Contents
A cooperative (often shortened to “co-op”) is a business owned and controlled by the people who benefit from it. Common types are worker co-ops owned by their employees and customer co-ops owned by their customers. A co-op can be both, typically called a multi-stakeholder co-op.
Most of my career I’ve worked for startups that gave me equity in the company; I like feeling invested (literally) in the success of the company. But nearly all companies are run like dictatorships, with decisions made at the top and employees having no control over the direction of the company. What interests me about co-ops is the way feedback from employees and/or customers is part of the decision-making structure of the company, more like a democracy.
Further Reading
The Mondragon Corporation based in Basque Country of northern Spain is the largest federation of worker co-ops in the world. Here is how it works. I’m particularly interested in how Mondragon is structured as collection of smaller co-ops—not one giant one—and how that helps it stay nimble and responsive to change.