Aptitude of Worker Cooperatives as Alternative Entrepreneurial Path in South Africa: A Critical Exploration

The chapter analyzes the key arguments from theory and empirical evidence about the features and purposes of worker cooperatives, with a focus on their consequences for the development and promotion of entrepreneurship. The analysis demonstrates that cooperatives have the potential to provide decent and stable jobs, facilitate reduction of work inequality in the workforce, integrate marginalized workers, and assist those making the move from the informal sector to formal sector employment to produce and safeguard employment in conventional sectors and foster decent jobs. The chapter then zeros in on the key policy repercussions and a short overview of the kinds of efforts that could provide the worker cooperatives with the backing that it requires to reach their full potential and contribute to improving the future state of entrepreneurship as well as work, at both the local and global levels. Using some worker cooperatives in the world, this chapter sets the stage for a more in-depth investigation. To do this, we developed many questions about the potential of worker cooperatives, their current characteristics, their operational challenges and dilemmas, and the conditions necessary for their survival and growth. When taken as a whole, the chapter gives a comprehensive overview of the worker cooperatives model and emphasizes that they represent a promising potential response to some of the government’s pressing economic problems.