Organizing for Social Impact: Employee Ownership at the John Lewis Partnership

This case study examines brick-and-mortar retailer John Lewis’ model of employee ownership and how it seeks to balance its purpose as an employee-owned business with its commercial success. As one of the most high-profile employee-owned business in the United Kingdom, the brand has received widespread praise for experimenting with industrial democracy. However, over recent years, the brand has begun to attract criticism focused on whether it might in fact be drifting away from its founding philosophy, particularly in relation to its nonpayment of its longstanding annual partner bonus.