A TED Talk by Prof Anu Puusa from the University of Eastern Finland’s Business School has had 540,000 online views.
Presented at a TED Institute event given on 8 April, the talk was featured in the TED Talk series, in which distinguished experts give speeches of no more than 18 minutes.
In her talk, The case for co-ops, the invisible giant of the economy, Prof Puusa focused the specificity of the co-operative business model, giving examples of some of the world’s most successful co-operatives, including SOK in Finland.
Prof Puusa is a distinguished co-operative scholar and a board member of Cooperatives Europe. She also serves on the boards of Pellervo, an apex for all Finnish co-operatives, and Northern Karelia Cooperative Society (PKO) and is a member of the executive board of the advisory board for Co-operatives and Kooperatiivi ry.
“There is clearly a demand for co-operatives and their value-based thinking, since the maximisation of profit as the only and primary task of companies is being increasingly questioned, and greater social responsibility is called for”, she said.
“In Finland, our co-operatives are jointly owned anchor assets, and their foundations should be better understood,” she said. “This lack of awareness is not limited to Finland alone, and that is why I am particularly pleased to be able to speak about this important issue on a prominent and impactful forum.”
