Following the announcement of the creation of the Alphonse and Dorimène Desjardins International Institute for Cooperatives, the IRCCF founding institute, an article in HEC Montréal Mag was published on this subject.

For several years HEC Montreal had been aiming at becoming a world-class authority into research on cooperatives. Desjardin’s $3.5 million funding translates into new opportunities for the Institute to pursue its ambitions.

Monique F. Leroux, President and Chief Executive Officer of Desjardins Group, noted that this partnership benefits everyone: “There are some 3,000 cooperatives in Quebec in all sectors. Desjardins Group alone employs 45,000 people in Canada. For these companies, the excellence in management is a prerequisite for success. By working with HEC Montréal, we promote this excellence and contribute to the recognition and development of cooperatives.

Benoit Tremblay, the driving force behind the new Institute and the former director of its predecessor, the Desjardins Center for Studies in Financial ServicCooperativesves, indicates: “If we are to become the best internationally, we have to recruit the best. This is exactly what we have done by appointing world-class researcher Rym Ayadi as Director. At the same time, we gain her as a HEC Montréal professor.

Doing research in the financial sector for more than 15 years, Rym Ayadi‘s work has shown that some institutions have been more resilient to the 2008 economic crisis than others, in particular, financial services cooperatives (FSCs). The latter constitute a fundamental pillar of institutional diversity in the financial sector, making it a true contributor to systemic stability. These results led the new Director to think about a new conception of the founded financial system. Rym Ayadi states: “Through our work, we seek to uncover ways cooperatives could contribute to the development of a more stable financial system that would promote long-term sustainability and economic development.”

The full article of HEC Montréal Mag “Coopératives : HEC Montréal aspire à devenir un leader mondial” is available at http://mag.hec.ca/archives/ Volume 13, Numéro 1 – Automne 2014  (p.27).