Food Business and Development - Book Chapters
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Item Platform cooperatives: An organisational model to counteract extractive and exploitative practices in the platform economy?(Springer Nature, 2024-06-18) Power, Carol; Moore, Oliver; O’Connor, Ray; Vale, Mário; Ferreira, Daniela; Rodrigues, NunoThe platform economy has transformed the experiences of everyday transactions, providing convenience and choice for consumers. However, platform companies have been criticised for the exploitation of workers in the gig economy and extracting value from local communities. Drawing on three case studies, this chapter examines the potential of the cooperative organisational model to function as a barrier to extractive capitalism. Cooperatives are democratically controlled organisations that are owned and governed by their members. They espouse the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity, and solidarity (ICA, Cooperative identity, values and principles. Retrieved from https://www.ica.coop/en/cooperatives/cooperative-identity, n.d.). Platform cooperatives are owned by their workers or service users and, therefore, do not have to meet the profit demands of external shareholders. This chapter demonstrates how platform cooperatives can enable a more democratic economy that embeds a wider distribution of ownership and benefits (Morozov E, Bria F. Rethinking the smart city: democratizing urban technology. Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, 2018) or an economy that is “distributive by design” (Raworth K. Doughnut economics: seven ways to think like a 21st-century economist. Random House Business Books, 2017). However, we contend that cooperatives are only part of the systemic response needed to counter the social and economic injustices that have emerged within the platform economy.Item Agriculture and land in EU-Africa relations(Routledge, 2021) Lahiff, Edward; Haastrup, Toni; Mah, Luís; Duggan, NiallLand, agriculture and natural resources have been at the heart of relations between Europe and Africa since ancient times. In the 19th century, European colonialism created an elaborate system of resource extraction, based on widespread dispossession and exploitation of the African population, the influence of which endures to the present day. This chapter provides an overview of the evolution of the relationship between the European Union (EU) and African states in the interrelated areas of agriculture, land and food. In 2006 the EU launched its European Consensus on Development, revised as the New European Consensus on Development in 2017. The reform of the CAP from 2011 clearly set out the tensions between the desire of the EU to remain a major global producer of food and the desire to support small farmers and agricultural enterprises in developing countries.Item Square pegs in round holes: Experiences of distance learning programmes in UCC(University College Cork, 2004-07) McCarthy, Olive; Higher Education AuthorityItem Sustaining the co-operative approach in an era of change: A case study from Cork Ireland(Community Enterprise Trust Scotland, 2012-10) McCarthy, Olive; Ward Michael; McDonnell, Diarmuid; Macknight, Elizabeth; Economic and Social Research Council; Scottish GovernmentThis collection of essays draws together the research of fourteen international scholars to examine how the co-operative business model functions in practice within diverse cultural and social contexts. It includes case studies of co-operatives and credit unions operating in different national settings across Britain, continental Europe, Australasia and the Americas. Together the essays show how the concept of democratic co-operation, applied to enterprise in commercial markets, developed into the basis of a truly global movement. The Co-operative Model in Practice will be of interest to students and scholars in economics, business studies, sustainable development, history, and organisational theory and behaviour. It also serves as a valuable resource for policy-makers seeking alternative models for organising enterprise and society.Item Social enterprises in rural communities(National Rural Network, Ireland, 2013-12) O'Shaughnessy, Mary; O'Hara, Patricia; European Commission; Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Ireland; Department of the Environment, Community and Local Government, Ireland