Cooperative ownership structures

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planted: 06/02/2022last tended: 12/02/2022

1. Worker cooperatives

Worker-owned: the workers of the co-operative collectively own and manage the organisation. This could involve close collaboration in the day-to-day management of the collective or allowing a group of individuals to run the platform while workers gain increased benefits from their work due to their co-ownership of the platform.

The Co-operativist Challenge to the Platform Economy

2. Producer cooperatives

Producer-owned: producers of the goods or services sold on the platform collectively own and manage the organisation. Producers of products such as music, photography and household goods can use a shared platform to pool resources and benefit from network effects without necessarily collaborating in the design and marketing of their products.

The Co-operativist Challenge to the Platform Economy

3. Consumer cooperatives

Consumer-owned: businesses owned and managed by consumers with the aim of fulfilling their needs. There are many examples of non-digital consumer collectives from credit unions and electricity co-ops to food co-ops. A number of data co- operatives have emerged in which individuals pool their data to form a trust to be controlled democratically by its members.

The Co-operativist Challenge to the Platform Economy

4. Multi-stakeholder cooperatives

Multi-stakeholder: An umbrella term which incorporates a range of different co-operatives that include workers, users, founders, service providers and broader community members as part of their ownership and governance structure. An example is Resonate, a stream-to-own music platform in which artists (45%), listeners (35%) and workers (20%) all have a stake in the co-operative.

The Co-operativist Challenge to the Platform Economy

5. Elsewhere

5.1. In my garden

Notes that link to this note (AKA backlinks).

5.2. In the Agora

5.3. Mentions

Recent changes. Source. Peer Production License.