Learning from Alternatives: Analyzing Alternative Ways of Organizing as Starting Points for Improving the Corporation
The Corporation: Rethinking the Iconic Form of Business Organization
ISBN: 978-1-80043-377-9, eISBN: 978-1-80043-376-2
Publication date: 27 January 2022
Abstract
The currently dominant version of the corporate form – the profit-maximizing corporation – is one of the most influential organizational forms in contemporary society. It is also one of the most criticized organizational forms, especially with respect to questions of purpose, participation, and ownership. The corporation’s strong focus on profit maximization and its non-democratic nature, as it excludes non-shareholding stakeholders from participating in how the corporation is run, have all attracted significant criticism. There are, however, several debates over alternative ways of organizing besides the corporation. In this chapter, we review the most influential of these: co-operatives, state-owned enterprises, democratically organized firms, social enterprises, stakeholder firms, and firms based on the sharing economy business model. We first analyze how these alternative ways of organizing do things differently with respect to questions of purpose, participation, and ownership and then we discuss how these different approaches can inspire efforts to reform the corporation.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
The author(s) disclosed receipt of the following financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this chapter: This project received research funding from Research Foundation Flanders – FWO (12Y1518N).
Citation
Luyckx, J., Schneider, A. and Kourula, A. (2022), "Learning from Alternatives: Analyzing Alternative Ways of Organizing as Starting Points for Improving the Corporation", Meyer, R.E., Leixnering, S. and Veldman, J. (Ed.) The Corporation: Rethinking the Iconic Form of Business Organization (Research in the Sociology of Organizations, Vol. 78), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 209-231. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0733-558X20220000078011
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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