Want to order a publication you see below?

Click here to Purchase Hardcopy online

Or contact the OEOC at oeoc@kent.edu or 330-672-3028.

First Class Mail delivery to domestic US addresses is included in price of book. (if outside the continental U.S. contact the OEOC for shipping information):

Tax (applicable to all Ohio orders): 7.25%

(FREE PDF VERSION) Business Succession Planning: An Owners Manual

With support from the Cleveland Foundation, we have published a new book on business succession planning Business Succession Planning: An Owners Manual. The book  provides business owners with basic information and worksheets that enable the development of an initial business succession plan. It is designed following a 5-step process that includes:

1. Defining goals and objectives, for your business and yourself (and family)
2. Determining how much your company is worth
3. Exploring available options for selling or transferring your business
4. Developing and implementing your succession plan
5. Developing a personal plan for the next stage of your life

You can access a free PDF version of the book by clicking here.

If you would like a hard copy please send an email to oeoc@kent.edu

(FREE) Ohio's Employee-Owned Top 50 - Employee Stock Ownership Plans

For over 20 years the OEOC has published a the Ohio Top 50 report which provides an overview of ESOP companies in Ohio as well as rankings for the largest ESOPs by assets, number of participants, and value per participant. The report also provides  the total number of plans and companies along with a sectoral breakdown of the ESOPs in Ohio.

Data for Ohio’s Top 50 was drawn from several sources: publicly available IRS Form 5500 reports, downloaded from the IRS website, as well as data compiled by 1) the National Center for Employee Ownership; 2) an ongoing OEOC survey of Ohio companies conducted every year; 3) phone calls, and 4) press and news reports.  The lists presented here are based off 2018 Form 5500 filings.

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(FREE) Building Legacies: Retaining Jobs and Creating Wealth Through Worker Ownership

Building Legacies is a report that outlines how decades of research and experience demonstrate that worker ownership is a proven economic development strategy that can retain and strengthen businesses, create dignified family-sustaining jobs, and provide real wealth-building opportunities for individuals and communities.

There are clear benefits that worker ownership offers:

• Employee advantage: Employees at worker-owned businesses have higher wages and better benefits.

• Selling Owners: can take advantage of a flexible succession strategy that ensures their legacy continues.

• Company advantage: Worker-owned companies are more profitable and productive.

• Community advantage: Worker-owned businesses are less likely to close,  relocate, or lay off workers during downturns.

The report highlights how worker ownership can be used as a way to lower economic inequality, remedy precarious work conditions, and provide baby-boomer business owners with a succession planning option that leaves their legacy intact.

Building Legacies also provides case studies and examples of successful transitions to employee ownership along with detailed policy recommendations and contact details for support organizations currently working to increase the number of employee-owned companies in Ohio.

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Selling Your Business to Your Employees: Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) & Employee-Owned Cooperatives

John Logue and Bill McIntyre and the staff of the Ohio Employee Ownership Center and the Cooperative Development Center at Kent State University. 42 pp.

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Purchase Here

IBSN 978-0-692-01261-1, (paperback) $15

If you are a business owner looking for an exit strategy that can provide you with:

• significant tax savings
• flexibility in how and when you exit the business
• a chance to reward employees that helped you build the business

All while priming the company for future growth.

Then an employee Stock Ownership Plan (ESOP) or worker-owned cooperative may be for you. This manual describes both strategies in non-technical, easy to understand language, and will help you to explore whether these two options are right for you.

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(FREE) Solidarity as a Business Model: A Multi-Stakeholder Cooperatives Manual

Authored by Margaret Lund for publication by of the Cooperative Development Center at Kent State University

Multi-stakeholder cooperatives (MSCs) are co-ops that formally allow for governance by representatives of two or more “stakeholder” groups within the same organization, including consumers, producers, workers, volunteers or general community supporters. Rather than being organized around a single class of members the way that most cooperatives are, multi-stakeholder cooperatives enjoy a heterogeneous membership base. The common mission that is the central organizing principle of a multi-stakeholder cooperative is also often more broad than the kind of mission statement needed to capture the interests of only a single stakeholder group, and will generally reflect the interdependence of interests of the multiple partners.

This manual explains the Multi-stakeholder cooperative model; provides examples through case studies; and more.

‍This manual is available as a FREE download, Click here.

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