The United States of America: a Survey of Producer Co-operative Performance

Although the 1970s have witnessed widespread interest in workers’ participation in management, little attention has been paid, thus far, to the American experience with a form of participation which involves a radical shift in organisational ownership and control: the producer co-operative (for exceptions see Shirom, 1972 and Jones, 1977). This chapter demonstrates that there have been a surprising number of co-operatives (PCs) throughout North American history. Contrary to common belief, many survived for more than 20 years. This chapter proceeds by first describing the nature of a number of these co-operatives. In the second part, two models of co-operative performance are presented and these are evaluated against the evidence of North American co-operative performance. The evidence shows that for long periods of time, PCs have grown, been profitable and provided considerable job security for members. On the other hand, mature PCs have a tendency to under-invest and this factor may have contributed to the eventual demise of even the seemingly most successful.