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Catalyzing worker co-ops & the solidarity economy

Wholesale Trade

July 4, 2024

Preserving Legacy Businesses Through Worker Cooperative Buyouts

This is a "nuts & bolts" session on transitioning existing businesses to worker-owned cooperatives. Attendees learn about the option and process of worker buyouts and hear a wide variety of company transition stories, from initial exploration through deal structuring, financing and post-transaction support. Business owners considering a sale to employees as well as current workers exploring or engaged in a buyout will find value in the session.

February 26, 2024

Danish Creamery Co-ops in the Late Nineteenth Century

We consider the relative contributions of changing technology and institutions for economic growth through the investigation of a natural experiment in history: the almost simultaneous introduction of the automatic cream separator and the cooperative ownership form in the Danish dairy industry from around 1880. Using a new database of statistics from creameries and the tool of stochastic frontier analysis, we find that both institutions and technology were important for the success of the Danish dairy industry and, by implication, the growth and early development of the Danish economy.

Citations

Atlee McFellin (2016).  The Untold Story of the Evergreen Cooperatives:  An Inside View: Part One.  Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO).  https://geo.coop/story/untold-story-evergreen-cooperatives

Citations

Ajowa Nzinga Ifateyo, Pamela Boyce Simms, Josh Davis (2016).  GEO Podcast #1 - Exorcising Racism Through Introspection:  Understanding and Confronting the Legacy of Racism in Our Movements.  Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO).  https://geo.coop/story/geo-podcast-1-exorcising-racism-through-introspection

Citations

Len Krimerman (2015).  A New Journey with New Allies:  Coming Alive In Dangerous Times (1961-1983): Chapter 3.  Grassroots Economic Organizing (GEO).  https://geo.coop/story/new-journey-new-allies