Comparing Capitalistic and Cooperative Firms on the Ground of Humanistic Management

Abstract

This paper compares the different modes of functioning of the capitalistic and cooperative firms from the point of view of the principles of humanistic management. After a brief description of the main features of the two types of firm, I argue that efficiency - as it is commonly defined in economics - is not a robust enough standard on the basis of which to evaluate the relative performance of a capitalistic and cooperative firm. I conclude by pointing out that the fundamentum divisionis between the two types of firm resides on the view about the nature of firm: the firm as a commodity or the firm as an association, or community.

Keywords: Cooperative firm, capitalistic firm, efficiency, democratic governance, ethics of virtue