The Oxford Handbook of Mutual, Co-Operative, and Co-Owned Business
Abstract
This handbook investigates ‘member-owned’ organizations, whether consumer co-operatives, agricultural and producer co-operatives, worker co-operatives, mutual building societies, friendly societies, credit unions, solidarity organizations, mutual insurance companies, or employee-owned companies. Such organizations can be owned by the consumers, producers, or employees—whether through single-stakeholder or multi-stakeholder ownership. ‘Employee-owned’ business means businesses where a significant proportion of the company is owned by its employees, whether as individual shareholders or through a trust, or some combination of the two; ‘significant’ is generally taken as at least 25 per cent. This complex set of organizations is named differently across countries: from ‘mutuals’ in the United Kingdom, to ‘solidarity co-operatives’ in Latin America. In some countries, such organizations are not officially recognized. For the sake of clarity, the handbook will refer to member-owned organizations to encompass the variety of non-investor-owned organizations, and in the national case-study chapters the terms used will be those most widely employed in that country. These alternative corporate forms have emerged in a variety of economic sectors in almost all advanced economies since the time of the Industrial Revolution and the development of capitalism, through the subsequent creation and dominance of the limited liability company. Until recently, these organizations were generally regarded as a rather marginal component of the economy. However, in recent years, they have come to be seen in some countries as potentially attractive in light of their ability to tackle various economic and social concerns, and their relative resilience during the financial and economic crises of 2007–2016.
Keywords:
mutual,
co-operatives,
employee ownership,
business,
stakeholders,
member-ownership,
corporate forms
Bibliographic Information
- Publisher:
- Oxford University Press
- Print Publication Date:
- Mar 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780199684977
- Published online:
- Nov 2017
- DOI:
- 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199684977.001.0001
Editors
Jonathan Michie,
editor
Jonathan Michie, FAcSS, Dphil, Professor of Innovation and Knowledge Exchange at the University of Oxford, Director of the University’s Department for Continuing Education and President of Kellogg College
Joseph R. Blasi,
editor
Joseph R. Blasi, J. Robert Beyster Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations and Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research
Carlo Borzaga,
editor
Carlo Borzaga, Professor at the University of Trento, and President of Euricse (European Research Institute on Cooperatives and Social Enterprises)
