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The
economy of the province of Modena is characterised by a strong
presence of co-operatives especially operating in the food, building,
distribution and some other sectors, all greatly influencing the
social and productive fabric of the province.
Their presence dates back to XIX century, when co-operatives developed
for civil and political reasons, expanding in the form of associations
of producers and consumers, with the aim of defending their earnings
from agents.
The start-up of these activities can trace back to 1864, when
the "Labourers' Society" (Mutual aid society, established
the previous year) created a food Institute in the chief town,
with the purpose of selling foodstuffs.
Production  co-operatives
were established in 1886, when the "Labourers' Co-operative"
was created in Finale Emilia, an agricultural commune of the province,
which is the first example of a working co-operative, developed
not only in the Modenese province but also in Italy.
Over the years, besides the principal socio-political objectives
of the co-operatives, an increasingly important role has been
assumed by economic considerations meaning co-operatives as productive
organizations needing suitable management and accounting techniques,
as well as capital and investement policies. This change in philosophy
has particularly come to light in the last few years, when co-operatives
had to work in a sector with more competition and higher wealth.
Today, the co-operative system in the province represents a complex
business reality composed of more than 700 companies, with about
ten of these employing over 500 operators, and with a total of
20,000 and more employees in the entire sector. Besides their
dimensions, as far as emoployees and turnover are concerned, the
power of these co-operatives comes from the expansion of their
activities on national territory. At least this is true of the
highest distributing food and building co-operatives.
As already mentioned, the sectors, in which the co-operative has
been able to obtain a leading market position thanks to incidence
and innovative ability, are the following:
· distribution,
· agroindustrial,
· territory and city structure;
· transport system.
Especially, in the distribution, the co-operative system has helped
in the modernization of the system with the creation of sales
outlets of medium and large dimensions.
As regards the agroindustrial sector, the co-operative structure
represents a  rationalizing
power able to meet the requirements for modernization and development
inside the sector efficiently, especially in agricultural processing.
As far as the territory and city structure is concerned, the experience
of the building co-operatives can be cited as an example of the
promotion of new projects in the reconstruction of old buildings
and in the construction of new edifices. At a national and international
level, the mediating role of the building co-operatives is very
important.
Other meaningful experiences that the Modenese co-operative reality
demonstrate, concern the civil sector where the associative structure
can be considered as an option lying somewhere between the state
and the free market.
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