The aim of this chapter is to describe how to implement a strategy of Big Data to boost Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE). Because of reduction of prices in ICT systems, computing technology has changed and new techniques for distributed computing are the mainstream. With the evolution, it is now possible to manage immense volumes of data that previously could have only been handled by supercomputers at great expense. Through better analysis of the large volumes of data that are becoming available, there is the potential for making faster advances and improving the profitability of many enterprises. Thus, large companies can invest more money into these tools and consequently have more opportunities in obtaining good results. This new situation will widen the gap between large and small organizations, mainly those organizations of modest economic capacity as those that belong to SSE. Therefore, in this research we have made a complete development of software, techniques and tools for implementing a Big Data in SSE. It will help them to narrow the gap with large organizations.
TopIntroduction
In the last decade, as a result of economic crisis, have emerged multiplicity of expressions of Social and Solidarity Economy (SSE) acting beyond the formal economy linking action inside and outside the traditional markets. It can be stated that in all sectors of economic activity: health, social housing, agriculture, industry, public transport, etc., the SSE has become a benchmark of sustainable development policies and of common interest. Furthermore, this kind of companies has credited ability to organize efficiently to large numbers of people with problems of social integration and maintenance in the labor market. Companies and organizations of SSE have become an effective response to unemployment, a means to access the labor market and a good factor for job and wealth creation, as well as promoting creative projects linked to the world work. All this makes that companies and organizations of SSE be essential parts for the construction of society and emerge as a different way to build wealth from an economic activity that responds the assessment of the person above capital.
Regarding the type of organizations and companies of SSE, it is necessary to include those that produce goods and services and that have social objectives and often environmental objectives, and are guided by principles and practices of cooperation, solidarity, ethics and democratic self-management (TFSSE, 2014). They include, for example, cooperatives, mutual associations, NGOs engaged in income generating activities, women’s self-help groups, community forestry and other organizations, associations of informal sector workers, social enterprise and fair trade organizations (Utting, 2013).
On the other hand, Kawano (2013) considers the following five points as the most significant of SSE's concepts:
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Social Solidarity Economy is an alternative that allows ordinary people to play an active role in shaping their economic lives.
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Social Solidarity Economy is an ethical and values-based approach to economic development that prioritizes the welfare of people over profits and blind growth.
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Self-management and collective ownership in the workplace and in the community is central to the solidarity economy. There are many different expressions of self-management and collective ownership including: cooperatives, community-owned enterprises and the commons.
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The solidarity economy has a focus on the empowerment of women and other marginalized groups, as well as engaging in anti-poverty and social inclusion work.
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In the SSE there is great potential to build alliances and mutually supportive collaborations.
The Catholic Church has a long tradition worried by the Social Economy. It is known that began with the Encyclical “Rerum Novarum” of Leo XIII promulgated in 1891. More recently, the Pope John Paul II, in his Encyclical “Laborem Exercens” introduces the distinction between progress and development. The Pope affirms that the real development cannot limit to the multiplication of the goods and services, but it must contribute to the fullness of the human being. In 2013 the Pope Francis, in speech in the CELAM, pleads for a more human economy and appeals to the generosity and to the contribution according to the possibility of every person.
With regard to Big Data, the managing and analyzing data has always offered the greatest benefits and challenges for all organizations of all sizes and across all industries. Businesses have long struggled with finding a pragmatic approach for capturing information about customers, products, and services (Hurwitz et al. 2013). This year 2015 will be identified as the year that companies and organizations assume that every decision must be derived from data analysis. Companies will leave instinctive decision-making, since will be recorded and analyzed data of all movements. Data analysis will be no longer only the language of IT professionals, but throughout the business world, especially in the area of more advanced knowledge. Fast and accurate data collection will become an asset for organizations to meet their goals. Only with better data and more viewpoints organizations will be able to succeed and survive (Dufour, 2015).