Case Study

EE embarked on its pioneering efforts to sell Fair Trade products in the United States with coffee from Nicaragua. From the beginning, EE paid the producers an above market price for their products out of a desire to help provide a better, more stable income and to more equitably distribute the proceeds of the final sales. The producers are typically small farmers indigenous to their region. On each product the company slogan -- “Small Farmers, Big Change” -- is prominently displayed.

The employee-owned sector – where companies are wholly or substantially owned by their staff – is estimated to be worth £25 billion annually, equivalent to 2% of UK GDP. Employee-owned businesses (EOBs) operate in a wide range of sectors, from retail, manufacturing and engineering to financial services. Employee-owned organisations also operate in the public sector, delivering services such as health and community care.

PACE of Philadelphia has used an extremely "targeted" strategy for developing worker-owned enterprises in the food business. Our results include a food-brokerage company, a lobster plant and distribution warehouse and a network of supermarkets (the O&O Store) in the Philadelphia area. The O&O stores are formally linked through a second-degree co-operative which sets standards for use of the trademark and tradename, establishes requirements for technical assistance, facilitates deals for goods and services for all stores and serves as a locus for discussion of common problems.

This case study discusses a pathbreaking strategy in Cleveland, Ohio, that addressed the economic challenges facing the city by generating local wealth, economic opportunity, and jobs. The strategy involved the expansion of the University Hospitals, an important anchor institution. The study is based on in-depth interviews with key stakeholders.

This report provides an overview of the key elements of the Evergreen Cooperative Corporation in Cleveland Ohio including a review of the role of Anchor Institutions.

This guide explores the worker cooperative network as a neighborhood, municipal and regional strategy for generating wealth. It presents two examples: the well-established Mondragon Complex in Spain and the nascent Evergreen Cooperative Initiative in Cleveland Ohio. Drawing from these two cases the authors then put forth a general framework for building a scalable cooperative network in post-industrial American cities.