Why aren't there more worker co-ops?
Why aren't there more worker co-ops?
Even when I was living in a very liberal area, there were only a small handful of stores that advertised as worker co-ops. It's funny too because those co-op stores were all incredibly popular and successful, so I don't understand why they are so comparatively rare? The organizational structure seems simple to maintain, and has a high incentive for regular workers to go above and beyond since they directly benefit from the business being successful, so what's the deal? I am speaking from a US centric view, so maybe things are different in Europe, but even with my limited knowledge I feel like they are relatively unpopular there too, but maybe not? I dunno.
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Survivor bias. The only ones that make it are the extraordinarily well run ones. I worked for one that feel apart. All it takes is one period where for whatever personal reasons there aren’t enough committed core members to manage the business.
True, but small businesses fail all the time for all kinds of reasons. Lack of core members is like the co-op equivalent of the trope where the original owner of a small business sells it to some idiot who makes awful decisions and it all goes down the tubes. It doesn't really explain why for every 100+ traditional businesses that are started, only like 1 co-op is started (numbers made up, obviously, but it feels that way).
You’re right that businesses fail all the time. I just think far fewer coops even start, and they have more ways to fail.