> All worker cooperatives have two common characteristics: 1) member-owners invest in and own the business together, and share the enterprise’s profits, and 2) decision-making is democratic, with each member having one vote.

I think you’d have to find examples of companies that only do #1 or only do #2 and look at their outcomes versus companies that do both.

My guess is the root cause of what you’ve observed is the distributed decision making and the attendant latency and diffusion of responsibility it brings.