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US Worker Co-Operatives and Their Spans of Management, Decision Making, and Governance: An Exploratory Analysis

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  • Lambert, Thomas

Abstract

Much has been written over the years about worker co-operatives as an alternative to traditional forms of business organization and ownership. The literature has mostly covered the issues of whether worker co-ops are more productive, more profitable and/or have a longer existence than traditional firms. This paper tries to fill some gaps in the literature by covering topics rarely if ever mentioned in writings on worker co-ops by exploring their spans of management, their decision making with regard to investment and hiring, and the governance input from their local communities. The results from a recent survey are interesting from an organizational behavior or institutional perspective in that worker co-ops show themselves generally to be different from most of their counterparts.

Suggested Citation

  • Lambert, Thomas, 2016. "US Worker Co-Operatives and Their Spans of Management, Decision Making, and Governance: An Exploratory Analysis," MPRA Paper 74816, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:74816
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    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/74816/1/MPRA_paper_74816.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. John Pencavel, 2013. "Worker cooperatives and democratic governance," Chapters, in: Anna Grandori (ed.), Handbook of Economic Organization, chapter 24, Edward Elgar Publishing.
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    Cited by:

    1. Lambert, Thomas, 2018. "Big Business and Management: Too Many Bosses and Too Much Pay?," MPRA Paper 86406, University Library of Munich, Germany.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    entrepreneurship; community; small business; span of management; worker co-operatives;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • B50 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - Current Heterodox Approaches - - - General
    • P13 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Cooperative Enterprises
    • R11 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - Regional Economic Activity: Growth, Development, Environmental Issues, and Changes

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