Owner To Owner Podcast

Melina Morrison CEO at bccm.coop on cooperatives and mutuals as a superior all round business model

Episode Summary

Melina Morrison CEO at 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.

Episode Notes

@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.
#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