A lot of wannabe entrepreneurs have great ideas for businesses, but don't have the resources and support to do it themselves. A good solution to this dilemma is to find likeminded people who can pool their talents and resources to setup a cooperative venture. A cooperative eschews the hierarchy of capitalist business models and instead uses the communal approach to business. In a cooperative, all members share equal power and use a democratic approach to decision making. Workers meet regularly and vote upon each issue on the agenda. Ideally members should have a common outlook on the business and it's role in the larger community. This makes it much easier to agree on day-to-day issues and the general direction of the business. All workers are paid the same and share equally in the cooperative's profits. There are some drawbacks to this system, due to the consensus nature of decision making. Often matters don't get dealt with in a timely fashion due to disputes. In the capitalist model the executives make the decision and everyone must live with it. At least in the cooperative model, you all share responsibility for the decisions that are made, so you feel much more involved in the whole business process, and not just a paid employee with no input. I worked in several cooperatives in Eugene, Oregon in the 1970s, one of which is still around (a bakery), and the other, a juice cooperative recently folded after 30 years! A new Oregon law made it illegal for them to sell their fresh unpasteurized juices, their main product! So these models can succeed, they just need to get a good start with the right people.
http://www.coopamerica.org/ I've belonged to 2 natural foods cooperatives, and they're certainly popular co-ops. But cooperative business doesn't have to be limited to foods. Artists' co-ops provide a good alternative for artists fed up with the exploitive nature of the gallery scene. There was a general store co-op in Rochester for many years, called Good Company, where people could purchase household goods, health and beauty aids, clothing and toys. It was sadly closed when one member sued the others out of greed, and the local courts treated them like a corporation, which is not the same thing. Good Vibrations in San Francisco is a cooperative that sells sex toys! The cooperative model of business can go way beyond bulk granola and tofu. I think the main reason more people don't take advantage of it is the fact that cooperatives by definitition require cooperation, and we are living in a culture of control freaks.
I really want to check out The Beehive Co-op in Atlanta. It's all indie craft & design. I would love to start or be a part of something like that where I live. Even more than that, I'd love to see more indie craft co-ops, as well as regular boutiques, pop up around the country.
woa that sounds just like what i am looking for. I have the regular contacts for goods which are completely different from what you can find in most of the US, i have a fair bit of stock ready, and just need the help with the capital and business acumen to make a viable store. I'm agonna check out the links and see what I find.
My record label is very much a co-op of a handful of local bands. Quite a few bands around here have very recently finished their debut records and want to put them out in some way but have no resources to do it. So what do we do - pool together money to buy CDs, cases, paper and a printer. We can now replicate CDs to a fairly high quality in bulks of about 100 a go, which for a bands trying to build up a buzz for themselves is pretty ideal.
highway child tribe is trying to co-op as we are buying a few buses and maybe land and a boat this year, how do we go about the legal co-op ownership agenda????????? any help in this would be great. peace drew
