How ESOPS rescued craft from big beer in the U.S.

John Bonin

Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership2025https://doi.org/10.1108/jpeo-02-2025-0005article
AJG 2
Weight
0.50

What the paper says

Purpose Study the role played by ESOPs in fending off competition from macrobreweries by craft breweries during the golden decade (2010) of craft beer in the U.S. Design/methodology/approach Discuss role played by Federal legislation (e.g. ERISA) in supporting emergence of craft beer during two periods in U.S. beer industry, consolidation and fragmentation. Use data from NCEO to analyze structure of ESOPs. Compare company characteristics, i.e. size and type of incorporation, and ESOP structures, i.e. minority and leveraged, to explain both potential pitfalls and continuing success of craft brewers. Findings ESOPs can be an effective strategy for maintaining the small, independent, traditional characteristics that make craft beer distinct from big beer while, at the same time, promoting worker agency in craft breweries. Originality/value Link historical development of craft beer within U.S. beer industry to the most recent data on ESOPs for craft breweries.

Open paper page →

Cite this paper

https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/jpeo-02-2025-0005

Or copy a formatted citation

@article{john2025,
  title        = {{How ESOPS rescued craft from big beer in the U.S.}},
  author       = {John Bonin},
  journal      = {Journal of Participation and Employee Ownership},
  year         = {2025},
  doi          = {https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1108/jpeo-02-2025-0005},
}

Paste directly into BibTeX, Zotero, or your reference manager.

Flag this paper

How ESOPS rescued craft from big beer in the U.S.

Flags are reviewed by the Arbiter methodology team within 5 business days.


Evidence weight

0.50

Balanced mode · F 0.40 / M 0.15 / V 0.05 / R 0.40

F · citation impact0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20
M · momentum0.50 × 0.15 = 0.07
V · venue signal0.50 × 0.05 = 0.03
R · text relevance †0.50 × 0.4 = 0.20

† Text relevance is estimated at 0.50 on the detail page — for your query’s actual relevance score, open this paper from a search result.