Constructing an Alternative and Resisting Degeneration: The Case of a Multi-Stakeholder Cooperative in the Field of Regulated Professions

This research is rooted in the recently emerging stream of research on cooperative degeneration that acts as a counterpoint to the initial orthodox approaches and focuses on the processes, conditions, and practices that enable cooperatives to avoid degeneration. This research therefore analyzes a repertoire of practices that constitute an alternative organization and provides us with insight into the organization of work, coordination mechanisms, cooperative practices, and the rights and capacity for expression and decision-making of each individual within FINACOOP, a French multi-stakeholder accounting cooperative (SCIC – société coopérative d’intérêt collective). This makes it possible to assess under what conditions and how the SCIC studied maintains its alternative character, that is, combats the various dynamics of degeneration (of work, organization, and culture). Based on an atypical case study (FINACOOP is the only chartered accountancy firm operating under SCIC status in France), this research makes a significant contribution to the theory of degeneration by improving our understanding of the conditions for the establishment of this alternative that is distinctive in two ways: the fact that it operates within a regulated profession and its multi-stakeholder nature.