Cooperatives have often been viewed as organizations that are fundamentally different from conventional companies. This book redefines cooperatives as business organizations comparable to companies and examines their functional characteristics compared with companies, with the aim of enhancing their market compatibility and facilitating their integration into the market system.

Kazuhiko Mikami is one of the world's leading experts on cooperative firms.  In this masterful book, he examines firms controlled by consumers, workers, and suppliers, showing how they differ from capitalist firms and carefully assessing their strengths and weaknesses.  The book offers historical perspectives, provides concrete examples, compares legal frameworks across countries, and employs bite-sized economic models to make theoretical points.  Mikami argues convincingly that the cooperative sector would expand, and economic efficiency would improve, if cooperatives were allowed to use tradeable membership shares.  Mikami is a deep thinker with an impressive scholarly range.  This comprehensive overview of his research during the last two decades deserves close attention from anyone interested in the theory of economic organization.

----- Gregory K. Dow, Emeritus Professor of Economics, Simon Fraser University, Canada

Professor Kazuhiko Mikami's latest book provides an invaluable contribution to our field, offering a remarkably clear and comprehensive examination of the fascinating world of cooperatives. It delves deeply into both their theoretical foundations as well as the practical issues underlying their operations. This work will undoubtedly serve as an essential resource for researchers and students alike.

----- Marco Marini, Professor of Economics, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy, and Editor-in-Chief, Annals of Public and Cooperative Economics