An overview of management systems in the cooperative sector. An analysis of the Italian Leghe

The paper is aimed at identifying the role of the Italian associations of cooperatives in the cooperative sector and, specifically, it addresses the issues of strategy definition, performance monitoring and stakeholders' openness. The cooperative sector is very important in the Italian economical and social system, in terms of diffusion, numbers and strategic relevance. The Third Sector literature on the cooperative system is sparse and there are few studies that deeply investigate the management and accounting objectives of the associations of cooperatives. The analysis was specifically addressed on the degree of coherence and the level of openness of the planning and control systems in the associations of cooperatives.