Running cooperative enterprises successfully

Mission Statement:
How is a cooperative business successfully run? What are the success factors and what pitfalls may exist?

It can involve all types of cooperatives, anything from companies and organizations with more or less strictly financial purposes (such as dairy producer cooperative associations) to social enterprises (user owned cooperatives, workers' cooperatives, etc..).

We want an analysis of methods that have been successful, both regionally (Gävleborg), nationally and internationally. Problem definition and issues are open for discussion.

Background information:

Running companies together is becoming more and more common. People have discovered the advantages and an increasing number of member-owned companies are formed: for example workers' cooperatives, parent-owned cooperatives in daycare, user owned cooperatives or entrepreneurial cooperatives. In a cooperative, everyone is involved and everyone has the opportunity to influence the company. It is the owners' common needs and ideas that are the foundation of the company.

Cooperative means interaction. A cooperative is run often in the form of a corporate structure called “economic association” (Swedish: ekonomisk förening). The owners themselves participate in the activities of the company and have a real influence based on the principle of “one member =one vote”. Democracy is an ongoing process in a cooperative.