Owner To Owner Podcast Melina Morrison CEO at bccm.coop on cooperatives and mutuals as a superior all round business model
@MelinaMorrison #CEO @bccmau (Business Council of Cooperatives and Mutuals) has championed, advocated and made the case for #mutuals and #cooperatives for more than 20 years. She passionately believes in this way of doing business and in this epsiode we get to hear her make a compelling case.
She is also currently a member of the @IAG (Industry Advisory Group) on #FarmCooperatives. Prior to @bccmau she was a founding director of Social Business Australia.
In our discussion we get a comprehensive overview into the how's and why's of #mutuals and #cooperatives and cover;
- the very long history
- #romantimes was the first idea of #insurance or #poolingrisk
- the word divvy, dividend or divvying came from #Cooperative
- #coops date back to the middle of the 18th century when people;
- got interested in coming together and forming financial services institutions, which became #CreditUnions #buildingsocieties, and now they're called #MutualBanks, and
- people needing to be able to collectively bargain for themselves, collectively buy things just to stay #sustainable and we got the consumer Cooperative movement arising.
- why #cooperatives and #mutuals are having a resurgence
- the #competitiveadvantages are being of a #cooperative
- a really clear explanation of the practical differences in the #purpose of a #cooperative (as against for traditional #shareholdermodels):
- owners are the members (so the people that use the business either as a consumer or a producer, or receive a product or service from the business are also the owners)
- #cooperatives make money to do something and not the other way around
- it's not so much a business model that's about doing something just to make money
- as a joint owner you have a democratic right to have a joint voice and decision making say in the business
- how all businesses now have to have a #sociallicence to operate - it's the new #Zeitgeist
- #stakeholdercapitalism
- #profitwithpurpose
- the seven internationally agreed principles in a #cooperative #constitution that relate to the purpose of the business;
- making sure that members are benefiting from the business, but also all of the other stakeholders around the business;
- caring for the community
- being interested in and benefiting the #environment or the #community in which you operate
- being open and transparent and accountable making sure that there is joint democratic decision-making and allowing for the democratic and the economic participation of the members.
- making sure that members are benefiting from the business, but also all of the other stakeholders around the business;
- #sharedbenefit and #sharedrisk
- #cooperatives today as a globally dominant form of running #supermarkets, #retail and marketing operations where they're owned by members and consumers rather than shareholders
- #disruptivecapitalism
- #enlightenedcapitalism
- railing against #corporate #monoculture so we have an economy that has a rich #ecosystem of different types of businesses
- #competition between #businessmodels, as well as #competition between #businesses
- avoiding a concentration of #capital and #power where get more #cartelpricing
- why cooperation is a really powerful form of making a more productive, efficient, and #sustainableeconomy
- why as a bottom-up model it's so good for #smallbusiness
- @marnieroberts @winegrapes
- @OceanSpray as a classic example of #Global #MarketingBrands under which #Cooperative exist
- the numbers - 8 to 10 Australians are members of at least one Cooperative
- one of Australia's largest #agbiz, a consortium or a collaboration of around 4,000 family farms is @CBHGroup (a #WesternAustralian #grainexporter)
- #CreditUnions #MutualBanks #motoringmutuals - @racv @racq
- #healthservices #nonprofit #healthfunds
- the need for and interest in #CommunityBuyBacks in #RegionalAustralia when people can't get the goods or services, or there's a social and economic need that the market won't deliver
- #target #Cootamundra
- cooperatively own #pubs and #breweries - @AireysInletpub @renmarkhotel in #SA
- minimum commercial infrastructure for viable towns
- the @bccm.coop toolkit - a one-stop shop of self-help resources
- jointly community-owned #renewableenergy assets like @HepburnWind
- local renewable energy
- #FightbackFarmers #iview #abc
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Reach out to Michael Kerr via the website if you need personal assistance or advice for your small business.
michael.kerr@kerrcapital.com.au
www.ownertoownerpodcast.com.au