This article sounds like it's talking about a form of cooperative, without calling it a cooperative, which isn't a new idea, but certainly is one that is starting to become more mainstream. For example, the UN named 2012 the "Year of the Cooperative." I'd like to believe that people are starting to see cooperatives as a way of organizing businesses outside of only coffee shops and grocery stores.

Yes! Magazine came out with a good series not too long ago on cooperatives in operation today, their varieties, their benefits. http://www.yesmagazine.org/issues/how-cooperatives-are-drivi...