However, the final sequence of the ad — where he wakes up on Christmas morning — sees him running past the pile of presents at the foot of his bed to retrieve an awkwardly wrapped package from his wardrobe. As he presents the gift to his sleepy parents, the tagline appears on the screen: For the gifts you can’t wait to give.

 

This is the sort of feel-good ad that most people have come to expect from John Lewis, the UK’s favourite retailer. Much loved by Middle Britain, the John Lewis brand is often associated with exceptional customer service, reliability and trustworthiness, qualities that have been attributed to its unique business model.

 

The John Lewis Partnership — which owns the John Lewis department stores and Waitrose supermarkets — is an employee-owned company. All permanent staff are “partners” who own a share in the business and participate in its profits. This sense of ownership is seen as a strong incentive for employees to perform well; its executive chairman Charlie Mayfield has been quoted as saying that “if we treat our partners well, it will lead to good customer service”.

 

 

The global financial crisis and the ensuing economic recession in much of the Western world has given rise to much anger and disillusionment, as demonstrated by the Occupy protest movement against economic and social inequality. And in an effort to restore better accountability, ethics and trustworthiness to business practices, business and government leaders have been prompted to seek alternatives to the current shareholder-value model and its short-term view of profits and share ownership by distant, disengaged shareholders. 

 

As such, the John Lewis model of employee ownership and others of its ilk, such as cooperatives and mutuals that promote a stronger sense of ownership and greater stakeholder involvement, are increasingly being seen as alternative business models for the future. So much so that the UK government is keen to see them replicated not just in businesses but also in the delivery of public services.

 

Research by the Cass Business School shows that employee- owned businesses create jobs faster, are significantly more resilient in an economic downturn, deliver far better customer satisfaction and boast substantially higher value added per employee, The Guardian reports. In the UK, they contribute some £25 billion ($50.7 billion) to the economy, and according to law firm Field Fisher Waterhouse’s UK Employee Ownership Index, outperform FTSE All-Share companies by an average of 11% annually. 

 

John Lewis’ partnership model has enabled it to weather the current challenging times. Despite the downturn, the company saw a 20% jump in pre-tax profits to £367.9 million in the year ended Jan 29, 2011. The business shared £194.5 million in the form of bonuses with its 76,500 partners, equivalent to 18% of their individual annual salary.