CHAPTER 5

Cooperative Business

That the profit maximization business that resulted from the capitalist philosophy is problematic for society has been realized time and again. In a search for a remedy, various other forms of businesses have been invented from time to time. Cooperative business is one such form invented by Robert Owen (1771 to 1858). Appalled by the exploitation of workers in the early stage of the industrial revolution, Owen suggested the cooperative business form, wherein workers and consumers jointly owned and managed the business, thus, benefiting all. He conceived a cooperative as a self-supporting community where producers and consumers were one and the same people. He urged production by voluntary associations for the use ...

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