November 22, 2018
The Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins International Institute for Cooperatives had the privilege of presenting its new strategy to support research on cooperatives as part of the HEC Montréal Research and Knowledge Transfer Office.
Eric Brat, Director of the Institute, presented the mission and the three fields of activities of the Institute, including, in particular, that of research. This field is evolving towards an “open” model, supporting researchers in the accessibility of data on cooperatives through the Cooperatives Gateway. The Institute’s research support model aims to broaden the research themes of cooperatives to all disciplines, involve more professors at HEC Montréal, develop the Cooperatives Gateway as a source of research information and establish a Scientific Committee made up of recognized professors from HEC Montréal. An invitation was also extended to researchers to enhance the Institute’s knowledge and relations in Latin America.
In addition, concrete experiences of collaborations with HEC Montréal researchers on cooperative themes were briefly presented, notably with professors François Bellavance, Claude Francoeur, Luciano Barin-Cruz and Mai Thi Thanh Thai. Professor Ann Langley, Chair in Strategic Management and Pluralistic Settings presented her article “”Invoking” Alphonse: The founder figure as a symbolic resource in organizational identity work and strategic change”, published by Organization Studies. Her research, in collaboration with Professor Joëlle Basque, is based on the analysis of the Revue Desjardins between 1935 and 2015, data that she was able to access through the Cooperatives Gateway, where all of the Revues Desjardins are digitized.
