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Scaling Co-operatives Through a Multi-Stakeholder Network: A Case Study in the Colorado Solar Energy Industry

Author

Listed:
  • Julia Martins Rodrigues

    (Law Department, Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora (Brazil); Università degli Studi di Camerino (Italy))

  • Nathan Schneider

    (Department of Media Studies, University of Colorado Boulder (USA))

Abstract

A new generation of co-operative businesses has struggled to identify pathways to transformative scale in their industries. This case study analyses a multi-stakeholder network of single-stakeholder co-ops that emerged in the Colorado solar energy industry that could be a replicable model for scaling co-operative businesses despite challenges of capital access. To understand how one set of entrepreneurs created national impact through networked co-ops, interviews were conducted with current and former employees of the businesses in the network: Namasté Solar (a worker co-op), Amicus Solar (a purchasing co-op), Amicus O&M (a shared-services co-op), Clean Energy Credit Union (a consumer-owned financial institution), and Kachuwa Impact Fund (a co-op of investors). Through these distinct yet interlocking entities, the network can serve a diverse set of stakeholders while retaining focus at the level of each business.

Suggested Citation

  • Julia Martins Rodrigues & Nathan Schneider, 2021. "Scaling Co-operatives Through a Multi-Stakeholder Network: A Case Study in the Colorado Solar Energy Industry," Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, European Research Institute on Cooperative and Social Enterprises, vol. 10(2), pages 29-53.
    • Handle: RePEc:trn:csnjrn:v:10:i:2:p:29-53
    DOI: 10.5947/jeod.2021.008
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Co-operatives; Business networks; Solar energy; Social entrepreneurship; Sustainability;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • P13 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - Capitalist Economies - - - Cooperative Enterprises
    • J54 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor-Management Relations, Trade Unions, and Collective Bargaining - - - Producer Cooperatives; Labor Managed Firms
    • L14 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Transactional Relationships; Contracts and Reputation
    • G3 - Financial Economics - - Corporate Finance and Governance
    • Q01 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - General - - - Sustainable Development

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