Much of the time, when confronted with a crisis of national dimensions, businesses do exactly what we expect them to do: they look to their own survival. Occasionally, however, firms in some contexts go beyond this. Based on qualitative, country-based fieldwork in Eastern and Southern Africa, Antoinette Handley examines how African businesses can be key responders to wider social and political crises, often responding well in advance of the state. She reveals the surprising ways in which business responses can be focused, not on short-term profits, but instead on ways that assist society in resolving that crisis in the long term. Taking African businesses in Kenya, Uganda, Botswana and South Africa as case studies, this detailed exploration of the private sector response to crises, including HIV/AIDS and political violence crises, introduces the concept of relative business autonomy, exploring the conditions under which it can emerge and develop, when and how it may decline, and how it might contribute to a higher level of overall societal resilience.

This up to date book provides the first evidence on employee-ownership in Central and Eastern Europe. This subject has attracted growing interest in recent years, since the sale and free distribution of enterprise shares to employed workers and mangers have surprisingly become frequent privatization methods in many transitional economies. The book highlights some of the crucial issues which have been debated in recent economic literature, in particular the advantages and risks of employee-ownership in comparison with other privatization methods. It also provides an overview of individual countries' experiences and makes some important policy recommendations. Privatization Surprises in Transition Economies is a wide-ranging survey which considers employee- ownership within privatization legislation and its diffusion and implementation problems in 14 transitional economies. Using empirical evidence on the impact of this privatization method, the authors address issues such as enterprise restructuring, employment, wages, productivity and investment policies. They conclude that employee-ownership has a bright future, and that the fears expressed by many policy advisers regarding the negative implications of employee ownership were largely exaggerated. This privatization method has proven to be one of the quickest, and has also brought with it many positive changes such as decentralization, increased productivity and motivation and more moderate restructuring policies - especially with regard to employment reductions. This book also presents some of the weaknesses of this form of privatization and identifies such possible improvement as the use of employee-ownership in combination with other privatization methods.

The inside story of Argentina's remarkable movement to create factories run democratically by workers themselves. The worker-run factories of Argentina offer an inspirational example of a struggle for social change that has achieved a real victory against corporate globalisation. Lavaca is an Argentine editorial and activist collective. The writer of the foreword, Naomi Klein, is an award-winning journalist and author of No Logo. Avi Lewis is an author and filmmaker. Klein and Lewis coproduced The Take, a film about Argentina's occupied factories.

From the dawning of the industrial epoch, wage earners have organized themselves into unions, fought bitter strikes, and gone so far as to challenge the very premises of the system by creating institutions of democratic self-management aimed at controlling production without bosses. With specific examples drawn from every corner of the globe and every period of modern history, this pathbreaking volume comprehensively traces this often underappreciated historical tradition. Ripe with lessons drawn from historical and contemporary struggles for workers' control, Ours to Master and to Own is essential reading for those struggling to create a new world from the ashes of the old.

Immanuel Ness is professor of political science at Brooklyn College, City University of New York, and edits "WorkingUSA."

Dario Azzellini is a writer, documentary director, and political scientist at Johannes Kepler University in Linz.

This book provides a national perspective of co-operative education initiatives by farmer co-operatives. The analysis examines whom co-operatives educate, what resources they use, what topics they focus on, where they source their programs and materials, whether they feel there are enough resources available for education, and what educational topics they feel directors most need to fulfil their duties. A co-operative feasibility study guide is also outlined with a focus on the co-operative business development process.

How economic rhetoric and policy have been hijacked to serve the interests of the wealthy
Americans have fallen for the ticker tape. We watch our portfolios, happily or nervously. We know there were a few bad apples at Enron and WorldCom, but we also know that: - The advent of mutual funds, low-cost brokerages, and the Internet has meant that the stock market is now more transparent, honest, and accessible to the small investor than ever before; - 401(k)s give the individual responsibility and control over their retirement savings, and that makes us more responsible citizens; - Federal deficits are bad for the economy, especially, somehow, when they're linked to social spending; and - Controlling inflation is the most important task of our economic policy.
But as economist Ellen Frank shows us, what we know is wrong. Over the past twenty years, Americans have been fed a mash of confusing financial and economic information. This information has distorted popular understanding of how the economy really operates and camouflaged the transformation of economic policy from a tool for improving the living standards of all to a tool for securing the perquisites of those with financial wealth.
Sifting through confusing rhetoric on everything from the stock market to the federal budget to the global financial system, Frank reveals how financial interests came to dominate U.S. economic policy and lays out in clear and engaging prose the basis of real wealth and economic well-being.

The authors tell the story of a democratic workers' cooperative that makes hand-rolled cigarettes, known as "beedis," in the unorganized sector of a fiercely competitive capitalist economy in India. For decades, beedi workers have been among the most exploited and impoverished of India's work force. In 1969, in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala, several thousand workers banded together to form a worker-owned beedi cooperative. The authors argue that their skill and determination, combined with Kerala's generally leftist political culture, allowed them to beat the odds. The cooperative surprised the private sector beedi barons by creating an enterprise that has lasted and prospered, offering the best wages and benefits in the business, while making a profit and contributing to the local economy.The authors analyze the major features of the cooperative, assessing its overall structure, worker-elected management, shop floor democracy, and progress in providing a better life for its worker-owners. Tensions are also discussed, including the complaints of women workers and the need for diversification from tobacco.

The authors tell the story of a democratic workers' cooperative that makes hand-rolled cigarettes, known as "beedis," in the unorganized sector of a fiercely competitive capitalist economy in India. For decades, beedi workers have been among the most exploited and impoverished of India's work force. In 1969, in the southwestern Indian state of Kerala, several thousand workers banded together to form a worker-owned beedi cooperative. The authors argue that their skill and determination, combined with Kerala's generally leftist political culture, allowed them to beat the odds. The cooperative surprised the private sector beedi barons by creating an enterprise that has lasted and prospered, offering the best wages and benefits in the business, while making a profit and contributing to the local economy.The authors analyze the major features of the cooperative, assessing its overall structure, worker-elected management, shop floor democracy, and progress in providing a better life for its worker-owners. Tensions are also discussed, including the complaints of women workers and the need for diversification from tobacco.

Why companies need to move away from a "product first" orientation to pursuing innovation based on customer need. In the past, companies found success with a product-first orientation; they made a thing that did a thing. TheInversion Factor explains why the companies of today and tomorrow will have to abandon the product-first orientation. Rather than asking "How do the products we make meet customer needs?" companies should ask "How can technology help us reimagine and fill a need?" Zipcar, for example, instead of developing another vehicle for moving people from point A to point B, reimagined how people interacted with vehicles. Zipcar inverted the traditional car company mission. The authors explain how the introduction of "smart" objects connected by the Internet of Things signals fundamental changes for business. The IoT, where real and digital coexist, is powering new ways to meet human needs. Companies that know this include giants like Amazon, Airbnb, Uber, Google, Tesla, and Apple, as well as less famous companies like Tile, Visenti, and Augury. The Inversion Factor offers a roadmap for businesses that want to follow in their footsteps. The authors chart the evolution of three IoTs-the Internet of Things (devices connected to the Internet), the Intelligence of Things (devices that host software applications), and the Innovation of Things (devices that become experiences). Finally, they offer a blueprint for businesses making the transition to inversion and interviews with leaders of major companies and game-changing startups.

The negotiation of the Canada-U.S. Free Trade agreement in 1985-88 initiated a period of substantially increased North American, and later, global economic integration. However, events since the election of Donald Trump in 2016 have created the potential for major policy shifts arising from NAFTA's renegotiation and continuing political uncertainties in the United States and with Canada's other major trading partners. Navigating a Changing World draws together scholars from both countries to examine Canada-U.S. policy relations, the evolution of various processes for regulating market and human movements across national borders, and the specific application of these dynamics to a cross-section of policy fields with significant implications for Canadian public policy. It explores the impact of territorial institutions and extra-territorial forces - institutional, economic, and technological, among others - on interactions across national borders, both within North America and, where relevant, in broader economic relationships affecting the movement of goods, services, people, and capital. Above all, Navigating a Changing World represents the first major study to address Canada's international policy relations within and beyond North America since the elections of Justin Trudeau in 2015 and Donald Trump in 2016 and the renegotiation of NAFTA.

Cooperatives the world over are successfully developing alternative models of decision-making, employment and operation without the existence of managers, executives and hierarchies. Through case studies spanning the US, Latin America and Europe, including valuable new work on the previously neglected cooperative movement in Cuba, Peter Ranis explores how cooperatives have evolved in response to the economic crisis. Going further yet, Ranis makes the novel argument that the constitutionally enshrined principle of 'eminent domain' can in fact be harnessed to create and defend worker cooperatives. Combining the work of key radical theorists, including Marx, Gramsci and Luxemburg, with that of contemporary political economists, such as Block, Piketty and Stiglitz, Cooperatives Confront Capitalism provides what is perhaps the most far-reaching analysis yet of the ideas, achievements and wider historical context of the cooperative movement.

"Like every other agency research director, I suffer from focus-group anxiety. Pumping M&M?s behind the one-way mirror, I?m monitoring the groups, the moderator and the client simultaneously. It?s tough enough to manage the client?s expectations and responses. Worrying about whether the moderator can effectively manage the content flow and the group dynamic makes the experience life threatening. Watching Tom moderate, I find myself constantly thinking, ?Wow, he?s smart. I wish I thought of that. He?s the best.?"

--George Scribner, Research Manager, Organic Inc.

"Dynamic, entertaining, and armed with information on new drugs and medical techniques that would challenge the knowledge of most physicians, Tom Greenbaum presides over an attentive yet relaxed group of medical specialists anxious to share their opinions and prejudices with this most charming of focus group moderators. Serving as a polished master of ceremonies, Mr. Greenbaum is able to work with the many individual styles of his physician panel and at the conclusion, leaves one with the sense of having participated in something important."

--Alan H. Richman, M.D., Chairman, Department of Radiology of Norwalk Hospital

"Tom Greenbaum is a highly effective moderator who has the special ability to quickly learn any subject matter and can conduct groups with expert knowledge. From the discussion guide to the final report, Tom works with speed and accuracy."

--Mark Alfonso, V. P. of Marketing, The Purdue Frederick Company

"Tom is one of the most competent and intuitive moderators I have ever worked with: not only does he have an impeccable understanding of the technical skills necessary for a successful moderator, he also has a unique and uncanny ability to foster and capitalize on the internal dynamics of any group."

--Joseph A. Ciaralli, The Prudential Insurance Company of America

"Thomas L. Greenbaum eats and breathes focus groups. If you want a definitive look at this research technique, you need to either live with the guru for a year or read his books."

--Dave Quincy, Clarion Marketing and Communications

The entire range of facilitation techniques is covered in this comprehensive handbook, from pre-session tips in participant recruitment to post-session reporting. Moderating Focus Groups covers all the fundamentals of successful group facilitation, and also includes a wealth of advanced techniques not found in other books on focus group research (on managing group dynamics, energizing a tired group, and digging deeper into the minds of participants.) Greenbaum also goes beyond the basics with chapters on how to build a business moderating focus groups, and how to price moderating services. While this book is particularly aimed at the needs of focus group practitioners, there is plenty of advice that will benefit anyone who conducts in-depth interviews or group facilitation. Additionally, the many people who hire moderators to facilitate their sessions will benefit from reading this book because it will provide them with valuable insights on how to evaluate their moderators? work.

This case study focuses on and analyses the formation of four co-operatives in the Evangeline region, a small Acadian community in the southwest part of Prince Edward Island.

Defined by the authors as an 'integrated community-controlled economy, ' the Evangeline community demonstrates the potential that a network of interrelated co-operatives has for community economic development. More specifically, the authors discuss why some co-operatives succeed while others fail, and propose a model that outlines the element necessary for any comprehensive community economic-development process.

Wilkinson and Quarter look at the Evangeline experiment in the context of two seemingly contradictory trends today: globalization and decentralization. They argue that the initiatives undertaken by the Evangeline community fit within the trend toward decentralization and community control. The citizens of the Evangeline region have formed a community-controlled economy, refusing to accept the conventional wisdom that a small community is not viable in a modern economy. The authors suggest that the Evangeline experiment shows that communities which are being marginalized in the modern world can take matters into their own hands and succeed where externally driven development has failed.

Employee Participation in Europe covers both the internal dynamics of workplace participation within individual European nations and the transnational policies and problems of participation at the European Union level. Combining historical, sociological, and comparative analysis, the author presents an understanding of participation's role in contemporary industrial relations. Knudsen shows how participation--while widely approved as an ideal--involves varying interests and rationales on the actors involved: employees and governments. The ways in which participation has been introduced and the differences in its practice are illustrated by detailed analysis of participatory institutions in Germany, the UK, Spain, and Denmark. This comparative approach clarifies the ways in which participation is embedded in national industrial relations systems and cultures. The author also addresses two major influences on the changing context of participation in contemporary industrial relations: the European Union and the growing importance of information technology. This broad-ranging review will be essential reading for all scholars of industrial relations, human resource management, sociology of work and employment, and related disciplines.

After decades of flying beneath the radar, co-operation as a principle of business and socio-economic organisation is moving from the margins of economic, social and political thought into the mainstream. In both the developed and developing world, co-operative models are increasingly viewed as central to tackling a diverse array of issues, including global food security, climate change, sustainable economic development, public service provision and gender inequality. This collection, drawing together research from an interdisciplinary group of scholars and co-operative practitioners, considers the different spheres in which co-operatives are becoming more prominent. Drawing examples from different national and international contexts, the book offers major insights into how co-operation will come to occupy a more central role in social and economic life in the twenty-first century. Mainstreaming co-operation will be of interest to students and academics studying economics, business studies, history, politics and international development, but also to policy makers interested in co-operatives and mutuals as a viable alternative to conventional models of social and economic development. -- .

As issues of employee involvement and participation once more evoke considerable controversy, this textbook provides an accessible overview of the main strands, perspectives and debates in current thinking and practice. It adopts a comparative international approach, addressing developments in the United Kingdom and mainland Europe, the United States and elsewhere. The authors identify two main strands of evolution: one driven by managerial interests in enhancing and controlling employee commitment and performance; the other deriving from employees' attempts to influence high-level organizational decision-making. In particular, they examine and analyze: the background of key concepts, issues and philosophies underpinning these different strands; the range of current employee involvement methods, from the individualistic and management-led to more regulated collective approaches; and the rationales and responses of employees, unions and employers to the various initiatives. Throughout the book the authors evaluate the contrasting philosophies and practices in the context of the rapidly evolving organizational and economic landscapes of advanced industrialized countries. Relevant factors include declines in manufacturing industries, deregulation of labour markets, intensifying international competition and the ever-increasing globalization of enterprise.