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Because of the big leap involved in "worker owned cooperatives that have been created by workers buying a business." Either the workers are unusually wealthy an
by hot_gril 3y ago
Because of the big leap involved in "worker owned cooperatives that have been created by workers buying a business." Either the workers are unusually wealthy and dedicated or a rich owner is doing a bit of charity, in both cases their odds are way better with a corp too. If you're starting with nothing, it'll be difficult to find investment for a co-op.
- MrJohz 3y agoDo you have evidence to back up that claim? I would imagine that only a minority of coops are actually founded by existing workers, and the majority would be new companies - certainly this is the experience I've had with worker coops near me. But it would be interesting if that wasn't the case. EDIT: the France study is particularly interesting because they specifically talk about this as a potential reason for the surprising longevity, but then point out that "the overwhelming majority of cooperatives are created from scratch, and hence this explanation remains incomplete".
- hot_gril 3y agoCreated from scratch probably means someone with a lot of money beforehand decided to do it. The same study calls coop formation rare, and it's hard to control things when you're sampling a rare case.
- MrJohz 3y agoThat's true of conventional businesses too, though. It's not like banks hand out loans to anyone who walks in off the street with grandma's best bolognese recipe.
- hot_gril 3y agoEven more money for the coop, though. Like, enough to not need other investors/banks.
- MrJohz 3y agoCoops also use banks and can have investors.
- hot_gril 3y agoA business with stakeholders who aren't employees is not a co-op.
- MrJohz 3y agoThat is a very unusual definition of worker co-ops.
- hot_gril 3y ago"A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and self-managed by its workers" is what Wikipedia says. If investors are given stake in the company, it no longer matches that definition. It's not just a technicality, it changes the incentives to being for the profit of the investors.
- Turskarama 3y agoWhy would the workers be unusually wealthy? They can always get a business loan, a bank is going to be relatively confident if you're buying the same business you have worked in for years and know all the ins and outs.
- hot_gril 3y agoMost workers can't afford that kind of risk or time. They have bills to pay.