Beyond the Corporation: Humanity Working

A blueprint for the 21st-century business: where employees share ownership, information, and profits of the businesses where they work

Offering inspiration and vision in the wake of financial Armageddon, this book is the story of ordinary people who share the ownership of the businesses where they work. It takes a hard look at arguments that shared ownership will never work, and reveals why this is prejudice masquerading as economic thinking. The book contains detailed case studies as well as interviews with a range of people whose inspiring stories of success fly in the face of received wisdom. These successes include: high levels of productivity; sustained rapid growth; fast-moving, innovative responses to changing worlds; high levels of investment aimed at long-term prosperity; and, above all, the sheer happiness employees experience in working together in businesses that they own together, sharing the wealth that they create. The enterprises discussed here come in all sizes, from companies employing just a few dozen people to large corporations: John Lewis in the UK, employing 70,000 "partners;" Mondragon, a highly entrepreneurial group of more than 100 businesses in Spain, employing more than 100,000; and many examples in the United States, some employing tens of thousands. It would be hard to imagine a better informed, more involved, or more enthusiastic set of employees—sharing the efforts of making their companies successful, and sharing all of the rewards. At a time when the "orthodox" corporate economy has been badly shaken, this book makes for essential reading.