How to Grow Without Getting Bigger: Inter-Cooperation as a Scaling Strategy for Social and Solidarity Economy Organizations
通过巴斯克地区一家非营利合作社的案例，研究了合作间策略如何在不扩大组织自身规模的情况下实现生态系统扩展，并维持合作原则。
The issue of growth of Social and Solidarity Economy organizations has become a focus of analysis in response to the extensive case studies documented which recount processes of degeneration (or loss of original values) of the organizations in question. In this article, the case study of a non-profit cooperative (Agintzari S. Coop.) in the field of social services in the Basque Country (Spain) demonstrates the possibility of activating ecosystemic scaling processes, by way of inter-cooperative strategies, which do not result in the growth of the organization itself. The research question seeks to inquire to what extent inter-cooperation strategies, understood as ecosystemic scaling models, help to strengthen cooperative entities without weakening the maintenance of cooperative principles. The article aims to advance some results regarding the theoretical relationships between scaling strategies, the foundational motivations (or “interest orientation”) of the organizations, and the ecosystemic structures adopted to sustain these scaling processes.