7 ms·

A business owned by its "stakeholders" (customers and/or employees) is called a co-op.

alexchamberlain 13y ago
Now all you need to do is make it really easy to set up a co-op and "sell shares" online... I'm guessing this could be done in the UK - we have a few major co-ops here; is the US the same?
- antoko 13y ago
  Federal Credit Unions work in a similar way to the UK's Building Societies. There are other co-ops here but I don't think they have the same penetration as in the UK. One national brand I CAN think of that is a co-op is REI, I'm sure there are others though, lots of local-focused food businesses use a co-op model. Costco and Sam's club (wholesalers / cash n carry) offer membership benefits but I think that's more related to getting air miles on your credit card.
  - cglace 13y ago
    Costco and Sam's club (wholesalers / cash n carry) offer membership benefits but I think that's more related to getting air miles on your credit card. I'm confused. What on earth does being a member of Costco have to do with credit card air miles?
    - antoko 13y ago
      Apologies, bad choice of word on my part. I should have said "akin" rather than "related". The point I was trying to make is that whilst those companies offer a membership incentive structure its not a true co-op and you don't have an ownership stake in the company. You just receive some member benefits like cash back and discount coupons - similar to your credit card company giving you air miles.
  - brudgers 13y ago
    Cooperatives are common in rural America. One of my clients is an electrical cooperative that got started in 1939 as part of the Rural Electrification program. Grain elevators and similar agricultural infrastructure are very often cooperatives. Likewise in parts of the Midwest, telephone cooperatives are common - high bandwidth and low rates. The flip side is that cooperatives are run like businesses. The electrical cooperative will cut a shareholder's power as quick or quicker than a for profit utility when the shareholder fails to pay their bill - I've been to my client's office on "Cut Off Tuesday."
  - zevyoura 13y ago
    Florida's Natural (a national orange juice brand in the US) is also organized as a grower's cooperative, which is similar but not identical to consumer coops like REI.
- kgmpers 13y ago
  http://community-wealth.org/strategies/panel/coops/index.html http://community-wealth.org/strategies/panel/coops/index.htm... According to this site there were 724 purchasing co-ops in the US in 2009. Those would be stores like REI or food co-ops where the consumer is part-owner. The total number of cooperatives, including worker-owned business like Land o Lakes and ACE Hardware, credit unions, and utility co-op (25% of US power generation is publicly owned) is 29,000 with revenues around $625 billion.
brudgers 13y ago
The idea of internet services as a cooperative is an interesting one. To some extent - that extent being outside the formal economy - the cooperative (in the business sense) model might stand in for the bazaar when describing the development of Linux (i.e. The capital was to some extent social and to some extent reduced cost). I know the idea is a bit muddled. Something along the lines of working on Linux reduced opportunity costs compared to alternatives.

Now all you need to do is make it really easy to set up a co-op and "sell shares" online... I'm guessing this could be done in the UK - we have a few major co-ops here; is the US the same?

antoko 13y ago
Federal Credit Unions work in a similar way to the UK's Building Societies. There are other co-ops here but I don't think they have the same penetration as in the UK. One national brand I CAN think of that is a co-op is REI, I'm sure there are others though, lots of local-focused food businesses use a co-op model. Costco and Sam's club (wholesalers / cash n carry) offer membership benefits but I think that's more related to getting air miles on your credit card.
- cglace 13y ago
  Costco and Sam's club (wholesalers / cash n carry) offer membership benefits but I think that's more related to getting air miles on your credit card. I'm confused. What on earth does being a member of Costco have to do with credit card air miles?
  - antoko 13y ago
    Apologies, bad choice of word on my part. I should have said "akin" rather than "related". The point I was trying to make is that whilst those companies offer a membership incentive structure its not a true co-op and you don't have an ownership stake in the company. You just receive some member benefits like cash back and discount coupons - similar to your credit card company giving you air miles.
- brudgers 13y ago
  Cooperatives are common in rural America. One of my clients is an electrical cooperative that got started in 1939 as part of the Rural Electrification program. Grain elevators and similar agricultural infrastructure are very often cooperatives. Likewise in parts of the Midwest, telephone cooperatives are common - high bandwidth and low rates. The flip side is that cooperatives are run like businesses. The electrical cooperative will cut a shareholder's power as quick or quicker than a for profit utility when the shareholder fails to pay their bill - I've been to my client's office on "Cut Off Tuesday."
- zevyoura 13y ago
  Florida's Natural (a national orange juice brand in the US) is also organized as a grower's cooperative, which is similar but not identical to consumer coops like REI.
kgmpers 13y ago
http://community-wealth.org/strategies/panel/coops/index.html http://community-wealth.org/strategies/panel/coops/index.htm... According to this site there were 724 purchasing co-ops in the US in 2009. Those would be stores like REI or food co-ops where the consumer is part-owner. The total number of cooperatives, including worker-owned business like Land o Lakes and ACE Hardware, credit unions, and utility co-op (25% of US power generation is publicly owned) is 29,000 with revenues around $625 billion.

brudgers 13y ago

The idea of internet services as a cooperative is an interesting one. To some extent - that extent being outside the formal economy - the cooperative (in the business sense) model might stand in for the bazaar when describing the development of Linux (i.e. The capital was to some extent social and to some extent reduced cost). I know the idea is a bit muddled. Something along the lines of working on Linux reduced opportunity costs compared to alternatives.