che legittima il ruolo di un soggetto, non solo in termini strutturali ma soprattutto morali, agli occhi della comunità di riferimento, un momento per enfatizzare il proprio legame con il territorio, una occasione per affermare il concetto di impresa come buon cittadino, cioè un soggetto economico che perseguendo il proprio interesse prevalente contribuisce a migliorare la qualità della vita dei membri della società in cui è inserito. La missione aziendale e la sua condivisione sono elementi importanti per avere il consenso della clientela, del proprio personale, dell opinione pubblica. Si può quindi affermare che il sentirsi socialmente responsabile dell impresa nasce nel momento della distribuzione della ricchezza che avviene in un sistema economico centrato sul cambiamento, sulla concertazione dei propri operatori e sull informazione. E questo l ambito di attività delle società cooperative sociali che, in quanto imprese collettive, attribuiscono una importanza estrema alla responsabilità sociale al punto di inserirla tra gli scopi sociali da perseguire. Per altro non potrebbe accadere diversamente visto che tale responsabilità viene fatta propria quando l organizzazione aziendale propende all interazione con l ambiente nonché con i soggetti esterni alla stessa; la cooperativa infatti considerando elemento indispensabile il sostegno degli stakeholders, ritiene di fondamentale importanza cercare di soddisfare le esigenze che emergono in sede di dialogo con gli stessi. Il bilancio sociale quindi è uno strumento di informazione utile a tutti i soggetti portatori di interessi nei confronti della cooperativa, ma può esse- 150

160 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming re considerato anche un valido mezzo di inserimento lavorativo per tutti quei soggetti che all interno della cooperativa sociale vogliano realizzarlo. Tenuto conto che il bilancio sociale è anche uno strumento di divulgazione della cultura d impresa e che nasce come rendiconto del ruolo che l impresa svolge nel suo ambiente (interno od esterno che sia), occorre rilevare che un elemento che ne condiziona problematicamente la rappresentazione è costituito dall assenza di un modello standard di redazione; tutte le imprese che hanno redatto questo documento ne hanno personalizzato la composizione ed il contenuto. Ecco la volontà di presentare nell ambito del Progetto Equal District Valley un manuale esplicativo delle procedure organizzative per la predisposizione di questo documento e di organizzare un evento formativo al quale tutte le cooperative sociali della Regione Lazio interessate all argomento possano partecipare per approfondire le tematiche trattate nel manuale stesso. Nel manuale, oltre ad approfondire le metodiche redazionali del bilancio sociale, si presenterà un fac-simile di modello (non esistendo ad oggi un modello predefinito) che le cooperative sociali possono utilizzare, corredato da esempi ed estratti di bilanci sociali già pubblicati da altre società. E stato svolto da Proteo s.p.a. un piccolo sondaggio nell ambito delle cooperative sociali di tipo A (che hanno lo scopo di perseguire l interesse generale della comunità alla promozione umana e all integrazione sociale dei cittadini attraverso la gestione dei servizi socio-sanitari ed educativi), di tipo B (che hanno sempre lo scopo di perseguire l interesse generale della comunità alla promozione umana e all integrazione sociale dei cittadini, ma attraverso lo svolgimento di attività diverse agricole, industriali, commerciali o di servizi finalizzate all inserimento lavorativo di persone svantaggiate), integrate (che svolgono le attività sia di tipo A che di tipo B) e nell ambito di un consorzio di cooperative sociali nel Lazio. Il sondaggio ha rilevato che la maggior parte di queste cooperative avrebbe intenzione di redigere il bilancio sociale perché avvertito come efficace strumento di comunicazione dei propri valori, ma ad oggi non ha prodotto alcun documento in tal senso in mancanza di informazione e di competenze utili a relazionare in merito alla responsabilità sociale di impresa. Con il Progetto Equal District Valley si cercherà quindi di dare un input teorico ed organizzativo a questi sodalizi laziali cercando di fornire i mezzi per dar loro la possibilità di comunicare la propria missione e la propria natura di impresa sociale. Si evidenzierà in tal modo che lo scopo della cooperativa sociale è anche quello di occuparsi del benessere di chiunque entri in relazione con essa, in vista di un possibile allargamento 151

161 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report della partecipazione dei cittadini, e quindi della comunità, alla realizzazione di obiettivi comuni non necessariamente di carattere economico (rispetto dell ambiente, miglioramento del rapporto con le risorse umane, rapporto diretto con il consumatore, incentivi ad un interesse maggiore alla cultura ed all arte, ecc...). Tale iniziativa è volta ad incrementare il numero di imprese cooperative sociali interessate alla produzione di regole organizzative volte al corretto utilizzo degli strumenti informativi contenenti analisi e relazioni sulla reciproca funzionalità tra aspetti economici e sociali. L immagine e la reputazione che l impresa acquisisce nel contesto sociale ed economico in cui opera sono essenziali per la determinazione delle proprie strategie. Se infatti l impresa riesce a comunicare tutte le informazioni che sono necessarie per assumere un vantaggio competitivo in tema sociale, è sicuramente in grado di comunicare correttamente con i propri interlocutori. I soci hanno una percezione molto positiva dell organizzazione ed aderiscono ad un codice di comportamento liberamente accettato e alla cui redazione hanno direttamente partecipato. La corrispondente cultura di impresa intesa come sistema aperto deve essere letta considerando quattro fattori: la legittimazione: deve sussistere una corrispondenza tra norme e va- lori dell ambiente; l efficienza: l impresa deve essere capace di soddisfare le aspettative dei vari interlocutori aziendali controllori delle sue strategie e dei suoi comportamenti e fornitori di risorse (finanziarie, materiali, ecc...); l apprezzamento: i membri devono essere emozionalmente legati all organizzazione (sentimento di lealtà, partecipazione attiva a tutti i livelli, ecc...); l utilità: l impresa deve essere efficace nel consentire la soddisfazione dei bisogni e degli interessi personali dei membri del gruppo. Ma quali dettami deve seguire un bilancio sociale che possa ritenersi corretto e veritiero da un punto di vista informativo? Essendo il bilancio sociale un documento che contiene riferimenti qualitativi e quantitativi, è necessario che rispetti sia i principi contabili generali che tutte quelle regole il cui rispetto favorisce la maggiore attendibilità di tale documento. I principi da considerare sono: utilità del bilancio sociale per i destinatari; completezza dell informazione sia quantitativa che qualitativa; comprensibilità e chiarezza; neutralità o imparzialità; principio della prudenza; comparabilità; omogeneità; continuità e applicazione delle metodologie utilizzate sia nella rappresentazione contabile che nei principi 152

162 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming contabili e nei criteri di valutazione; principio della competenza; significatività e rilevanza delle notizie presentate; il costo come criterio base delle valutazioni; conformità del procedimento di formazione del bilancio sociale ai corretti principi contabili; verificabilità dell informazione. E da sottolineare che l attendibilità e la trasparenza nel fornire informazioni agli stakeholders rientrano tra le responsabilità dell azienda verso il contesto sociale e poi un azienda è da considerarsi innovativa, competitiva e socialmente utile solo se dimostra: serietà ed efficienza gestionale; credibilità; affidabilità e trasparenza; senso di fiducia e di lealtà; partecipazione attiva allo sviluppo della collettività. Tornando al nostro bilancio sociale, dobbiamo evidenziare che non ha un contenuto prettamente economico e si presenta di facile lettura per qualunque destinatario, ma rischia di non essere considerato uno strumento attendibile se le informazioni in esso contenute non sono assoggettabili ad una possibile selezione da effettuarsi in base alla loro significatività e rilevanza. Esse infatti devono essere obiettive, razionali, neutrali, attendibili, verificabili ed evidenti e la loro comprensibilità e leggibilità è conseguente a note esplicative, tabelle, grafici e diagrammi che devono essere contenuti in questo documento. Anche nel bilancio sociale il criterio base per le valutazioni è rappresentato dal costo specifico in modo che si possa mantenere un collegamento tra i riferimenti quantitativi del bilancio sociale ed i dati contabili del bilancio di esercizio. Concludendo, non si può che asserire che la cooperativa sociale è il soggetto più idoneo ad adottare il bilancio sociale come mezzo di informazione della propria missione perché nascendo già con un orientamento della propria attività rivolta al soddisfacimento dei soci e dei fruitori dei servizi dalla stessa forniti, con il bilancio sociale riesce a conciliare spontaneamente la realtà oggettiva-contabile data dal bilancio di esercizio con la realtà sociale; la cooperativa redigendo il bilancio sociale riesce cioè ad abbandonare la concezione prettamente economicosociale dell impresa esplicitando quella socio-economica che sicuramente è più consona alla propria natura. CSR as an Opportunity for Women-led Social Enterprises by Anna Lucic In this second part of the Workshop I and Ms. Neveu will present the transnational component of the Equal 153

163 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Project District Valley which involves for the Italian side the DP District Valley represented by Intesa Formazione and Proteo and for the French side the DP Longue Marche here represented by Luego. I will try to provide you with a comprehensive picture of the process we followed during the transnational meetings we have carried out so far in Paris, of the objectives we have stated and the modalities we have chosen to realize them, starting from the TCA that was a sort of compass guiding us in these months way. In the meantime I will more specifically concentrate on the analysis of the regional context we examined, the one of Lazio Region, while data referred to French situation will be afterwards detailed by Ms. Neveu. The Alternative Entrepreneurship Project, which is the name of the transnational project, according to TCA terms, should have been focused on business creation for disadvantaged people with inadequate or insufficient entrepreneurial competences and skills and as a consequence it envisaged the realization of a set of training and technical assistance interventions aimed at helping and supporting these people in starting and developing their own business activity. It was an indisputably ambitious objective but there was the concrete risk of overlapping with other similar initiatives already successfully put in action and carried out by national and regional entities, Chambers of Commerce or entrepreneurial associations and organisations dealing with job inclusion of disadvantaged people in the labour market. Thus maintaining the final aim of the project, we decided to face the subject in a more critical perspective trying to identify and highlight methodological approaches which might be considered innovative, also considering that employment and social policies were on the top of governmental agendas both Italy and France and at European level in general, since EU objective for the decade is to become the most competitive and dynamic knowledge-based economy in the world capable of sustainable economic growth with more and better jobs and greater social cohesion (European Council, Lisbon, March 2000). This theoretical statement is translated into practice by a model which integrates economic and social policies and has its core pivoted around entrepreneurship and obviously small and medium enterprises. To better understand the logic followed during the project, the target of beneficiaries deserves a few words of specification. TCA did not identify a precise category of subjects to whom address the intervention but, since the French national project was focused on job insertion of trafficked women, we decided to concentrate on policies promoting female entrepreneurship 154

164 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming with specific reference to immigrant women that for their condition are in a lot of cases doubly disadvantaged. Anyway, in order to be able to define practices and training paths applicable for both Countries, we started by conducting a thorough analysis of the communitarian policies on matter of labour and inclusion which provide directives to the different member States to avoid the risk of fossilizing on national peculiarities of the respective labour markets. Once identified common guidelines, we went through a detailed examination of the local economic situation and of the initiatives to promote entrepreneurship carried out both at national and regional level in the two Countries. According to 2005 Censis data, women are nowadays protagonists of the occupational growth of Lazio Region: the most relevant increase of pink enterprises in Italy occurred in Lazio (+3,21% as to 2004) and Rome counts the highest number of women entrepreneurs in Italy (42.501). Among the distinctive features of this phenomenon we registered an increase in the number of joint-stock companies, a growth of female leadership inside enterprises, a higher entrepreneurial dynamism (birth-rate +10% versus +7,2% of non-female enterprises). The spirit of initiative shown by foreign women entrepreneurs is also notable: nowadays they are 1857 and in five years they have doubled their presence on the regional territory. As far as sectors are concerned, services represent the main domain of development of female entrepreneurship and, although they are an extremely articulated reality, the role of protagonist is played by commerce and social services (which are the sector with the highest rate of feminization with 47,6% of enterprises managed by women). Aspiring entrepreneurs, a steadily growing universe of women willing to start their own activity, also deserve a special mention. According to data provided by BIC Lazio related to applications received to benefit for funds disbursed under law 215/92 provisions, their number showed an increase of +71% and considering only Rome province the datum is even more impressive, +87,3%. 49,2% of the applications presented was then financed. These data are positive and undoubtedly encouraging but contextualized in the global labour market they show however the limits of female entrepreneurship: although women represent 43,6% of the regional working force, female enterprises are only 24,7% of the total. This shows therefore the existence of specific peculiarities in the difficulties women have to face in starting-up a business, in acceding to services, in the set-up of the enterprise structure that inevitably have repercussions on 155

165 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report all the other elements that influence the enterprise future development. Furthermore female enterprises are usually smaller and less rooted in the territory. In the final extent it must be added to this picture foreign women s particular difficulties in terms of knowledge of Italian language, acknowledgement of the educational qualification obtained in their Country and obtainment of a residential permit. It is even not worth not to take into consideration figures recently published by the European Commission stating that the enterprises death-rate in their first five years of activity is set around 50%. Nevertheless it is not disputable and in fact is evident the existence of a number of entities, at institutional level and not, which provide services and consultancy for enterprises, especially for small and medium ones. In particular, I m thinking to Chamber of Commerce desks, some really specialized on specific targets as women or immigrants willing to become entrepreneurs, organisations like Sviluppo Lazio and Proteo, business incubators and thousand of other entities totally devoted to this subject. The question we then asked ourselves was: what could we do that has not been yet done? How to define training paths to promote entrepreneurship without incurring in an easy replication of already existing initiatives? And so why don t simply try to integrate already profitable actions in order to foster the results they achieved? Therefore, stated that we were not building in the desert, we carried out an extensive analysis of the interventions already realized to identify and highlight the still existing problems to be solved with a specific focus on our target of reference. Most common problems refer to an excessive diversification and inelasticity of the incentives, a lack of coordination among the different actors involved and in start-up instruments, spread of illusions and false myths on enterprise start-up and consolidation process, entrepreneurs wariness and resistance in asking for support and training, high cost of consultancy services, difficulties in applying and obtaining loans, mismanagement of financial resources and last but not least problems related with communication and marketing abilities. If these obstacles could be considered as typical of the business creation process since they might be faced by everybody who is preparing himself to embark on an entrepreneurial activity; there are some other specifically linked with the disadvantaged condition of the subjects in exam: potential entrepreneurs lack of awareness and professional knowledge, lack of basic entrepreneurial culture referred both at the start-up and the further management phases, lack of information or however difficulties in acceding to tools and organizations providing support for entrepreneurs. 156

166 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming Moreover considering the target we are dealing with, it is fundamental to acknowledge that the decision of creating a business depends on logics and motivations unlike from those applied by a traditional entrepreneur. An enterprise is established not only to grant a better allocation to available economic resources but also because there is a clear difficulty in entering the labour market or to solve a needy situation by undertaking a self-affirmation process. Accepted these preliminary remarks, it follows as a consequence that the process of business creation might require a longer time, in some case it might last even 5 years. To avoid the risk that it turns into an economical failure but also a social one (with repercussions that often involve relatives and employees too), we have to consider or better to reconsider the support offered to the aspiring entrepreneur to made it as continuous and non-fragmented as possible, laying the foundations for and assistance which overcomes the limits of the start-up phase by continuing even afterwards for the entire duration of the entrepreneurial experience. In other words, we deem essential to provide a support which tells the untold about business creation: to strive to offer a picture more adherent to reality, to go beyond the logic of a purely technical support, which is for sure indispensable and fundamental, to tackle themes inherent to entrepreneur s personal expectations, motivations and intentions, to the inner associative and relational sphere of the enterprise and to the role that each component of the enterprise will play. This envisages, at practical level, the necessity of proposing a range of highly specialized and personalized training products and courses but even implies the adoption of a different interpretative paradigm of the enterprise. It means that the enterprise should be considered either as an economic subject and as a process of social activation characterized by psychological, social and relational dynamics as much evident as the enterprise, especially if micro or small, coincides with the entrepreneur who created it. This convincement lead to a series of attitudes that may be translated in tailored, constant and customized training and consultancy activities to be integrated and coordinated with activities of entrepreneurship promotion that, as already mentioned, are successfully implemented by institutional and non-institutional organisations. This sort of continuous flanking will foster, as a not secondary effect, the development of informal networks where all the subjects will be directly involved thus contributing to a further and more incisive rooting of the enterprise culture in the regional territory. When it came the time to define an entity able to provide all these mentioned additional services, to decline the business logics in a relational view 157

167 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report and to offer support to disadvantaged people in their job insertion process, social enterprise appeared to be as a choice almost obliged due to its specific features, to its provision of services with a high degree of praiseworthiness (that is services not economically convenient for any other enterprise), to its capability in discriminating on prices (letting everybody pay the amount they can afford) and to employ disadvantaged people which in our case could benefit of a sort of indirect training-on-the-job being the social enterprise itself in the end an entrepreneurial subject. The problem we had then to face was the classical problem affecting most of social enterprises: the economic sustainability of their activities. In fact, even considering the possibility to stipulate agreements with local authorities and to gain financings offered both by public institutions or banks, the social enterprise has to envisage activities or services that allow income creation. Stated that the actions in favour of job insertion of disadvantaged people are not provided under market conditions, the social enterprise has to be able to identify a range of services to be proposed at competitive prices that generate virtuous processes of self-sustainability. In our opinion an applicable modality, as per European directives on business development and corporate social responsibility promotion with specific reference to the adoption of CSR practices in small and medium enterprises, could be the identification of areas and sectors of the profit entrepreneurial scenario that, with opportune mediations, could benefit from services/supplies offered by social enterprises and based on market logics. The attention recently shown by the private sector on social and environmental issues finds its application in the adoption of socially responsible behaviours which also comprise the concrete use of a set of specific tools (as ethical codes, social statement, environmental and social certifications ) to evaluate them. The new Italian Law on Social Enterprises (LD March 24th, 2006, n. 155) envisages the duty of presenting a social statement for social enterprises. At European and national level a strong pressure is exerted in order to have social enterprises starting certification processes especially as far as quality of services and products is concerned. Internally, social enterprises are ruled according to a democratic governance system where all members have the right to actively participate in the decisional management processes. Externally, as already mentioned, the territorial rooting allows the social enterprise to offer models of sustainable development and socially compatible. All these factors in a non-defined or non-conscious way correspond to logics which are proper of corporate social responsibility. 158

168 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming Against a still outstanding need of small and medium enterprises concerning the adoption of socially responsible practices also in consideration of the costs it implies (it almost unbearable the possibility for a small enterprise to pay for a CSR manager ) conversely there is an existing but unexpressed know-how (in terms of economic advantage) of social enterprises on the same issues. In conclusion, we have therefore to guide and structure, through a professionalizing training these potentialities transforming them in services that the social enterprises could offer to the private ones; that is developing new synergies to combine these new needs of profit enterprises and assure in the meanwhile a financial sustainability for social enterprises. La CSR come opportunità per le imprese sociali femminili di Anna Lucic In questa seconda parte della mattinata sarà compito mio e di Catherine Neveu presentarvi la componente transnazionale del progetto Equal District Valley che ha visto coinvolti per parte italiana il consorzio District Valley rappresentato da Intesa Formazione e Proteo e per parte francese il consorzio Longue Marche rappresentato da Luego. Cercherò di conseguenza di fornirvi un quadro complessivo del percorso che abbiamo seguito nel corso degli incontri transnazionali che finora abbiamo tenuto a Parigi, degli obiettivi che ci siamo posti e delle modalità che abbiamo scelto per concretizzarli a partire dalla TCA che è stata un po la bussola che ci ha guidato nel cammino di questi mesi. Al contempo mi soffermerò sull analisi del contesto regionale che abbiamo preso in esame, quello della Regione Lazio, mentre per quanto concerne i dati relativi alla situazione francese vi saranno di seguito presentati da Catherine. Il progetto Alternative Entrepreneurship, che è il nome del progetto transazionale, nei termini previsti dalla TCA doveva focalizzarsi sulla creazione di impresa per soggetti svantaggiati non in possesso di adeguate o sufficienti conoscenze in campo imprenditoriale e di conseguenza prevedeva l approntamento di una serie di interventi di formazione, training e consulenza allo scopo di mettere in condizione questi soggetti di avviare e sviluppare una loro attività di business. Un obiettivo indubbiamente ambizioso ma che rischiava di andare semplicemente a sovrapporsi o a confondersi ad altre iniziative simili già messe in campo e realizzate con successo da enti nazionali, regionali, Camere di Commercio o associazioni imprendi- 159

169 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report toriali e organizzazioni che da sempre si occupano di inserimento di soggetti svantaggiati nel mondo del lavoro. Fatto salvo l obiettivo finale dell intervento abbiamo quindi scelto di sviluppare l argomento in modo più critico cercando di soffermarci e di evidenziare quelle che potessero essere modalità innovative di approccio, alla luce soprattutto del fatto che sia in Italia che in Francia e a livello europeo in generale in questi ultimi anni molto è stato realizzato a livello di politiche attive del lavoro e di inclusione sociale anche in considerazione dell obiettivo che l Unione Europea si è posta per il decennio di fare dell Europa l economia basata sulla conoscenza più competitiva e dinamica del mondo, in grado di realizzare una crescita economica sostenibile con nuovi e migliori posti di lavoro e una maggiore coesione sociale. Ciò si traduce nella pratica nella proposta di un modello di integrazione tra politiche di sviluppo economico e politiche di integrazione sociale che ha come nucleo l imprenditorialità e naturalmente la piccola e media impresa. Una nota di precisazione, utile a comprendere il lavoro da noi svolto, merita il target di utenza da noi selezionato per il progetto. La TCA non identificava una categoria precisa di soggetti a cui rivolgere l intervento ma dal momento che il progetto nazionale francese era incentrato sul recupero lavorativo delle donne vittime di tratta abbiamo scelto di concentrarci sulle politiche di promozione dell imprenditoria femminile con particolare riferimento all inclusione delle donne immigrate che per la loro condizione in molti casi si casi si trovano ad essere doppiamente svantaggiate. In ogni caso, trovandoci a dover identificare delle prassi e dei percorsi formativi che potessero essere applicabili nei due Paesi abbiamo in primis condotto un attenta analisi delle politiche comunitarie in tema di occupazione e inclusione che forniscono le direttive ai diversi Stati nazionali onde ovviare il rischio di fossilizzarci su peculiarità nazionali dei rispettivi mercati del lavoro. Identificate linee guida comuni, siamo passati ad un esame dettagliato della situazione economica locale e delle politiche di incentivazione all imprenditoria promosse tanto a livello nazionale che regionale nei due Paesi. Stando ai dati forniti dal Censis relativi all anno 2005 le donne risultano ormai essere protagoniste della crescita occupazionale della Regione Lazio: l incremento più significativo di imprese rosa si è avuto infatti in Lazio (con un +3,21% rispetto al 2004) mentre la città di Roma conta il maggior numero di imprenditrici d Italia (42.501). Tra le caratteristiche distintive di questo fenomeno si rileva innanzitutto un aumento di forme di impresa più solide con un incremento delle imprese di capitali rispetto alle società di persone e delle imprese individuali, una 160

170 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming crescita della leadership femminile all interno dell impresa, un elevato dinamismo imprenditoriale (+10% come tasso di natalità contro un 7,2% di quelle non femminili). Un altro dato degno di nota è la dinamicità mostrata dalle imprenditrici straniere che hanno registrato un saldo di 1857 unità, raddoppiando in cinque anni la loro presenza sul territorio regionale. Rispetto ai settori di attività, i servizi rappresentano il principale ambito di sviluppo dell imprenditoria femminile e, pur presentandosi come una realtà estremamente articolata al proprio interno, la parte del leone viene giocata dal commercio e dal terziario sociale (che costituisce in assoluto il settore a più alto tasso di femminizzazione con il 46,7% delle imprese guidato da donne). Un discorso a parte meritano infine le aspiranti imprenditrici, un universo sempre più numeroso di donne che ambiscono ad avviare un attività in proprio, e che alcuni dati forniti da BIC Lazio sulle domande di finanziamento ex legge 215/92 consentono di tratteggiare con qualche ulteriore dettaglio. Se si guarda al trend, tra il 2002 (IV bando) e il 2005 (V bando) il numero delle domande presentate ed ammesse in graduatoria a livello regionale è cresciuto del 71% e se si considera la sola provincia di Roma la crescita è ancora più rilevante: +87,3%. Di queste il 49,2% è stato ammesso a finanziamento. Dati positivi e senz altro incoraggianti ma che contestualizzati nel mercato generale del lavoro mostrano comunque i limiti dell imprenditoria femminile: a fronte del fatto che il 43,6% della forza occupazionale regionale sia costituto da donne, le imprese femminili sono solo il 24,7% del totale. Si evidenzia di conseguenza una difficoltà tutta specifica nell avvio d impresa, nell accesso ai servizi, nel carattere della scelta imprenditoriale che finisce inevitabilmente per ripercuotersi sui tanti elementi che incidono sullo sviluppo futuro dell impresa. Le imprese femminili inoltre si caratterizzano in generale per essere più piccole e meno radicate sul territorio. A ciò si devono sommare quelle difficoltà peculiari incontrate dalle donne straniere in termini di conoscenza della lingua italiana, riconoscimento del titolo di studio ottenuto nel Paese d origine e permesso di soggiorno. Non si può inoltre neppure prescindere dalle stime pubblicate di recente dalla Commissione Europea che evidenziano come il tasso di mortalità delle imprese nei primi cinque anni di vita si aggiri intorno al 50%. Tuttavia non si può negare, ed anzi è evidente, l esistenza di molteplici organismi, che a livello istituzionale e non, forniscono servizi e consulenza in materia di start-up e in generale di servizi alle imprese soprattutto alle medie e piccole. Nello specifico penso agli sportelli per le imprese delle Camere 161

171 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report di Commercio, alcuni dei quali specializzati in consulenze per le donne e per gli immigrati che vogliono avvicinarsi al mondo imprenditoriale, a soggetti come gli stessi Sviluppo Lazio e Proteo, agli incubatori di impresa, alle mille entità che sul territorio nazionale e locale sono costantemente attivati a tal fine. La domanda che quindi ci siamo posti è stata: cosa si può fare che non sia già stato fatto? Come proporre percorsi formativi di promozione all imprenditorialità senza scadere nella replica di attività importanti già in essere? E quindi perché più semplicemente non limitarsi, se di limitazione si può parlare, ad integrare azioni già di per sé proficue in modo da incentivarne ulteriormente i risultati? Posto che non stiamo costruendo nel deserto, abbiamo perciò cercato di analizzare le azioni già in essere focalizzandoci su quelle che possono essere considerate problematiche ancora esistenti soprattutto in considerazione del nostro target di riferimento. Tra le criticità individuate troviamo: l eccessiva diversificazione e rigidità degli incentivi, lo scarso coordinamento tra i diversi attori e strumenti di avvio e gestione imprenditoriale, la diffusione di facili illusioni e falsi miti sul processo di avvio e di consolidamento d impresa, la diffidenza e la resistenza dell imprenditore a cercare sostegno e formazione, i costi della consulenza e del sostegno, le difficoltà di accesso al credito e gli errori nella gestione delle risorse finanziarie e in ultimo ma non meno rilevante le difficoltà legate alla capacità di comunicazione e costruzione di un immagine di impresa all esterno. Se queste problematiche possono essere considerate tipiche del processo di creazione di impresa nel senso che sono condivisibili da chiunque si appresti ad intraprendere un attività imprenditoriale, ve ne sono altre specificamente afferenti alla situazione di svantaggio dei soggetti in esame: la scarsa consapevolezza e preparazione professionale del potenziale imprenditore/ice, la mancanza di una cultura imprenditoriale di base relativa sia alla fase di avvio dell impresa ma anche della sua successiva gestione, la carenza di informazione o comunque la difficoltà di accedere agli strumenti e agli organismi di supporto all imprenditoria. Inoltre in riferimento ai soggetti svantaggiati bisogna riconoscere che l avvio di impresa risponde a logiche e motivazioni diverse rispetto a quelle che muovono un imprenditore tradizionale. L impresa non viene costituita solo per allocare al meglio le risorse economiche disponibili ma anche perché semplicemente si ha difficoltà ad accedere al mercato del lavoro o per uscire da una situazione di disagio attraverso un processo di autoaffermazione. Stanti le premesse, ne consegue che il processo di creazione d impresa può richiedere tempi più lunghi, in alcuni 162

172 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming casi fino a 5 anni. Onde evitare che esso si risolva in un fallimento non solo economico (con ricadute che coinvolgono sovente anche familiari e dipendenti) ma anche sociale, occorre pensare o ripensare il sostegno offerto all aspirante imprenditore/ice rendendolo il più possibile continuo e non frammentato, gettando le basi per un accompagnamento non solo in funzione dell avvio e del consolidamento ma che si spinga anche oltre, proseguendo per tutta la durata dell esperienza imprenditoriale. Occorre in un certo senso fornire un supporto che dica il non detto circa la creazione di impresa: sforzarsi di offrire un immagine maggiormente aderente alla realtà, uscire cioè dalla logica del sostegno prettamente tecnico, che pure è imprescindibile e di fondamentale importanza, per affrontare tematiche relative agli ambiti delle aspettative, delle motivazioni e delle intenzioni dell imprenditore, alla sfera associativa e delle relazioni all interno dell impresa, al tipo di lavoro e al ruolo che ciascun componente dell impresa dovrà svolgere. Ciò comporta non solo proporre una filiera di prodotti e percorsi formativi altamente specializzati e personalizzati a livello pratico, ma implica l adozione di un diverso paradigma interpretativo dell impresa. Si tratta di considerare l impresa non solo come soggetto economico ma anche come processo di attivazione sociale caratterizzata da dinamiche di tipo sociale, psicologico e relazionale tanto più evidenti quanto l impresa, soprattutto nel caso della micro e piccola impresa viene spesso a coincidere con l imprenditore che l ha creata. Ne consegue tutta una serie di atteggiamenti che possono essere tradotti in attività di formazione e consulenza mirate, costanti nel tempo, customizzate che vadano ad integrarsi e a coordinarsi con le attività di promozione e avvio all imprenditoria che come già citato, in modo assolutamente eccellente, organismi istituzionali e non svolgono da tempo con successo. Il perdurare dell esperienza di affiancamento porterebbe inoltre, come effetto nient affatto secondario, all innesco di logiche di rete che vedrebbero coinvolti a vario titolo tutti i soggetti interessati al processo di creazione d impresa, con la possibilità di sviluppare networks di sostegno informale che contribuirebbero col tempo a radicare ulteriormente la cultura di impresa sul territorio regionale. Dovendo pensare di definire un entità in grado di fornire i menzionati servizi addizionali, in grado di interpretare le logiche imprenditoriali in un ottica di relazionalità e di offrire sostegno a soggetti svantaggiati nella loro inclusione nel sistema produttivo, l impresa sociale si è imposta come scelta quasi obbligata per le sue caratteristiche precipue, per il suo essere in condizione di produrre servizi ad alto grado di meritorietà ovvero servizi che non sarebbero convenienti per nessun altra 163

173 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report impresa, per il suo essere in grado di discriminare sul prezzo (facendo pagare a ciascuno quello che è disposto a pagare) e in ultimo per l impiegare al suo interno soggetti svantaggiati che nel caso in esame potrebbero beneficiare di una sorta di training on the job indiretto essendo l impresa sociale a sua volta soggetto imprenditoriale. Si pone a questo punto il problema comune a tutte le imprese sociali legato alla sostenibilità economica dell attività svolta. Infatti pur considerando la possibilità di stipulare convenzioni con le autorità locali e di accedere ai finanziamenti per le imprese sociali offerti sia per parte pubblica che da istituti bancari, devono essere previste attività di fornitura di servizi che consentano all impresa sociale di generare ricavi. Posto che le azioni a supporto della creazione di impresa per soggetti svantaggiati data la loro natura sono erogate a condizioni non di mercato, l impresa sociale deve essere in grado di identificare un range di servizi proponibili all esterno che le consentano di innescare processi virtuosi di autosostenibilità. Una modalità a nostro avviso applicabile, in considerazione delle attuali direttive europee in tema di sviluppo imprenditoriale e di promozione della responsabilità sociale con specifico riferimento all adozione di tali prassi da parte delle piccole e medie imprese, potrebbe essere l identificazione di aree e settori del mondo imprenditoriale profit che con le opportune mediazioni potrebbero fruire di servizi/forniture offerti dalle imprese sociali e basati su logiche di mercato. La sensibilizzazione in tempi recenti del settore privato su temi di carattere sociale e ambientale concretamente trova la sua applicazione nella adozione da parte delle imprese di comportamenti socialmente responsabili rivolti sia all interno che all esterno dell impresa che si traducono poi nell impiego di strumenti specifici (quali il codice etico, il bilancio sociale, le certificazioni in materia ambientale e sociale ) che ne consentono la valutazione. La nuova disciplina dell impresa sociale (DL 24 marzo 2006, n. 155) prevede l obbligo di redazione del bilancio sociale per l impresa sociale. A livello comunitario e nazionale esiste una forte pressione affinché le imprese sociali intraprendono percorsi di certificazione soprattutto per quanto concerne la qualità dei servizi e dei prodotti offerti. Sul piano interno l impresa sociale è dotata di un sistema di governance democratico secondo cui tutti i soci hanno diritto di concorrere attivamente alla gestione dei processi decisionali. Sul piano esterno, come già citato, il radicamento territoriale consente all impresa sociale di proporre modelli di sviluppo sostenibile e socialmente compatibili. Tutti i fattori menzionati, si può ben notare, in modo magari non definito o consapevole rispondono alle logiche 164

174 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming proprie della responsabilità sociale di impresa. A fronte dunque di un bisogno ancora inevaso soprattutto per quanto concerne le piccole e medie imprese relativo all adozione di pratiche socialmente responsabili legato anche ai costi di attuazione delle stesse (difficilmente una piccola impresa può prendersi l onere di spesare un CSR manager ) esiste per converso un know-how esistente ma inespresso (in termini di vantaggio economico) dell impresa sociale afferente le medesime tematiche. Si tratta, e qui concludo, di incanalare e strutturare, attraverso percorsi professionalizzati, queste potenzialità trasformandole in servizi che l impresa sociale può offrire al mondo dell imprenditoria privata; sviluppando quindi nuove sinergie in grado di coniugare le nuove necessità delle imprese profit e garantire al tempo stesso la sostenibilità finanziaria delle imprese sociali. The Social Sector in France by Catherine Neveu To continue on the same themes already developed by the other speakers, I ll focus on the women s situation in French labour market. Job insertion is an extremely complicate issue for women who in fact found more difficulties than man both in finding a job and in starting-up their own business. In general women s unemployment rate is higher than men s one and also as far as the degree of qualification is concerned the differential is considerable. Only 30% of people involved in processes of business creation are women and, when it comes to the juridical form of the business, only 7% of women decides to start-up a s.r.l. Considering that business creation is one of the most relevant ways to find an occupation and gain economic relevance, the scenario is sad enough. But there is room for optimism, if one considers that in ten years the percentage of female entrepreneurs increased from 18% to 30%. Reasons for this phenomenon have to be identifies in two main factors: the first one is related with a higher level of education possessed by women, the second one is related with women s need to combine professional and family life which is both an obstacle and a reason of success since it allows women in developing organisational skills which could be later used in the management of their businesses. Women over-50s are those more interested in starting-up their own business (+14%) whether because they are the category most hampered by unemployment or whether because their family burden is reduced since their children have grown. The majority of women-led enterprises operates in the tertiary sector (84%): 165

175 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report trade, hotel and restaurants, business services and heath care. Many enterprises are small- and mediumsized ones but the number of microenterprises is extremely relevant too. Despite the difficulties women have to face in setting up their businesses, the mortality rate of female enterprises is lower than the one of their male counterparts. Motivations for business creation are given by a combination between desire of being independent and need of reconcile professional and family life. In Ile de France Region a person out of six decides to start a business: as a consequence also the number of women-led enterprises is higher than the national average. 24% of people moves toward self-employment due to a state of long-term unemployment, and this is valid also for women. In France social sector is characterized by high feminization rates. In the field of domicile assistance, 92% of the employees are women and most of them are immigrants. But, if managerial roles inside social sector s organisations are taken into consideration, only 20% of the managerial roles are covered by women. Therefore even in the social sector, which most likely could offer a concrete opportunity to promote women s insertion in the labour market, managerial positions still belong to men. As a consequence, if social sector represents a way to favour women s job inclusion (despite social sector s low salaries and widespread precariousness), it would be a paradox to consider it as a possibility to promote female entrepreneurship considering the low number of women covering managerial roles. Il Settore Sociale in Francia di Catherine Neveu Per inserirsi nel filone già trattato nel corso degli altri interventi, mi soffermerò sulla situazione della donna nel mercato del lavoro francese. Il mondo dell inserimento professionale in Francia non è per nulla favorevole alle donne che infatti per trovare un impiego o per accedere a forme di creazione d impresa incontrano maggiori difficoltà che non gli uomini. In generale il tasso di disoccupazione femminile è superiore a quello maschile e anche per quanto riguarda il livello di qualificazione il differenziale è molto elevato. Relativamente alla creazione di impresa solo il 30% degli imprenditori sono donne e se si considera la forma di impresa solo il 7% decide di avviare una s.r.l. Se si pensa che la creazione di impresa è il modo principale di trovare un lavoro e avere di conseguenza un peso economico, 166

176 Annex 2 - Mainstreaming la situazione è piuttosto triste. Vi sono spazi per un maggiore ottimismo se però si considera che nell arco di dieci anni la percentuale delle imprenditrici è passata dal 18% al 30%. Alla base di questo fenomeno vi sono essenzialmente due fattori: il primo è legato al maggior livello di educazione delle donne inteso sia come educazione primaria che professionale; il secondo è connesso alla necessità di conciliare vita professionale e vita privata che, oltre ad essere un possibile ostacolo, consente alle donne di sviluppare maggiori capacità organizzative e gestionali che si ritrovano poi nella loro gestione aziendale. Le donne oltre i 50 anni d età sono quelle che più si interessano alla creazione d impresa (con un incremento del 14%) sia perché sono le più interessate da fenomeni di disoccupazione di lungo corso, sia perché hanno minori obblighi familiari essendo i figli cresciuti. Il settore dominante dell imprenditoria femminile è il terziario (84%): commercio, ristorazione e alberghi, servizi alle imprese e ai privati. Rispetto alla dimensione molte imprese sono di piccole e medie dimensioni e un numero molto rilevante è di dimensioni micro. Malgrado le difficoltà a cui si accennava prima, il tasso di mortalità delle imprese femminili è inferiore a quello di quelle maschili. Le motivazioni prevalenti che spingono alla creazione di impresa sono date da una combinazione tra desiderio di indipendenza e necessità di conciliare tra vita privata e professionale. Nella regione dell Ile de France un francese su sei crea la propria impresa: di conseguenza anche il numero di imprese femminili è superiore rispetto al resto del Paese. Il 24% delle persone è spinto verso l auto-imprenditorialità perché disoccupato e questo è un dato comune anche per le donne. In Francia il settore sociale è caratterizzato da una forte componente femminile. Nell assistenza a domicilio circa il 92% sono donne, soprattutto impiegate. Se si passa però a considerare i ruoli manageriali all interno delle organizzazioni del terzo settore, solo il 20% dei ruoli dirigenziali è ricoperto da donne. Quindi anche nel terzo settore, che potrebbe essere una leva per promuovere l inserimento lavorativo delle donne, le funzioni di responsabilità sono ancora appannaggio maschile. Di conseguenza se è vero che il settore sociale rappresenta un modo per favorire l inserimento lavorativo delle donne (nonostante i bassi salari e la diffusa precarietà), sarebbe però paradossale considerarlo come una possibilità per promuovere l imprenditoria femminile visto che vi sono poche donne in posizioni manageriali. 167

177 Alternative Entrepreneurship - Project report Unione Europea Fondo Sociale Europeo Ministero del Lavoro e della Previdenza Sociale Iniziativa Comunitaria Equal Regione Lazio Regione Lazio 168

178 PROTEO MEDIOCREDITO ITALIANO