Slide Presentation on ESOPs and ESOP Acquisition Research
This is a slide presentation that Dr. Suzanne Cromlish developed for her classes. It introduces ESOPs and summarizes her research findings on ESOP acquisitions.
Why Are ESOP Acquisitions So Successful? A Qualitative Study From Consultants’ Perspectives
This qualitative research project focuses on a compare and contrast between acquisitions by ESOP and Non-ESOP organizations from a consultant’s perspective to obtain a third party viewpoint. Also discussed is a review of the academic literature on Mergers and Acquisitions, the reasons for failures, and possible solutions for successful acquisitions. An ESOP is an Employee … Read More
Is an ESOP Right for Your Remodeling Business?
In this podcast Anthony Mathews discusses succession planning, exploring questions including: What type of company sets up an ESOP? What is the process of establishing an ESOP? What are some of the challenges companies face? What makes an ESOP different than a 401k or other plan? What are the tax advantages? How does having many … Read More
Haier: Incubating Entrepreneurs in a Chinese Giant
Led by CEO Zhang Ruimin, Haier in 30 years has gone from a money-losing, rigid hierarchy, state-owned, local firm to a profitable, flexible structure, collectively-owned, multinational enterprise. This transformation has been done in well-defined steps. In 2012, it was moving toward operating as a platform for microenterprises. The platform was to be open to both … Read More
Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership (JPEO) in the Changing World of Participative Work Practices and Pay
Work practices and modes of pay have changed in recent decades. The combination of an increasingly educated work force, new information and communication technologies, the influx of AI and big data into business practices from production and sales to human resources, the increased importance of teamwork and the growth of non-standard work arrangements which blur … Read More
The Economics of Participation and Employee Ownership (PEO): an Assessment
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to discuss diverse matters concerning the field of Participation and Employee Ownership (PEO) coinciding with the launch of the JPEO. Design/methodology/approach This paper used mixed methods including bibliometric analysis. Findings Significant gaps exist in our knowledge of the scope and nature of PEO. Citation counts illustrate both the changing … Read More
Performance Pay and Enterprise Productivity: the Details Matter
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide novel and rigorous evidence on the productivity effect of varying attributes of performance-related pay (PRP) and shows that the details of PRP indeed matter. Design/methodology/approach In doing so, the authors exploit the panel nature of the Finnish Linked Employer–Employee Data on the details of PRP. Findings … Read More
Ownership When AI Robots Do More of the Work and Earn More of the Income
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the likely impact of AI robotics technology on the labor market through the lens of comparative advantage. Design/methodology/approach The first section reviews the recent success of AI in outperforming humans in cognitive intense activities such as Go, poker and other strategic games, which portends a shift … Read More
Introduction to Shared Entrepreneurship
Haier Group and MLab organized the 1st International Rendanheyi Model Forum in Qingdao, China, in 2017, to explore the transformation of business models in the current era. Dr. Frank Shipper, the author of numerous case studies on employee owned companies and editor of the book Shared Entrepreneurship: A Path to Engaged Employee Ownership, gave this … Read More
High Performance Work Systems (MGMT 624-691)
The primary aim of this course is to provide an understanding of how organizational systems and individuals interact. In specific, there is a focus on employee ownership structures and business models that contribute to shared prosperity because they are more effective than alternative models.
The ESOP-erative
Businesses interested in transitioning into employee ownership are often presented with a structural dilemma: convert into an ESOP or a cooperative? Go for the democratic worker control and participation of a cooperative, or the tax benefits of an ESOP? In this article the author describes how he helped a company, Sun Light & Power, combine … Read More
Firm Foundations for Democracy? Worker Ownership and Control in Advanced Capitalism
This chapter maps existing patterns of broad-based worker ownership and control in contemporary advanced capitalism and considers future possibilities for expanding democracy within firms. Section one discusses worker ownership and control arrangements in relation to different theories of the firm and shows how these arrangements map onto different national systems. Section two compares Germany, which … Read More
Effective Onboarding and Mentorship: Cooperative Home Care Associates
This two-page Business Action Guide describes the nation’s largest worker owned cooperative, Cooperative Home Care Associates, and its approach to effective onboarding and mentorship.
Stronger Together? The USW-Mondragon Union Co-op Model
In 2009, United Steelworkers (USW) and Mondragon signed an agreement to promote union co-ops: firms that combine democratic worker ownership and union membership. Eleven U.S. initiatives now seek to implement the USW-Mondragon union co-op model, prompting a debate about whether unions and worker cooperatives are stronger together. This article draws on a case study of … Read More
Ceding Control: An Experimental Analysis of Participative Management
We use an experiment to evaluate the effects of participatory management on firm performance. Participants are randomly assigned roles as managers or workers in firms that generate output via real effort. To identify the causal effect of participation on effort, workers are exogenously assigned to one of the two treatments: one in which the manager … Read More
The Oxford Handbook of Mutual, Co-Operative, and Co-Owned Business
This handbook investigates ‘member-owned’ organizations, whether consumer co-operatives, agricultural and producer co-operatives, worker co-operatives, mutual building societies, friendly societies, credit unions, solidarity organizations, mutual insurance companies, or employee-owned companies. Such organizations can be owned by the consumers, producers, or employees—whether through single-stakeholder or multi-stakeholder ownership. ‘Employee-owned’ business means businesses where a significant proportion of the … Read More
Governance and Decision Making at Carris Reels
Synopsis Carris Reels, a reel-manufacturing company headquartered in Vermont, had long-standing goals of being employee owned and governed. They also had a strong organizational (ownership) culture. The Corporate Steering Committee (CSC), a committee composed of representatives from management and non-management employees, and the board of directors had a decision to make about adding two new … Read More
Employee Ownership and Union Labor: the Case of United Steel Workers of America
Union–management relations in the U.S. are best described as adversarial. However, under certain circumstances, they can become cooperative. One example of the latter was the role of trade unions in the conversion of firms to employee ownership. Firm ownership (entrepreneurship, capitalism) by employees has increased in recent years. Specifically, we focus on the use of … Read More
The Neuroscience of Trust: Management Behaviors that Foster Employee Engagement
In this article, Zak reviews his research and that of others to link trust, the production of oxytocin in the brain, and performance. Furthermore, he identifies eight managerial behaviors that lead to building a culture of trust. By doing so the organization lowers stress sick days, and burnout; and increases productivity, engagement, and collaboration among … Read More
Cooperating Without Co-Laboring: How Formal Organizational Power Moderates Cross-Functional Interaction in Project Teams
I examine how different distributions of ownership and governance rights in firms affect the optimal organization of cross-functional project teams for knowledge-intensive work. I analyze multi-method data from two competing automated manufacturing equipment engineering firms with contrasting formal power structures, one a worker cooperative with ownership and governance rights distributed across occupations and the other … Read More
How Did Employee Ownership Firms Weather the Last Two Recessions?: Employee Ownership, Employment Stability, and Firm Survival in the United States: 1999-2011
Employee ownership is a situation in which employees have an ownership stake in the firm where they work, through holdings of firm stock. It is a channel through which employees share in the profits of the firm and can vote on important firm decisions and otherwise have increased participation in workplace decisions.
Employee Ownership: Building a Better American Economy
This easy-to-read guide to employee ownership introduces what employee ownership means and how it works, interspersing information with company profiles. Also see the companion website at www.esopinfo.org.
Special Section Democracy 2.0
This special section of The Sociological Quarterly, edited by Joyce Rothschild includes the following articles: The Logic of a Co-Operative Economy and Democracy 2.0: Recovering the Possibilities for Autonomy, Creativity, Solidarity and Common Purpose by Joyce Rothschild When Freedom is Not an Endless Meeting: A New Look at Efficiency in Consensus-Based Decision-Making by Darcy K. Leach “Plan … Read More
Busting the Millennial Myth: The Power of Purpose
This research report from the United Kingdom shows that the arrival of millennials in the workplace is not a threat to the employee owned business model. On the contrary, employee ownership works well to meet the aspirations of millennials, as it does for other generations. The ability of the employee ownership model to harness the … Read More
Podcast with Joseph Blasi, Richard Freeman & Douglas Kruse
When Workers Become Owners Professors Joseph Blasi, Richard Freeman, and Douglas Kruse explain how sharing the ownership or profits of a company with workers can improve productivity, pay, and work life quality – all while reducing economic inequality. Bonus – Jump on the Bandwagon Professors Blasi, Freeman, and Kruse stay post-interview to discuss why trade unions, business schools, and … Read More