Company as Commons

URL: https://blog.muni.town/company-as-commons/

This lede is great:

Let's talk about business practice as a net-good within the commons, as opposed to an external extractor of it.

Now, quoting a quote:

The most profound act of corporate responsibility for any company today is to rewrite its corporate bylaws or articles of association in order to redefine itself with a living purpose rooted in regenerative and distributive design and then to live and work by it.

~ Kate Raworth, author of Doughnut Economics\

Steward-ownership is about structuring a company in a way that separates economic rights (to money) from voting rights (to decision-making power). These models have been tested in modern forms for over a century.

Often structured as trusts, foundations, or employee-owned companies, all of these companies have fundamentally redefined ownership by committing to two principles:

(1) Self-governance — Control remains inside the company with the people directly connected to stewarding its operation and mission, not external investors or absentee owners. With the control of the company held in a trust, it can no longer be bought or sold.

(2) Profits serve purpose — Wealth generated by these businesses cannot be privatized. Instead, profits serve the mission of the company, and are either reinvested in the company, stakeholders, or donated. Investors and founders are fairly compensated with capped returns/dividends.

Just like other forms of equitable and participatory co-ownership, steward ownership is not a silver bullet. Yet it leans heavily toward broad rather than narrow power distribution and legally preempts the most common predatory tactics of the hypercapitalized global marketplace.

Steward-ownership not only enables companies to better internalize externalities, it also helps combat the growing wealth gap and inequality caused by inherited wealth accumulation. Because steward-owned companies cannot be inherited, they help prevent dynastic wealth accumulation. What’s more, they prevent owners from siphoning rent off of businesses. Instead, steward-owned companies are “self-owned.” These businesses belong to the commons, serving their purpose and all stakeholders who contribute to their successes and helping to create a more equitable, regenerative economy. Capital is in this sense democratized.

Here we are, anguishing over whether we should relinquish what little remains of our shared resources to Big State or Big Capital, meanwhile there was a third, much less hazardous alternative available to us all along. Well, not so readily available just yet, but this form of collective ownership can quite literally be imagined into being if only we believe in it enough to write our own rules for a fairer game that isn't predicated on top-down authority.

Tons of further reading references around Steward-Ownership and Regenerative Economics: