Social economy companies in the times of crises: Entrepreneurship and survival

Purpose: The work presented in this article is a study of the strategies carried out by social economy companies in times of crisis. This article analyses the financial characteristics of the cooperative companies created in Barcelona during the crisis period 2008-2013. This study aims to compare the financial characteristics of the cooperative companies analysed with the measures carried out to maintain their profitability in times of crisis. Design/methodology: Statistical-descriptive analysis of the means and variations of the main financial indicators that are related to the measures taken by the companies of Social Economy in times of crisis. The data used have been provided by the Generalitat de Catalunya - Departament d'Empresa i Ocupació Direcció General d'Economia Social i Cooperativa i Treball Autònom for the reference period 2008-2013. Findings: The cooperative companies created in Barcelona in the period of crisis 2008-2013 have the following features: their debt remains stable with a significant improvement in quality, and they display increases in long-term debt relative to short-term debt. Regarding collection and payment periods, there is an upward trend, but a reduction is confirmed in the last year of the sample. In that year, 2013, there is a trend change in the evolution of most of the analysed economic indicators. This change coincides with improvement in the conjuncture of the capital market and the economic environment in general. Originality/value: To determine the economic and financial characteristics of the cooperative companies created in the period of crisis 2008-2013 with the aim of guiding the social entrepreneurs of the future.Peer Reviewe

Entrepreneurial skills and over-education five years later. A comparison between Spain and the Netherlands

[cat] El fenòmen de la sobre-educació és freqüent i persistent a molts països. En aquest article estudiem el paper de les habilitats emprenedores en evitar la sobre-educació a la primera feina, i en sortir d’una situació de sobre-educació cinc anys després. Comparem els resultats d’Espanya i Holanda, dos països que difereixen en el seu sistema educatiu i mercat de treball. Els resultats mostren que les habilitats emprenedores ajuden a evitar i/o sortir de la sobre-educació només a Espanya, on el sistema educatiu és més flexible i menys vinculat amb el mercat de treball. En general, els nostres resultats recolzen les polítiques que promocionen el desenvolupament d’habilitats emprenedores al sistema educatiu espanyol.[eng] Over-education has been demonstrated to be frequent and persistent across countries. We study whether entrepreneurial skills are a competency that helps tertiary education graduates to obtain a good job match. We analyze two possibilities: the role of entrepreneurial skills in avoiding over-education in the first job, and in exiting over-education in their early career. We do the analysis for Spain and the Netherlands, two countries that differ significantly in the degree of tracking in their educational system and the education-labor market linkages. We find that entrepreneurial skills help avoiding over-education in the first job and exiting from over-education only in Spain. Entrepreneurial skills do not seem to affect the probability of over-education in the Netherlands, where the education system is less flexible. Overall, our results give support to those policies promoting the development of entrepreneurial skills in the Spanish education system

Social economy companies in the times of crises: Entrepreneurship and survival

Purpose: The work presented in this article is a study of the strategies carried out by social economy companies in times of crisis. This article analyses the financial characteristics of the cooperative companies created in Barcelona during the crisis period 2008-2013. This study aims to compare the financial characteristics of the cooperative companies analysed with the measures carried out to maintain their profitability in times of crisis. Design/methodology: Statistical-descriptive analysis of the means and variations of the main financial indicators that are related to the measures taken by the companies of Social Economy in times of crisis. The data used have been provided by the Generalitat de Catalunya - Departament d'Empresa i Ocupació Direcció General d'Economia Social i Cooperativa i Treball Autònom for the reference period 2008-2013. Findings: The cooperative companies created in Barcelona in the period of crisis 2008-2013 have the following features: their debt remains stable with a significant improvement in quality, and they display increases in long-term debt relative to short-term debt. Regarding collection and payment periods, there is an upward trend, but a reduction is confirmed in the last year of the sample. In that year, 2013, there is a trend change in the evolution of most of the analysed economic indicators. This change coincides with improvement in the conjuncture of the capital market and the economic environment in general. Originality/value: To determine the economic and financial characteristics of the cooperative companies created in the period of crisis 2008-2013 with the aim of guiding the social entrepreneurs of the future

Entrepreneurial skills and over-education five years later. A comparison between Spain and the Netherlands

[cat] El fenòmen de la sobre-educació és freqüent i persistent a molts països. En aquest article estudiem el paper de les habilitats emprenedores en evitar la sobre-educació a la primera feina, i en sortir d’una situació de sobre-educació cinc anys després. Comparem els resultats d’Espanya i Holanda, dos països que difereixen en el seu sistema educatiu i mercat de treball. Els resultats mostren que les habilitats emprenedores ajuden a evitar i/o sortir de la sobre-educació només a Espanya, on el sistema educatiu és més flexible i menys vinculat amb el mercat de treball. En general, els nostres resultats recolzen les polítiques que promocionen el desenvolupament d’habilitats emprenedores al sistema educatiu espanyol.[eng] Over-education has been demonstrated to be frequent and persistent across countries. We study whether entrepreneurial skills are a competency that helps tertiary education graduates to obtain a good job match. We analyze two possibilities: the role of entrepreneurial skills in avoiding over-education in the first job, and in exiting over-education in their early career. We do the analysis for Spain and the Netherlands, two countries that differ significantly in the degree of tracking in their educational system and the education-labor market linkages. We find that entrepreneurial skills help avoiding over-education in the first job and exiting from over-education only in Spain. Entrepreneurial skills do not seem to affect the probability of over-education in the Netherlands, where the education system is less flexible. Overall, our results give support to those policies promoting the development of entrepreneurial skills in the Spanish education system