Partial models for such participation are available, but in my experience are rarely used effectively by cooperatives. For example, over the last 60 years American, British, Scandinavian and Japanese organizational theorists and practitioners have developed and successfully applied models of decentralized decision-making in a variety of capitalist settings. Also, one outgrowth of the 1970s efforts to democratize society is the development of sophisticated procedures for group facilitation and consensus decision-making. Small co-ops with less than twenty or so members often try to function consensually, usually without knowledge of techniques for making it work well. This is so, even though the board is elected by the workers, who also may participate in major policy decisions.
American cooperatives face a double hurdle in trying to raise capital.
Since most are small businesses with little equity or prior success, they have the same handicaps as other small businesses. In addition, most lenders are wary of dealing with organizations where, to them, nobody is in charge. Community loan funds are best for micro and small businesses, but are often reluctant to make loans without collateral. The National Cooperative Bank is, in fact, making loans and can make more to co-ops that can show competence and a track record. In many ways, the main problem in starting or expanding cooperatives is not the difficulty of finding capital but that of helping groups become competent to use the money effectively and prudently.