211
activities that are of collective/public interest, being fi nancially autonomous from
subsidies or other forms of support and aiming at non-profi t or limited profi tmaking. Based on a survey of 195 members in 2008, those employed in the SSE in
Geneva experience a low rate of difference between the highest and lowest salary
(by a factor of 1.3–2.3), higher average salaries for entry-level work and high rates
of people working on fl exible schedules (at an average 50–65 % rate of activity)
(APRES-GE 2010 ). In Geneva, members must then commit to progressively put in
place, over 2 years, an environmental management policy, participatory forms of
management and social management policies that focus on employee diversity and
welfare (Swaton and Sahakian 2014 ). All sectors of the economy are represented
among the current 265 members, including health and social services, but also
banking and insurance companies, housing cooperatives, food services, arts and
leisure, training and education, among others.
Many SSE activities exist as the grassroots level, either marginalized by or hidden within the dominant market economy (Miller in Kawano et al. 2009 ). SSE tends
to include smaller-scale activities, whether local or regional. In some contexts, the
ambition is to link together different SSE activities in a supply-chain approach, as is
the case in the Philippines where organic feedstock companies and dairy farms are
coming together with fair trade associations (Sahakian and Dunand 2015 ). Examples
of larger SSE enterprises and regional efforts are less common, raising questions of
scalability. The classic example of a larger scale SSE activity is Mondragón, a cooperative based in the Basque region of Spain that is made up of 258 enterprises organized into a federated governance system including shared fi nancial services and
technical support (Kaswan 2014 ). The cooperatives in Trento county, northern Italy,
are also on par with the Mondragón example in terms of scale and effectiveness,
according to recent empirical research comparing the two (Prades 2013 ). The concept of federating cooperative efforts, sharing services and promoting democratic
decision-making processes is underway in different contexts, including the Conseil
québécois de la co-opération et de la mutualité (CQCM, Canada) and the Democracy
Collaborative centred around the Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, Ohio (ibid.).
A magic number is usually upheld as representing the percentage of jobs that are
involved in the social and solidarity economy: for both France and the City of
Geneva, the SSE is said to represent approximately 10 % of salaried employment
(INSEE 2012 ; Dunand 2012 ).
2.2 What Are the Conceptual Links between SSE and IE,
and the Limits?
In the industrial ecology fi eld, economic profi t is not a central preoccupation. The
payback of certain efforts in terms of return on investment is important in practice,
where industrial ecology projects are concerned, but profi t generating is not explicitly part of industrial ecology conceptual developments. The founding theoretical
principles in IE draw from bio-economics, notably the link between natural laws
10 The Social and Solidarity Economy: Why Is It Relevant to Industrial Ecology?
activities that are of collective/public interest, being fi nancially autonomous from
subsidies or other forms of support and aiming at non-profi t or limited profi tmaking. Based on a survey of 195 members in 2008, those employed in the SSE in
Geneva experience a low rate of difference between the highest and lowest salary
(by a factor of 1.3–2.3), higher average salaries for entry-level work and high rates
of people working on fl exible schedules (at an average 50–65 % rate of activity)
(APRES-GE 2010 ). In Geneva, members must then commit to progressively put in
place, over 2 years, an environmental management policy, participatory forms of
management and social management policies that focus on employee diversity and
welfare (Swaton and Sahakian 2014 ). All sectors of the economy are represented
among the current 265 members, including health and social services, but also
banking and insurance companies, housing cooperatives, food services, arts and
leisure, training and education, among others.
Many SSE activities exist as the grassroots level, either marginalized by or hidden within the dominant market economy (Miller in Kawano et al. 2009 ). SSE tends
to include smaller-scale activities, whether local or regional. In some contexts, the
ambition is to link together different SSE activities in a supply-chain approach, as is
the case in the Philippines where organic feedstock companies and dairy farms are
coming together with fair trade associations (Sahakian and Dunand 2015 ). Examples
of larger SSE enterprises and regional efforts are less common, raising questions of
scalability. The classic example of a larger scale SSE activity is Mondragón, a cooperative based in the Basque region of Spain that is made up of 258 enterprises organized into a federated governance system including shared fi nancial services and
technical support (Kaswan 2014 ). The cooperatives in Trento county, northern Italy,
are also on par with the Mondragón example in terms of scale and effectiveness,
according to recent empirical research comparing the two (Prades 2013 ). The concept of federating cooperative efforts, sharing services and promoting democratic
decision-making processes is underway in different contexts, including the Conseil
québécois de la co-opération et de la mutualité (CQCM, Canada) and the Democracy
Collaborative centred around the Evergreen Cooperatives in Cleveland, Ohio (ibid.).
A magic number is usually upheld as representing the percentage of jobs that are
involved in the social and solidarity economy: for both France and the City of
Geneva, the SSE is said to represent approximately 10 % of salaried employment
(INSEE 2012 ; Dunand 2012 ).
2.2 What Are the Conceptual Links between SSE and IE,
and the Limits?
In the industrial ecology fi eld, economic profi t is not a central preoccupation. The
payback of certain efforts in terms of return on investment is important in practice,
where industrial ecology projects are concerned, but profi t generating is not explicitly part of industrial ecology conceptual developments. The founding theoretical
principles in IE draw from bio-economics, notably the link between natural laws
10 The Social and Solidarity Economy: Why Is It Relevant to Industrial Ecology?