Tools for Coop Developers

Resources for Coop Developers

Building a Platform for Economic Democracy: A Cooperative Development Strategy for the Bronx

Author(s): 
Nicholas Iuviene
Year: 
2013
Cooperative development efforts over the last 25 years have been largely inspired by, and modeled on, the Mondragon experience in the Basque region of Spain. None of these efforts has achieved nearly the success of Mondragon, which stabilized and dramatically developed a regional economy through the creation and growth of a diverse set of industrial worker and supportive secondary cooperatives. US efforts in cooperative development have typically replicated some aspects of the Mondragon model but ignored others.

Creating Jobs through Cooperative Development

Author(s): 
Nancy Conover, Frieda Molina, Karin Morris
Year: 
1993
This study highlights economic development cooperatives in California in an attempt to analyze the factors most influential in creating and sustaining ventures that are both economically viable and member-governed. It documents the goals of the founders and the members of California cooperatives in the service sector, and determines the extent to whcih the goals have been realized.

Inclusive Capitalism for the American Workforce: Reaping the Rewards of Economic Growth through Broad-based Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing

Author(s): 
Richard Freeman, Joseph Blasi, Douglas Kruse
Year: 
2011
This proposal examines the problem of economic disparity facing the United States, and presents an option for reform based on employee ownership and incentive-based compensation. It also proposes a change in tax policy accordingly and examines the impact of the proposal on a few Fortune 500 firms.

The Anchor Mission: Leveraging the Power of Anchor Institutions to Build Community Wealth: A Case Study of University Hospitals Vision 2020 Program Cleveland, Ohio

Author(s): 
Farzana Serang, J. Phillip Thompson, Ted Howard
Year: 
2013
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.

Worker Owned Cooperatives and the Ecosystems that Support Them

Author(s): 
Rachael Tanner
Year: 
2013
By emphasizing wealth creation, communities can not only cultivate streams of income, but also build wealth. Through collectively owned and democratically governed assets, communities can build wealth. Economic development policy and practice should emphasize wealth creation. Employee ownership, through worker cooperatives is one way to build wealth. But worker cooperatives are rare in the United States; this is because there is not a supportive cooperative ecosystem.

Model Growth: Do employee-owned businesses deliver sustainable performance?

Author(s): 
Joseph Lampel, Ajay Bhalla, Pushkar Jha
Year: 
2010
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.