The Co-operative Model of Enterprise

The literature on entrepreneurship typically distinguishes two types of entrepreneurship: traditional business entrepreneurship and social entrepreneurship. The traditional entrepreneur takes risks to develop a business activity for personal gain. Social entrepreneurship develops businesses that are locally owned and controlled to build socially owned assets. Those who have been economically marginalised, are able to create a more stable life for themselves and their families. But when these ventures are cooperatives, is this the same as social entrepreneurship? The authors elaborate a model for three types of entrepreneurship. This theoretical model is then applied to an analysis of two cases of cooperative entrepreneurship.

This model is considered against the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation as an effective example of co-operative entrepreneurship. The article also points out the limits of MCC as a model for co-operative entrepreneurship through the examination of Co-operative Ownership Development Corporation (CODC) in Silver City, New Mexico. This article draws on the literature of entrepreneurship as well as data from research conducted in Mondragon, Spain and in Silver City, New Mexico.