[eru]

Vanguard might be a good role model? I'm not sure exactly how they are organized, but I think they are owned formally owned by their customers _and_ seem to be doing a good job at providing customer surplus.

Of course, in the end it's competition that's keeping businesses customer focused. (Or rather competition provides for the survivorship bias so that mostly customer focused businesses survive.)

[feedjoelpie]

Vanguard is owned by funds that are owned by shareholders. Essentially, it's customer-owned. That's a very different proposition.

[eru]

Yes, on paper its customer owned; and that's why I suggested it as a role-model to study.

In practice you still get principle-agent conflict. But so far they are still doing well by their customers in practice.