There's a revolution in company ownership and community control happening around us, and it's permeating way beyond modern co-operative thinking into the murky waters of big business. When companies announce that they want to make their supporters feel "active and engaged, valued and nurtured, not exploited" and to give them "a role in governance" then it's worth looking at the underlying cause.

Ivan Gazidis, chief executive of Arsenal football club, this week seemingly endorsed a fans’ scheme to offer the chance to buy 1/100th of an actual share in the club for £100, with the intention that supporter activism will stave off the debt-funded ownership models that have provided so much grief for supporters of Manchester United and Liverpool. He even talks about scheme being good for the club's "soul", a word which, like "creativity" has been firmly out of bounds for several generations of high flying besuited money moguls, but now it appears that the board are having reservations about a 100-1 split for reasons related to administrative costs. They are promising to “revisit the issue.”

Hugh Robertson, the Sports Minister cites the Arsenal move as "enlightened and forward looking" and is hoping it will be adopted by other football clubs, but who is to doubt that this model might just take hold across a whole variety of initiatives in the coming months. The plates are moving and as a future business model, crowd funding is as on the money (literally) as any other current trend, as it cuts deep into the heart of business rationale and ethics. 

I have no doubt that the result of the mutual lack of confidence between banks and the general public combined with hopelessly out of touch old school business models still preferred by most private investors, will create a revolution in future business operandi. I think we’ll see a renewed appreciation in ethical business and the common good with, refreshingly, a complete revision on the way profit accumulation is regarded. Wealth maximisation for the few, a notion that sits at the heart of capitalist philosophy is now being supplanted by a move towards communities and initiatives which aim to create wealth for all.  In essence, we’re at the beginning of a huge and exciting move towards a more radical, ethical and socially inclusive business model which looks likely to include more crowdfunding and community ownership and control initiatives.