political support

Which party for employee ownership?

The media, both traditional and social, is buzzing with opinions on which party leader came out best in last night's debate.  There is a magnetic pull, but we are in danger of being drawn to vote for the personality, with the best presentation skills rather than voting for the policies which will deliver a better, fairer society.  Which party is really supporting employee ownership?

Employee ownership is one issue that enjoys cross party support.  It is difficult to see the negatives.

"Power to the people" Are the Conservatives talking real ownership?

The Conservative Party launched its manifesto yesterday pledging to devolve power to the citizens of the UK,  David Cameron stated "Collective power will overpower our problems".  Underlying the manifesto, appears a sincere recognition that people closest to the services (employees and service users) are the best placed to own these services.  5% of the local population can call a referendum, and co-ops and mutual ownership will be used to increase efficiency and "drive revenues" in the public sector.

It

The winning case for employee ownership

The case is closed and the argument that employee ownership is better for business has been won.  That was the message from last night's launch of a new report looking at research to date on employee ownership.  You can read the full report here.

The key findings are that

• Greater employee ownership could bring economic and social benefits to both the private and public sectors in the UK.
• Employee ownership improves employee engagement, innovation, sustainability and productivity

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The Many Forms of Co - Ownership

It is great that co-ownership models are achieving such a high profile at the moment.  There are many reasons behind the attractiveness of the co-owned model for both public and private sectors.  The financial crisis, stemming largely from the fixation with short term rewards at the expense of long term prosperity has created dissatisfaction with the PLC and banking models, which are owned and controlled largely by external shareholders, whose interests are not aligned with the other business stakeholders.  In many areas of the public sector, morale is low because of perceived unfairness, inad

Employee Ownership of public services - A Success Story

Co ownership is fast becoming a hot issue in the forthcoming election.  As the parties argue over who thought of it first, what the model will be, whether the focus should be on public sector, private sector or both, they cynics are saying it can't work.  How can people run their own company, become truly involved in the strategy and direction of the business, and have real accountability in their leaders?  How can that work in the public service sector?

One company achieves all these as well as delivering an excellent service to its service users, and provides a great place to work. 

Employee Ownership: better for business, individuals and society.

Why pursuit of shareholder value is bad for business, for individuals and for society.

Employee owned businesses: at least as good if not better. The evidence.

Yesterday, John Lewis Partnership, the UK's largest employee owned firm, published a report based on research by CASS Business School.  The report looks at whether employee owned businesses deliver sustainable performance.  The research presents considerable evidence to support the claim that employee owned businesses are better for individual employees, do better business, and make a more valuable contribution to society.  You can read the report in full

Building the international community of employee ownership

The annual conference of the National Center of Employee Ownership, the prominent members' organisation of co owned businesses in the United States, takes place in Minneapolis on April 20th - 22nd.  Details can be found here. I attended this event last year and it was tremendously stimulating and enjoyable.  The models of employee ownership may differ between the UK and US (and indeed there were Canadian and Australian delegates there last year, too) but essentially the uniting belief is that employee ownership is a better w

Sad news - was there no alternative ending for Cadbury?

I wrote an earlier blog post congratulating Cadbury on shrugging off the approach from Kraft and preserving their independence.  How sad then to read in today's Times that everything does indeed have a price and that independence has been bought.

It doesn't seem right that the future of this solid British company was in the hands of external shareholders who were eventually seduced when the money was right for them

Britain adopts the John Lewis model? Employee ownership moves up the agenda

I have been very critical in the past of the  political cross-party support for employee ownership which hasn't translated past the verbal into real action.   However, the news that the government will announce later today the establishment of an independent commission on ownership is a sign that this is changing.  This is an important development that will consider the effects of ownership on both the public and corporate sector.  It really is great news at the end of a year when interest in employee ownership has grown significantly.  Indeed, the fact that this Commission has recieved signif