A Better Way of Doing Business?: Lessons from The John Lewis Partnership

Synopsis

This Book Offers A Thoroughly Researched And Accessibly Written Account Of The John Lewis Partnership. It Describes What The Jlp Is, How It Works, And What Other Businesses Can Learn From It. The Us/uk Model Of The Firm, With Its Emphasis On Shareholder Value And Its Openness To The Market In The Buying And Selling Of Businesses, Is Prone To A Number Of Problematic Consequences For Employees, Suppliers, And Sometimes Share-holders. The Jlp Represents A Contrast To This Model - One That Has Implications Beyond The Small Niche Of Mutually-owned Firms. The Jlp Has Lessons For Organizations That Are Unlikely To Move Towards The Partnership's Distinctive Shared Ownership. This Book Identifies These Lessons. The Key Questions Addressed Include: How Does The Jlp Work In Practice? What Is The Link Between Co-ownership, The Jlp Employment Model, And The Performance Of The Businesses? What Is The Role Of Management In The Success Of John Lewis And Waitrose? Are Mutuality, Co-ownership And Business Performance At Odds? What Is The Significance Of Democracy Within The Jlp? And Probably Most Significantly: What Are The Implications, For Policy-makers And For Economic Agents Of The Jlp? This Book Is Based On Detailed Knowledge Of The Jlp And Its Constituent Business Gathered By The Authors Over A Fifteen Year Period. Their Conclusion: That The Jlp Is More Complex, Even More Impressive, And More Interesting Than Its Admirers Realise.