FT.com / Companies / Industrial Goods - Clansman’s staff take co-operative approach.
A thriving engineering company, Clansman Dynamics, is the latest Scottish venture to become an employee-owned business.
Founded in 1994 by Dick Philbrick, Clansman makes robotic handling equipment for forges, foundries, steelworks and garbage handling.
Employing 30 staff and with turnover of £7m ($11.3m), Clansman is planning to achieve turnover of about £10m within the next two years as it expands its products and services.
“It has been a long-term ambition to take the company into employee ownership and ensure it remains in Scotland,” said Mr Philbrick. “I decided it was time to make it happen and put the company in the hands of the people that are best placed to realise its potential — the employees.”
This is the way forward for really entrepreneurial business.
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Agreed. A careful reading of Marx shows, I think, that this is the sort of revolution he had in mind where workers take back ownership of the means of production.
Yes, indeed. The myth is that you need capitalists to provide the finance for production. But worker co-operatives can just obtain loans for this, paying back out of future profits. The models for such businesses exists e.g. the Spanish Mondragons but the transition from capitalism to socialism requires careful thought. This must be done democratically and without violent revolution.