This paper aims to contribute to the debate on the dynamics of cooperative enterprises by doing an exploratory comparative analysis of the impact of the strategies followed by two types of umbrella organizations – a «New Social Movement» and a cooperative federation – on the promotion of effective worker ownership within their associated co-ops. It aims to explore the following question, which has until now been understudied by social scientific scholarship: Which strategy produces more efficient incentives for the promotion of effective worker ownership within cooperatives: One based on collective action or one based on the formal monitoring of the co-ops’ deliberative processes? This study approaches the relationship between umbrella organizations and associated cooperatives from a point of view that has generally been neglected by social scientific literature: That of the way in which the strategies of the former impact on the internal social dynamics of the later. It will compare two extended case studies of workers’ cooperatives, one of them located in Buenos Aires, Argentina and associated with a New Social Movement, and the second located in Pernambuco, Brazil and associated with a cooperative federation. It is based on the analysis of 80 semi-structured interviews conducted with co-op members, social movement leaders, cooperative federation officials and scholars in the field.

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