JEOD – Scaling Co-operatives Through a Multi-Stakeholder Network: A Case Study in the Colorado Solar Energy Industry

Topic: Co-operatives, Business networks, Solar energy, Social entrepreneurship, Sustainability—

Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity
Authors: Júlia Martins Rodrigues, Nathan Schneider

A new generation of co-operative businesses has struggled to identify pathways to transformative scale in their industries. This case study analyses a multi-stakeholder network of single-stakeholder co-ops that emerged in the Colorado solar energy industry that could be a replicable model for scaling co-operative businesses despite challenges of capital access. To understand how one set of entrepreneurs created national impact through networked co-ops, interviews were conducted with current and former employees of the businesses in the network: Namasté Solar (a worker co-op), Amicus Solar (a purchasing co-op), Amicus O&M (a shared-services co-op), Clean Energy Credit Union (a consumer-owned financial institution), and Kachuwa Impact Fund (a co-op of investors). Through these distinct yet interlocking entities, the network can serve a diverse set of stakeholders while retaining focus at the level of each business.

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Júlia Martins Rodrigues, Nathan Schneider (2021). Scaling Co-operatives Through a Multi-Stakeholder Network: A Case Study in the Colorado Solar Energy Industry, Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity, 10(2): 29-53. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5947/jeod.2021.008

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About Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity
The Journal of Entrepreneurial and Organizational Diversity (JEOD) deepens and expands the study of different enterprise types and organizational models, including (but not limited to) social enterprises, cooperatives, mutuals, nonprofit organizations and foundations. It places strong emphasis on their institutional and socio-economic contexts, as well as on their organizational features, practices, stakeholders and the development of communities and localities. JEOD also welcomes comparative research between different organizations and enterprise types, including different ownership and governance models, corporate social responsibility and network types.