36 How businesses are using enterprise design Across these layers of design, entrepreneurs and business leaders are already creating new enterprise design innovations. For example, consider business designs that make Earth the sole shareholder, a board director, or the chief executive of a company. Examples like this already exist: U.S. outdoor clothing company Patagonia has made Earth its 'only shareholder,' U.K. based shampoo company Faith In Nature has appointed 'Nature to its board' and Willicroft, a Dutch plant-based cheese company, has shaped the chief executive role to ensure that nature is the priority. If you’re managing the supply chain of these companies, you probably feel more able to invest in deeper relationships. If you’re in product design or packaging, you likely feel more encouraged to trial new approaches, even if they project to deliver slower returns (at least in the medium term) than the status quo. Changing the governance and ownership design in this way changes the incentives internally, and signals to staff that the purpose statement truly lives, even where it requires greater investment, appetite for risk and patience. One model that has spread recently is employee-ownership. In the UK, the model grew at 37% in 2023 (as reported by the website employeeownership.co.uk). Research shows that it is leading to businesses that are much more likely to invest internally (50% more than other kinds of businesses), achieve £2,700 average higher basic wages and share profits, more likely to expand their workforces than other businesses (50% more), more likely to invest in training (12%) and lead to employees that are more satisfied (73%) and more productive too (8-12%). Businesses that are employee owned include Scott Bader, a £200 million global biochemical manufacturer employing 750 people across 7 manufacturing sites and 17 global offices. In the US, employee ownership is also spreading fast, through examples like Eileen Fisher. The company is able to unlock the investment needed to drive ecological initiatives in its supply chain, and is also supporting its broader industry to do the same. Models are also demonstrating that suppliers, communities and broader industry transformation can also be a central focus of the deep design of a business. For instance, Dutch chocolate brand Tony’s Chocolonely redesigned its ownership and governance to better secure its purpose of 'making 100% slave-free the norm in chocolate'. It created shares with special rights to hold the company to account on its purpose, to ensure it continues the trading practices and engagement with its cocoa producers that help progress its purpose. Meanwhile, German importer El Puente ensured that its workers and suppliers were co-owners and represented on their board, alongside other stakeholders. This means that suppliers have a voice on their board in shaping the strategy of the business and its approach to building trading relationships. Welsh carmaker Riversimple also created a multi-stakeholder governance model by pioneering a model of Future Guardian Governance. It ensures that each of the impacted stakeholders has a person on their board who is the ‘guardian’ of their interests. Meanwhile, Einhorn, Ecosia, SELCO and Café Direct are examples of companies that have adopted ownership models giving controlling shares to foundations, nonprofits, and communities to lock-in social purpose. Recology on the US West Coast, a waste and recycling firm that is fully owned by its workers, uses its ownership to pursue the purpose of a 'world without waste'. Co-ownership models are not limited to workers. A diverse range of community-owned renewable energy models has emerged (e.g. see REScoop), enabling renewable energy cooperatives to focus energy access and remaining rooted in
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