The Engagement Ethic

Ideas from The Ownership State are discussed in Chapter 4 of The Innovation Unit's December 2009 report "The Engagement Ethic":

In his recent publication trumpeting the potential of shared ownership for public services, Philip Blond quotes research that links this kind of meaningful work to performance. The research showed that 'the most successful councils share a common set of characteristics… excellent and good authorities 'value and recognise their employees, by allowing them greater input into the decision making processes of the authority, and perhaps, as a consequence, providing more room for individual creativity to flourish''...

Returning to Philip Blond's paper, he cites a study suggesting that such organisations have outperformed FTSE All-Share companies by an average of 10% per year. There is also some evidence that co-operatives may benefit from a 'cost of capital' advantage compared to shareholder businesses, where money is diverted to shareholders. Building societies, for example, maintain that their ownership structure has led to better outcomes for consumers, namely, lower mortgage rates and higher interest payments on loans than comparable banks.56 Consumer-owned co-operatives, such as financial mutuals, tend to rely on reinvestment from profits, access to debt or bond finance, which is generally cheaper than equity...

To read the full report please click on the above link to the Innovation Unit's website.