A taxonomy of business organizations: transport industry and beyond

Abstract

Cooperatives have traditionally been opposed to firms. However, rise of new forms of co-operatives as well as emergence of new models of business organizations (platforms, especially in transport industry) demonstrates that this opposition is obsolete. The present paper introduces a taxonomy of business organizations that includes both firms and co-operatives as well as other forms of businesses. This taxonomy is based on the criteria of control over the economic organization and private identifiable assets that members of the economic organization possess. Cooperatives within this taxonomy are analyzed as business organizations, their dual nature is not taken into account. Only productive cooperatives are included in this taxonomy (producer cooperatives, marketing cooperatives etc). The paper demonstrates that there is a distinction between asset-based and labor-based cooperatives. The difference between various forms of cooperation in economic organizations is described. The paper introduces the definitions of explicit and implicit cooperation. Explicit cooperation exists in cooperatives, while implicit cooperation is typical for franchising and centralized platforms