Collaborative Initiative on Shared Capitalism Through Employee Ownership
New York, NY, September 2, 2009 – The Center for Business Education at the Aspen Institute, in collaboration with the Foundation for Enterprise Development (FED) and the Employee Ownership Foundation (EOF), today announced Daphne Berry as the winner of the newly created 2009 Dissertation Proposal Award. This inaugural award for promising dissertation research in the realm of broad-based employee ownership is intended to identify innovative research and high-impact ideas about business and society focusing specifically on Shared Capitalism through Employee Ownership.
Daphne Berry, a fourth year doctoral student of management at the University of Massachusetts Amherst, is undertaking trailblazing research in the area of direct care workers. Specifically, Berry questions whether home health care aides are more or less productive given the structure of the organization by which they are employed.
“Through the establishment of this award, the partnership between the Center for Business Education at the Aspen Institute, Foundation for Enterprise Development, and the Employee Ownership Foundation continues to expand knowledge of employee ownership among the world’s academic centers,” said Joseph Cabral, chair of the Employee Ownership Foundation. “We salute Ms. Berry, as well as the two finalists and all who submitted proposals, for joining the ranks of thoughtful researchers on the dynamics of employee ownership.”
“The current economic crisis and its subsequent repercussions on the business world serve as unfortunate reminders of the vulnerability of existing business models,” said Rich Leimsider, director of the Aspen Institute Center for Business Education. This is an exciting opportunity to investigate alternative models of governance, such as employee ownership, that aim to capture the spirit of capitalism at its best—namely, empowering entrepreneurs to include their communities and stakeholders in wealth creation.”
Two finalists also were selected this year: Francesco Bova, now an assistant professor of accounting at the Joseph L. Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, and formerly a doctoral student at Yale University, and; Mark Stanford, a doctoral candidate at the University of Oxford, Linacre College.
The winner and finalists of this new award were selected through a multi-round review process. The seven final round judges represented a wide spectrum of high-caliber institutions: Joseph Blasi, Rutgers University; Richard Freeman, Harvard University; Takao Kato, Colgate University; Tom Kochan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; John Logue, Kent State University; Corey Rosen, executive director, The National Center for Employee Ownership; and Maureen Scully, University of Massachusetts Boston. Together with the sponsors, the judging panel was interested in creating a recognition program to help promote research and education for subsequent generations of employee ownership scholars.
“This innovative award program will help us identify and support the new bright stars in academia,” said Mary Ann Beyster, FED president. “It is through their research that we can improve the understanding and evidence about how models of employee ownership and participation support economic activity, meaningfulness of business, and quality of life for communities and families.
Daphne Berry will receive an honorarium from the sponsoring organizations, receive research guidance from scholars in her area of study, and be recognized during an awards breakfast at the corporate headquarters of Ernst & Young in New York City on November 6, 2009.
For more information about this award, please visit:
http://www.aspencbe.org/awards/dissertation/2009EOApp.html.
About The Employee Ownership Foundation
The Employee Ownership Foundation supports research, education and public awareness of programs that will increase the level of understanding and appreciation of the benefits of employee ownership and increase the number of employees who have access to this benefit. For more information, visit: www.employeeownershipfoundation.org.
About The Foundation for Enterprise Development
The Foundation for Enterprise Development, established by Dr. J. Robert Beyster, has programs for new research, educational materials, policy development, and knowledge sharing that helps cultivate young and senior scholars and supports future generations of science and technology leaders interested in the combined principles of broad-based, participative employee ownership and entrepreneurialism. For more information, visit: www.fed.org.
About the Aspen Institute Center for Business Education
The Aspen Institute Center for Business Education equips business leaders for the 21st century with a new management paradigm—the vision and knowledge to integrate corporate profitability and social value. As part the Aspen Institute, the Center aims to foster values-based leadership, encouraging individuals to reflect on the ideals and ideas that define a good society, and to provide a neutral and balanced venue for discussing and acting on critical issues.
###