Cooperatives exist to serve their members, whether they are customers, employees or the local community. Cooperatives want to trade successfully - they are businesses, not charities, after all. Members, such as farmers or freelancers, tenants or taxi drivers, can often do better by working together. And sharing the profit is a way to keep it fair and make it worthwhile. Rather than rewarding outside investors, a cooperative shares its profits among the members.
Miért különlegesek a közösségi vállalkozások?
Cooperatives are businesses, but not like any other. Cooperatives are people-centred and value-based businesses that put the power back into the hands of the citizens. They are collectively owned and democratically governed by their members (consumers, producers, employees or local communities) who have an equal say in the business management and the way the profits are shared. Cooperatives act guided by common values and principles set in stone as the “Cooperative Identity”.
From the outside, a cooperative may look like any other business. It is what goes on inside that makes them different. Cooperatives are businesses with unique qualities and ways of working that provide a more collective, long-term approach to economic growth. By their very dual nature as enterprises and civil society organisations, they work closer to the local community and as a movement, share knowledge and provide opportunities in ways that are impossible for shareholder-driven businesses. Let’s take a closer look at co-operatives.
Siker kulcsei a közösségi gazdaságban
Cooperatives are successful businesses because:They represent a successful force for economic growth and social cohesion in Europe;They are businesses, not NGOs: they trade, but share equally and reinvest our profit;They work in all economic sectors: retail, agriculture, housing, banks, healthcare, insurance, consumers, renewable energy, intellectual property, water, industry…;They come in all types and sizes: from small companies owned by employees to large banks owned by clients
Members, not shareholdersThe fundamental feature of cooperatives is that they have members - not shareholders - who decide democratically. Depending on the type of cooperative, these members can be employees, producers or clients depending on the kind of cooperative. At the same time, they are the owners of the cooperative business. Therefore, they have a direct say on the profit and how it is shared. Cooperatives are unique because their members are stakeholders at different levels. For example, workers have a direct stake in worker cooperatives, producers in producers or retailers’ cooperatives, and users in cooperatives of users (consumer cooperatives, housing cooperatives, cooperative banks, etc.).
Multi-stakeholder cooperatives (such as an increasing number of social cooperatives and community cooperatives) also feature different types of stakeholders. This leads to a more collaborative, participatory and long-term approach to business engagement.
Gondolkodj másképp: Európa 140 millió tagja
Cooperatives constitute a valuable alternative to traditional businesses and exist in all sizes, from micro-enterprises operating locally to large companies working at the international level. They are active in all sectors of the economy, from industry to services, healthcare to housing, agriculture to banking and energy to culture. Cooperatives in Europe represent 163,000,000 members, 5.4 million employees and 250,000 enterprises. As a European network, we implement activities for sustainable development and innovation, while boosting economic growth and social cohesion in territories. We believe in the power of the people and are committed to fostering that creativity that allows individuals to collectively develop and implement long-term solutions to the most pressing challenges.
Közösségi gazdaság az Egyesült Királyságban
Co-operative economics is a system of business rapidly emerging in the UK, guided by principles of shared ownership, democratic governance, and the equal distribution of profits. Unlike traditional shareholder-driven enterprises, co-operatives - otherwise known as mutuals - prioritise the welfare of their members and the communities they serve. The two main categories of co-operative businesses are community/member-owned businesses and employee-owned businesses.
As the UK struggles with growing income and geographic inequality, as well as the aftermath of Brexit and COVID, these principles seem fundamentally appealing. Co-operative economics has its theoretical roots in the works of 19th century thinkers like Robert Owen and the Rochdale Pioneers, who advocated for collective action as a means to address industrial-era exploitation. The case for co-operatives is further supported by the field of behavioural economics, which challenges the traditional model of homo economicus - namely the assumption that economic agents always act in their own interests.
The UK’s mutual sector, while still modest compared to other parts of Europe, is steadily expanding. Community and employee-owned businesses contributed £40.9 billion to the economy in 2023, a figure that will likely continue to rise. One of the most prominent examples is the John Lewis Partnership, the employee-owned retail giant, which also controls the 329 Waitrose supermarkets in the UK. Another area of co-operative economics that has seen considerable growth throughout the 2010s is the renewable energy sector. Community Energy England, a network of locally owned energy co-operatives, exemplifies how shared ownership can successfully promote decarbonisation. There are now 303 energy and environment co-operatives trading in the UK, which allow people to locally invest their money for climate benefit.
A törekvés a közösségi gazdaság felé az, hogy a nyereséget ne csak a tőkének, hanem a közösség javára használják fel. By design, co-operatives mitigate some of capitalism’s flaws, such as the prioritisation of short-term gains over long-term sustainability. Moreover, co-operatives tend to exhibit remarkable resilience during economic downturns. A study by the International Labour Organisation (ILO) found that co-operatives globally fared much better in the 2008 financial crisis than their investor-owned counterparts. Moreover, after five years, only 39.6% of typical companies remain in business, compared to 81.2% of co-ops.
A mutual model address regional inequalities. Here in Britain, where economic activity remains disproportionately concentrated in London and the South-East, co-operatives have the potential to revitalize left-behind areas. In Newcastle, the model has enabled the creation of The Globe - a former failing pub that was saved when the community formed a co-operative and raised funds through community shares to buy it and create the UK’s first co-op-owned music venue and education centre. However, one of the most persistent challenges to co-operatives regards access to capital. Traditional financial institutions often view these unconventional businesses as high-risk investments due to their peculiar governance structures and their emphasis on member welfare over the maximisation of profit.
Folyamatok és kihívásokA demokratikus irányítás, bár a kooperatív modell alapköve, nehézségeket is okozhat. Decision-making processes in co-operatives tend to be slower and more cumbersome compared to hierarchical organisations. While this enhances legitimacy, it can also hinder the ability to respond swiftly to market changes. For cooperative economics to realise its full potential in the UK, systemic changes are necessary. Policymakers could play a crucial part in enabling mutuals by introducing tax incentives, grants, and legal frameworks that are tailored to their unique needs.
The Co-operative and Community Benefit Societies Act in 2014 was a step in the right direction, officially recognising and consolidating co-operative businesses under a new name. Likewise, the Labour Party’s 2024 manifesto pledged to double the size of the co-operative and mutual economy, and their plan for the implementation of GB energy is supported by community-run energy businesses across the country. Embedding co-operative principles into business curricula and vocational training could help raise awareness to a new generation of entrepreneurs who view shared ownership as a viable alternative to traditional models. Co-operatives UK, the primary British think tank supporting co-operative economics, say that “poor awareness holds back flexible businesses whose members can be consumers, workers, residents, suppliers or even have a combination of different types of owners”.
Many mistakenly view co-operatives as mere loyalty reward systems, a misconception partly fuelled by the Co-op’s suspension of the dividend system until 2016. Ultimately, the rise of co-operative economics in the UK reflects a broader search for ethics in business. While it is no panacea, the co-operative model offers valuable lessons for building a fairer, more resilient economy.
A cooperative is an autonomous association of persons united to meet common economic, social, and cultural goals. This project aims to make it easier to transfer businesses to employees/workers in a cooperative. It will also raise awareness about the benefits of a cooperative model. 2 consortia have been chosen to implement the project. This project will support the development of entrepreneurship education, focusing on cooperatives. It will encourage cooperatives to employ young people and promote start-ups. This will help provide youth employment and ensure the generational renewal of cooperatives.
Összegzés: közösségi gazdaság értékei és gyakorlata
The European Cooperative Society is an optional legal form of a cooperative. It aims to facilitate cooperatives' cross-border and trans-national activities. Participants should be able to distinguish the strictly non-cooperative (methodological individualist) foundations of traditional neoclassical economics as being couched in self-interested individuals, as well as having basic knowledge of an alternative set of theories based on the primacy cooperation and social norms and extending the breadth of economic analysis beyond exchange.
Cooperatives arose as "double movements", in the language of Karl Polanyi, to fend off the immiseration and social squalor inflicted upon the growing system of liberal markets that capitalism required to flourish. Cooperatives operate and began with certain core values: trust, comradery, mutual aid, democracy, open-ness, inclusion and non-discrimination and a desire to reduce or limit the role of capital returns on organizational thinking and decision-making. Each of these values strictly challenges the premises of contemporary mainstream (read: neoclassical and offshoots) economic theory.
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