3.4.3 The case study results

In the presentation of the case study results, the themes of membership, decision- making in the board, consultation and accountability, and communication and information are discussed and analysed. Concerning each of these four subjects, an aggregate analysis is provided regarding the stakeholder mechanisms developed to accommodate formal or informal, direct or indirect, and regular or ad hoc participation in the examined CICs. The case studies consider two organisations in Scotland that adopted the legal form of the CIC. The first organisation is Breadshare CIC (hereafter ‘Breadshare’).

Breadshare is a community bakery incorporated in 2011. It produces organic ‘real bread’ – as defined in the UK Real Bread Campaign that this organisation is part of – which promotes community supported baking from locally sourced ingredients to the market and to consumers. The community objective of Breadshare is not explained fully in the AoA (Art. 5, AoA), but is publicly proclaimed in the company’s website. Breadshare’s community objectives include: (i) the production and retail of real bread that is accessible to everyone in the community of Scotland. Accordingly, Breadshare seeks to raise awareness of the healthy benefits that organic bread provides if it is accessible to everyone; (ii) the involvement of the community in every organisational aspect of the company. Accordingly, Breadshare integrated the community aspect into its business model by providing employment and/or volunteering opportunities and assistance to set up; (iii) the promotion of the concept of ‘community bakery’ in other communities. Breadshare raised awareness of the community benefits of community bakery; (iv) the pursuit of an ecological and sustainable bakery practice. Breadshare also promoted the principle of sustainable development in the bakery practice; and finally (v) the development of a sustainable local bread supply chain in collaboration with local suppliers.

The second organisation examined in this article is GTS Solutions CIC (hereafter ‘GTS Solutions’), a social enterprise which was established in 2012 in Scotland and which provides security services to corporate and non-profit organisations. In particular, the security services provided by GTS Solutions are – amongst others – static security services, hospitality security services, parking spaces security, crowd management and strategic planning services to community events, such as concerts and sport events. It also provides security training to young and disadvantaged adults. The social objective that the company serves is the assistance of disadvantaged and unemployed adults and young persons to find employment in the security industry. The company’s articles mention that the company aims to:

As such, GTS Solutions qualifies young adults by delivering basic training in the security service industry. Those trainees are later employed by GTS Solutions or by its clients and strategic partners, which belong to other industries.