Can There Be “Good” Corporations?
When companies are owned by workers and the community—instead of Wall Street financiers—everything changes.
Sundt Construction Company
Sundt had its share of ups and downs, but in 1992 when J. Doug Pruitt took over as the company’s COO, the company was headed toward bankruptcy. Today, the 100 percent ESOP-owned company operates out of eight offices located in Arizona, California, Texas, and North Carolina, and works on large construction projects in both the public and private sectors…
Client Profile: Dini Partners, Inc.
Dini Partners, Inc. became an S-Corporation as of Jan. 1, 2012. ‘It was clearly a way to define an ownership transition. The ESOP provided a path to an orderly transition of ownership. Also, as some of our senior members of the staff transition into retirement, we needed a vehicle to incentivize the younger, talented professionals to have a long-term stake in the firm.’
The 2012 Election Cycle: An Embarrassing Circus, Perhaps, but a Great Opportunity for Employee Ownership, for Sure
It is time to make the case that employee ownership is a solution to a lot of what is wrong with our country, and we need to continue to promote the concept until we have 30,000 or 40,000 employee-owned companies rather than the static 10,000 we have had for the last decade or more. If we can do that, we will have put a large part of the country on a much stronger footing, and moved toward solving some fundamental economic and social problems…
Democratic Enterprise: Ethical Business for the 21st Century
Designed for undergraduate students, Democratic Enterprise provides an open access, introductory-level analysis of democratic models of enterprise, namely co-operatives and employee-owned businesses.
Employee Ownership Companies on the Hunt – Acquisitions by ESOP Companies
With ESOPs now formed almost entirely at very healthy companies – and many of those enjoying the unique cash flow benefits of operating as ESOP-owned S corporations – a growing number of these companies have become the predators of the M&A jungle…
California Center for Employee Ownership (CCEO)
The California Center for Employee Ownership provides information and resources to promote a better understanding of employee ownership in California.
Using Ownership Incentives in China
Roy Weber met Cheng Wang, a business consultant and Chinese entrepreneur, at Cheng’s hotel bar in Silicon Valley. Although Roy was slightly familiar with Chinese business practices, he welcomed more advice from a Chinese national. Could Roy transplant Silicon Valley’s model of employee ownership to China, and what would this process entail for a technology startup?
Client Profile: CMC Rescue, Inc.
CMC Rescue became 92 percent employee owned in 2011. Jim came to the realization that employee ownership could realistically be the only way to assure continuation of CMC with its current operations and employees…
Open Systems: Applying Diverse Employee Ownership Theories to Address Today’s Complex Challenges
The ideas of employee ownership and various forms of profit sharing in corporations have been around for a long time. The shorthand proposition under study is this: If employees observe that they have a meaningful stake in the fortunes of the enterprise, they create value. More specifically, if they have a financial and emotional stake in the performance of the venture, then as individuals and as a workplace community they will raise the level of their performance and productivity.
Worker Cooperative Case Study: Isthmus Engineering & Manufacturing
While the U.S. manufacturing sector has shrunk over the past 30 years, the fully worker-owned Isthmus Engineering & Manufacturing (IEM) cooperative has thrived in the automated manufacturing industry.
Let’s Deal with Sustainability Once and for All
I think the reason we are still undecided about the sustainability of the employee-ownership model is simply that there are still significant numbers of business leaders (and, more importantly, business advisors) for whom the idea that allowing employees to earn capital as well as salary and benefits just sounds wrong.
Client Profile: n-Link Corporation
n-Link Founder Sandra Green explains that in the early days she wasn’t exactly certain what employee ownership entailed but knew intrinsically that it was a good thing for the company and the employees.
Sustaining Employee Ownership for the Long Term: The Challenge of the Mature ESOP Company
What do veteran ESOP companies have much to teach us about what it takes to sustain employee ownership over the long term?
Principled Entrepreneurship and Shared Leadership: The Case of TEOCO (The Employee Owned Company)
The case describes a unique corporate culture that motivates employees to achieve the organization objectives. It also discusses the company development strategy, the concept of shared leadership and how their recent partnership with a major private equity firm may have changed TEOCO’s culture and its business model…
Client Profile: Flexpak Corporation
Flexpak Corporation, has been a leader in providing thermoforming and packaging services to its clients for many years. The employee-owned company, founded in 1974 by Donald Bond is headquartered a few minutes from downtown Phoenix, Ariz.
Creating a High-Performing Workplace
Beyster Institute Senior Consultant Martin Staubus is teaching a course entitled ‘Management 269: Creating a High-Performing Workplace.’ In this interview, Professor Staubus describes the course’s five themes.
Employees Matter: Maximizing Company Value Through Workforce Engagement
Increasing numbers of businesses view their employees not as a mere cost but as invaluable contributors for business success. These firms are implementing strategies to fully engage employees at all levels. The Employees Matter report identifies sixteen fast growing entrepreneurial firms that employ employee ownership and engagement strategies which they perceive as directly linked with improved business performance. Eight other notable companies with key lessons to share are included as sidebar profiles.
Employee Ownership and the Entrepreneurial Spirit: The Case of HCSS
An overview of the Case of HCSS, also found in the CLEO database.
Client Profile: Los Angeles Engineering
Learn more about a unique engineering company that has been providing critical infrastructure services throughout southern California since 1986…
Inclusive Capitalism for the American Workforce: Reaping the Rewards of Economic Growth through Broad-based Employee Ownership and Profit Sharing
What can be done to reverse the economic disparity in our nation and restore prosperity for all? This paper lays out a policy reform that will help restore the link between economic growth and the earnings of workers so that the recovery re-establishes a prosperous middle class. The reform encourages firms to develop broad-based incentive compensation systems that link employee earnings to the performance of the firm. This reform would give employees access to the capital-related earnings of their companies comparable to that of the senior executives who run these firms.
Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) (A, B)
At the start, Dr. Beyster made the decision that SAIC would be employee owned and that ownership would be based on merit and contribution to the company, not tenure. Using employee ownership as a selling point to prospective hires, Dr. Beyster was able to recruit talented employees and build a successful organizational culture. However, changes made after Dr. Beyster stepped down would have implications for SAIC’s company culture…
More than Merely Sustainable
The sustainability debate continues in the employee-ownership community. The fear that employee-owned companies will not be strong enough to survive without significant outside capital, which will end their employee ownership, is still very widespread…
Heavy Construction Systems Specialists, Inc. (HCSS)
Heavy Construction Systems Specialists, Inc. [HCSS] designs and sells hi-tech software to the heavy/highway construction industry. The case describes a unique corporate culture that has made HCSS a business success in a highly competitive industry.
KCI Technologies, Inc.: Engineering the Future, One Employee at a Time
KCI, a multi-disciplined engineering firm, has undergone a number of transformations over the last several decades. It started as a basement dream, was acquired and sold-off by a larger firm, and has emerged as a multi-million dollar employee-owned organization.