Commentary Archives - Page 2 of 3

Commentary

The Seller’s Last Question: What Happens to the Employees?

Capitalism,Commentary,Commerce,Economics and Surplus Allocation,Foundations and Philosophy,Governance and Structure 487

Reference code: C26-05 La-Z-Boy, Foreign Competition, and the Succession-Planning Case for a CCE When the owner of a successful manufacturing company begins planning for succession, the discussion quickly acquires its own vocabulary. The advisers speak of valuation, financing, taxes...

Polycentric Governance Tends to Outperform Traditional Capitalist Governance

Capitalism,Commentary,Enterprise Theory,Governance and Structure 1001

Reference code: C25-16 The Concentrated-Power Problem in Traditional Capitalism In a conventional capitalist firm, economic authority tends to collapse into a single dominant center even when the org chart looks more complex. Shareholders (or the capital markets that discipline them) set the value...

How Reserves and Funds Protect Workers in a Downturn

Capitalism,Commentary,Economics and Surplus Allocation,Labor and Workplace 897

Reference code: C25-15 This commentary is one of a two-part set of commentaries that examines worker precarity in down economies. What “Reserves and Funds” Mean in Practice Reserves and internal funds reduce precarity only when they operate as pre-positioned commitments rather than...

Durable Worker Security in Economic Downturns

Capitalism,Commentary,Economics and Surplus Allocation,Labor and Workplace 1072

Reference code: C25-14 This commentary is one of a two-part set of commentaries that examines worker precarity in down economies. Why Downturns Turn Jobs into Precarity Economic downturns translate quickly into worker precarity because the employment relationship in the United States is often the...

The Problem of Captured Surplus

Capitalism,Commentary,Economics and Surplus Allocation,Foundations and Philosophy 1697

Why A Commons-Based Enterprise Model Is Needed Now Reference code: C25-13 Historical Drift of the Postwar Social Contract In the decades after the Second World War, households in the United States could reasonably expect that diligent work would translate into stability, modest upward mobility and...

Projected Reach of Commons Enterprises in the United States

Capitalism,Commentary,Economics and Surplus Allocation,Enterprise Theory,Foundations and Philosophy 1511

Reference code: C25-12 Recent data from the Federal Reserve and related analyses show just how concentrated wealth has become in the United States. The Federal Reserve’s Distributional Financial Accounts, summarized in a June 2025 article from the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, report that the...

Executive Role and Board Stewardship

Commentary,Governance and Structure 922

Reference code: C25-11 This commentary is one of a two-part set of commentaries that examines the principles and practical design choices involved in Small Scale Commons Governance. Part Two─Executive Role and Board Stewardship Within this compact design, the role of an executive director or...

Smaller Structures with the Same Core

Commentary,Governance and Structure 935

Reference code: C25-10 This commentary is one of a two-part set of commentaries that examines the principles and practical design choices involved in Small Scale Commons Governance. Part One─Designing Small Scale Commons Governance This commentary is the first part of a two-part guide on how small...

Professional Fields with a Stake in Commons Capitalism

Commentary,Enterprise Theory,Governance and Structure 907

Reference code: C25-09 Commons capitalism represents a departure from familiar corporate and nonprofit structures. By separating stewardship authority from market-facing operations, and by requiring subsidiaries to pursue the highest achievable net profits while the parent corporation preserves...

A New Paradigm of Socioeconomic Organization

Capitalism,Commentary,Cooperatives 811

Reference code: C25-08 Disclosure: The following guest commentary was submitted unsolicited to the publisher. The views expressed are those generated by ChatGPT alone. The commentary is published as received, and its substance has not been edited, revised, or otherwise altered. The commentary was...