{"id":3563,"date":"2025-12-22T21:16:00","date_gmt":"2025-12-22T20:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/?p=3563"},"modified":"2026-01-16T13:29:35","modified_gmt":"2026-01-16T12:29:35","slug":"the-becompany-a-business-without-owners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/2025\/the-becompany-a-business-without-owners\/","title":{"rendered":"The BEcompany \u2013 a Business without Owners"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"image_pdf\"<\/a>\"image_print\"<\/a><\/div>

In Part 1 you saw why classical companies with shareholders and family bosses or state ownership are structurally flawed. Here comes the alternative: the BEcompany (BEC), a company that belongs to no one and still works brilliantly.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A real example illustrates the idea. The Swabian natural cosmetics manufacturer Wala (\u201eDr. Hauschka\u201c)<\/strong> transferred its ownership rights to a foundation in 1987. Since then, there have been no private shareholders, only a supervisory board that appoints and monitors the executive board. Profits remain inside the company and in a charitable foundation for medical research.<\/p>\n

The BEcompany takes this idea one step further. It does not need a foundation at all. It is ownerless from day one. It belongs only to itself, just like a human being who does not belong to anyone else.<\/p>\n

How the BEC works<\/h2>\n

The BEC must remain financially healthy and generate profits, but these profits do not flow to investors. They go
\n\u2022 to employees<\/strong> as a share of the company\u2019s success
\n\u2022 into investments<\/strong> that secure the future and sustainability
\nTo prevent people from benefiting at the expense of others, the supervisory board decides on the profit quota and its distribution. If profits exceed a reasonable level an excess profit tax (tba) applies so fairness outranks greed<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Employee participation should be distributed as evenly as possible. Production workers should be involved just as much as managers. Photo: Rawpixel \/ Envato<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Who controls the BEC?<\/h2>\n

Unlike in the capitalist market system, the supervisory board is not filled with owners. It is made up of representatives of society. Which stakeholder groups are included?<\/strong>
\n\u2022 management and industry experts
\n\u2022 financial experts
\n\u2022 employees
\n\u2022 local residents
\n\u2022 NGOs including climate and social organisations
\n\u2022 consumer representatives
\n\u2022 citizens selected by lot<\/p>\n

No one is bound by capital interests or party discipline. Decisions arise from shifting majorities. Dynamic, plural, democratic.<\/p>\n

A new style of leadership<\/h2>\n

The BEC needs another type of executive. Not bonus-chasers but purpose-driven leaders. People who measure success by social value, not stock prices. Leadership here means responsibility instead of return, public value instead of shareholder value.<\/p>\n

BEcompanies need managers who focus on their social impact\u2014not the stock price.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A market without dogma<\/h2>\n

The BEC exists in a cooperative economy<\/strong>. Competition remains but not as an ideology. Coopetition replaces competition mania: cooperation where it saves resources and competition where it drives innovation.<\/p>\n

An independent competition authority similar to a scientifically expanded antitrust agency defines how many BECs per sector make sense. Example<\/strong>:
\n\u2022 infrastructure sectors such as fiber networks need only a few providers because cooperation is more efficient
\n\u2022 innovation sectors such as pharmaceuticals benefit from multiple specialised players<\/p>\n

More than big companies<\/h2>\n

The BEconomy is built on diversity. Alongside BECs exist
\n\u2022 cooperatives<\/strong> for example in housing or energy
\n\u2022 regional alliances<\/strong> between farmers and consumers
\n\u2022 sharing models on a non profit basis<\/strong> for digital platforms for example car sharing or temporary housing
\nThis keeps the economy locally embedded, socially legitimised and digitally connected.<\/p>\n

\n
Your TEC Learnings:<\/div>\n
    \n
  • The BEconomics Company (BEC) belongs to itself. Profits flow to employees and into investments.<\/li>\n
  • The supervisory board represents society, not owners.<\/li>\n
  • BECs are complemented by cooperatives and sharing models.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n

    \u00a9 The Economics Coach 2026<\/strong> (Cover photo: Rawpixel\/Envato)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    In Part 1 you saw why classical companies with shareholders and family bosses or state ownership are structurally flawed. Here comes the alternative: the BEcompany (BEC), a company that belongs to no one and still works brilliantly. A real example illustrates the idea. The Swabian natural cosmetics manufacturer Wala (\u201eDr. Hauschka\u201c) transferred its ownership rights […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3576,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[44],"tags":[194,375,471,472,469,465,470,467,466,468],"class_list":["post-3563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-enterprise","tag-becompany","tag-common-good-economy","tag-cooperatives","tag-coopetition","tag-excess-profit-tax","tag-ownerless-company","tag-sharing-models","tag-stakeholder-democracy","tag-supervisory-board","tag-sustainable-business"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3563"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3566,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3563\/revisions\/3566"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/economics.coach\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}