How do Co-ops differ from other businesses?

Cooperatives, like any other business, start with the recognition of a need or an opportunity. Cooperatives also operate very much like other businesses. They must serve a market efficiently and effectively, they must be well managed, and they must survive financially.
However, there are some distinctions that make co-ops unique:

• Members own their co-ops. As owners, they provide the capital necessary for start-up and growth of the business.
• Members control their co-ops. Each member usually gets one vote, regardless of the amount of equity they have invested or their use of the co-op. The board of directors is elected by the membership.
• Members benefit from their co-ops. Profits are distributed to the members based on their use of the co-op. They also have access to better prices and/or services.
  

But how are they different from other businesses? In most cases, especially in an Investor-Owned Firm (IOF), each investor (or shareholder) has control over the firm only to the extent to which s/he has invested capital in it, that is, one vote per share of stock. S/He also has no direct control over the selection of the firm’s management/ Board of Directors.