I like Rochdale coops as a form of business organization (and was previously a member of the Park Slope Food Coop, a consumer-owned coop, as well as of the Stevens Cooperative School, a parent-owned coop). One difficulty with the model is the problem of raising capital; as a cooperative, you inherently cannot sell equity. Loans are feasible, but that generally works only if you have an existing, on-going business; it’s very hard to fund a start-up with loans. So you need to tap your initial membership for whatever capital you need, which is problematic if the needed capital is large. Though I note that food coops are now spreading across Brooklyn, because of the success of the Park Slope one.
Note also that some quite large American businesses are coops, though not worker-owned ones; Land o’Lakes Butter is a farmer-owned coop, and Ace Hardware is owned by its member stores.
