Mini-Case Study: ComSonics, Inc.
This mini-case study examines ComSonics, which first adopted an Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) in 1975, introducing its culture and its unusual Employee Advisory Committee.
Company Profile: Max Auto Supply
At Max Auto Supply Co., a Toledo-based chain of 113 automotive repair stores, CEO Randy Katz’s main motivation for adopting an ESOP was “to cash out family owners and avoid estate tax.” It also “felt like the right thing to do” for the company’s employees, most of whom are mechanics and technicians.
“Here, You Earn It”: Employee Ownership at Parksite, Inc.
This case study examines employee share ownership at Parksite, Inc., where the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) is paired with a strong company culture and high job quality. For the company’s co-founders, the ESOP provided a solution to a major transition challenge. The company’s long-term employees accumulate considerable stock wealth through the ESOP. Discussion questions … Read More
Case Study: North State Grocery
This case study examines employee share ownership at North State Grocery, where the Employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) solved a transition challenge in a company owned by two siblings. Thanks to the ESOP, long-term employees, including frontline staff such as cashiers and bakery workers, build a larger cushion of retirement savings than is typical in … Read More
Case Study: Central States Manufacturing, Inc.
This case study examines employee share ownership at Central States Manufacturing, where the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) shares stunning sums of wealth with employees. Central States designs its ESOP to allow participants to access a portion of their ownership wealth while they are still employed at the company, through hardship and service withdrawals. This … Read More
A Union Toolkit for Cooperative Solutions
Labor unions and worker-owned businesses share the objectives of generating better jobs and giving workers control over their workplaces. The scaling of worker ownership paired with unionization offers pathways to expanded worker power and wealth-building for working people. The purpose of this paper is to show strategies used by labor unions to support the creation … Read More
Case Study: Isthmus Engineering
Isthmus Engineering is an example of a highly democratic worker-owned firm operating in an industrial sector that one might not think of as fertile ground for participatory democratic governance—the design and manufacture of highly technical custom automation machinery. From the beginning, membership in the cooperative has been open to any worker, regardless of role or … Read More
Employee Share Ownership in Africa
This presentation explores two growing employee-owned companies in Africa, Sokowatch and mPharma, through dialogue with the companies’ CEOs. The presentation was delivered at the 2021 Beyster Symposium.
Gardner Denver: Implementing an Employee Equity Plan
As KKR, a private equity firm, prepared to take Gardner-Denver, one of its portfolio companies, public in mid-2017, a discussion arose on the Gardner-Denver board about the implications of granting approximately $110 million in equity to its global employee base as part of its innovative “broad-based employee ownership program.” KKR (formerly known as Kohlberg Kravis … Read More
PDS: Ring-Fencing the Ranch
Pallak Seth, Group CEO of PDS Multinational Fashions, is contemplating options to bring better collaboration across his global apparel supply chain platform. PDS, a group of 50-plus subsidiary companies, each led by its own CEO and with different apparel industry specialties, has grown rapidly over the past decade, yet the industry is increasingly competitive and … Read More
John Lewis Partnership Approaching 100 Years – What Now?
This case study describes John Lewis Partnership. John Lewis Company has been in business since 1864. In 1929, it became the John Lewis Partnership (JLP) when the son of the founder sold a portion of the firm to the employees. In 1955, he sold his remaining interest to the employee/partners. JLP has a constitution and … Read More
Chatsworth Products, Inc.
This PowerPoint presentation is a case study that is part of Class 4 from the Course: Topics in Corporate Governance: Techniques of Equity Compensation. The case study discusses Chatsworth Products, Inc. (CPI), a leading manufacturer of systems designed to organize, store and secure IT infrastructure equipment. This presentation and case study is part of the … Read More
Mud Bay’s Good Jobs Journey
This 2019 MIT Sloan case by Zeynep Ton and Katie Bach describes how the executive team at Mud Bay, a privately held pet store chain based in Olympia, Washington, implemented a good jobs strategy by offering better wages and benefits and seeking to recoup the costs by increasing sales growth and lowering other expenses.
Making a Case (and Chairs, and Desks) for Employee Ownership: KI Furniture
Employee-owned businesses tend to outperform their competitors, a growing body of research shows. According to the National Center of Employee Ownership, businesses with employee ownership models grow sales and employment at a faster rate than businesses without such programs. Employee-owned firms also perform better than their counterparts during recessions, per research from Georgetown University. For … Read More
Mission-Led Employee-Owned Firms: The Best of the Best
Mission-led employee-owned firms embody a powerful model of enterprise design for a new era of environmental sustainability and social equity. These companies have much to teach the business world about ownership design for the 21st century and beyond. This report shares the story of this emerging model, embodied in 50-plus firms that are employee owned … Read More
Stock-Based Compensation at Twitter
Olivia Nash, an analyst at leading hedge fund BlueShark Capital Management, had just finished listening to the hour-long earnings call for Twitter’s Q4 2017 results. Was Twitter doing well? That depended on which numbers she chose to believe. According to Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), Twitter had recorded a $108M net loss for 2017. But … Read More
Shareholder Concerns with Equity Compensation – Concept of Fairness
This PowerPoint presentation is Class 5 from the Course: Topics in Corporate Governance: Techniques of Equity Compensation. The session explores shareholders concerns regarding equity, building a culture of ownership, and effective leadership in an engaged company. This presentation is part of the Teaching Module: Topics in Corporate Governance: Techniques of Equity Compensation.
Guest Interview: Topics in Corporate Governance
This PowerPoint presentation is Class 4 from the Course: Topics in Corporate Governance: Techniques of Equity Compensation. The session explores two employee-owned business, ATA Engineering, Inc. and Chatsworth Products, Inc. Case Study #1: ATA Engineering, Inc. Case Study #2: Chatsworth Products, Inc. This presentation is part of the Teaching Module: Topics in Corporate Governance: Techniques … Read More
Legal Implications and Future Trends
This PowerPoint presentation is Class 3 from the Course: Topics in Corporate Governance: Techniques of Equity Compensation. The session explores the legal implications of equity compensation covering tax law and labor considerations; as well as future trends. This presentation is part of the Teaching Module: Topics in Corporate Governance: Techniques of Equity Compensation.
Overview of Techniques – Non-Qualified Plans and Synthetic Equity
This PowerPoint presentation is Class 2 from the Course: Topics in Corporate Governance: Techniques of Equity Compensation. The session explores what non-qualified plans are covering legal factors, basic types, direct and indirect ownership tools, stock options and settlement choices. The session also explores synthetic equity. This presentation is part of the Teaching Module: Topics in … Read More
Equity as a Currency of Business – Qualified Plans
This PowerPoint presentation is Class 1 from the Course: Topics in Corporate Governance: Techniques of Equity Compensation. The session explores the notion of equity as a currency of business; and explores the most “tax favored” techniques, qualified plans. This presentation is part of the Teaching Module: Topics in Corporate Governance: Techniques of Equity Compensation.
Wawa: Retailing Reinvented Through Blue Ocean Strategy
This case study focuses on Wawa, the convenience store, gas station and restaurant company. Founded in 1803, Wawa morphed over time from an iron foundry to a textile mill, to a dairy farm, dairy delivery business, grocery store, then convenience store. Dark clouds descended with the 2008 financial crisis. As competitors converged on Wawa, management … Read More
ESOP Plus Benefit Corporation: Ownership Culture with Benefit Accountability
Stakeholder capitalism seeks to benefit multiple stakeholders, rather than primarily shareholders. Two increasingly popular forms are the employee stock ownership plan (ESOP) and the benefit corporation. But what happens when a company combines these structures? While the benefit corporation’s expanded stakeholder mandate may appear to come at the expense of employee-owner wealth and the potential … Read More
Inter-Cooperation Mechanisms in Mondragon: Managing the Crisis of Fagor ElectrodomÉsticos
The closure of Fagor Electrodomésticos in October 2013, the most iconic cooperative in the Mondragon Group, not only cast doubt on the economic and social management of the cooperative itself but also called into question the very viability of the overall cooperative model.
ULMA Architectural Solutions: A Case from the Mondragon Cooperative Group
The chapter reinforces the fundamental roles of information-sharing and participation in enterprises with shared ownership, while making key distinctions between shopfloor and office workers experiences and perceptions.