Overcoming barriers of employee ownership in France, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US
Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership
ISSN: 2514-7641
Article publication date: 17 October 2023
Issue publication date: 21 November 2023
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to give an updated overview over the development of employee-ownership in Italy, France, Spain including Mondragon, the UK and the US with relatively many employee-owned firms. How have the barriers for employee-ownership been overcome in these countries?
Design/methodology/approach
The overview is based on updated descriptions of the development of employee-ownership included in this special issue. The analysis follows the structure of overcoming five barriers: the organization problem; the problem of entry and exit of employee-owners; the startup and takeover problem; the capital- and the risk problem.
Findings
Italy, France and Spain have overcome the barriers by specific legislation for worker cooperatives, this includes rules for entry and exit of employee members. Cooperative support organizations play an important role for monitoring and managing the startup problem and for access to capital. The Mondragon model includes individual ownership elements and a group structure of cooperatives. The EOT and ESOP models are well suited for employee takeovers, financing are eased by tax advantages and they are all-employee schemes. While the EOT has no individual risks, the ESOP model has the possibility for capital gains for employees but also the risk of losing these gains.
Originality/value
Comprehensive and updated overview of the development in employee-ownership in the five countries to identify successful formats of employee-ownership for implementation in countries with few employee-owned firms.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The first version of this article was developed in relation to a project on Democratic Enterprises financed by the Danish Government.
Citation
Mygind, N. (2023), "Overcoming barriers of employee ownership in France, Italy, Spain, the UK and the US", Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership, Vol. 6 No. 3, pp. 230-263. https://doi.org/10.1108/JPEO-10-2022-0026
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited