| Newsletter 21 - October 2004 | |
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We always appreciate your comments and contributions. Please email any suggestions or news items to the editor of ACCORD NEWS, Suzanne Henderson at suzanne.henderson@uts.edu.au. Contents in this issue
CommentaryGlobalisation threatens traditional agricultural co-ops"The need to seek substantial levels of additional capital has lead to the emergence of new co-operative forms. These forms still maintain some vestiges of the traditional form and present viable alternatives to full demutualisation and conversion to the investor owned form", Eddie Oczkowski The impact of globalisation on the agricultural food sector has brought many challenges to the traditional co-operative, writes Eddie Oczkowski It is reasonably clear that given the structural changes emerging from the effects of globalisation on the agricultural food sector, traditional co-operatives are finding it difficult to survive. The need to generate additional capital to expand and compete in a more competitive global environment has led some traditional co-operatives to modify their organisational form... Back to TopICA Regional Assembly for EuropeCo-ops Learn to Thrive in a Competitive Economy"The co-operative model is infinity flexible and can be adapted and developed to meet local community needs. In this way co-operatives become the bridge between local people and the global market in which we all live," ACCORD'S Communications Manager, Suzanne Henderson, recently joined delegates from the European and Asian regions, at the ICA Regional Assembly for Europe in Warsaw, 23-24 September 2004. Suzanne delivered the results of new research, conducted by ACCORD, on the status of co-operative communications globally, and later spoke on the topic of media coverage of the co-operative sector, from the perspective of Australia. Whilst at the conference, Suzanne interviewed ICA President, Ivano Barberini who outlined his views on the importance of communications for a flourishing co-operative movement. The conference titled "Building a Co-operative Europe - Thriving in a Competitive Economy", heard from many speakers including Dame Pauline Green, ICA Europe President, who spoke to the conference theme, about her ideas for increasing the profile and visibility of co-operatives in Europe. Oleksiy Nestulya, Rector of Poltava University of Consumer Co-operatives, Ukraine, spoke about development assistance to co-operatives in a session titled: International Partnerships - The Development Agenda, and Vanda Giuliano (read interview), Chair of the ICA Gender Equality Committee, spoke about why gender equity is good for business, at a session titled: Gender Perspectives in Successful Co-operatives.
A full three-day program offered many interesting perspectives on co-operative development. Ian McDonald, Director General ICA, chaired the session, Doing business between Co-operatives - Fair trade. This session concentrated on the increasing importance of fair trade in the global economy and the special role played by co-operatives in this.
Jo Bibby-Scullion (read interview), ICA Youth Network Board member, chaired a session on Young Entrepreneurs Engaging in Co-operatives and Nina Jarlback, Chair of KF Board Sweden, chaired a session on Corporate Social Responsibility - Why bother? This session demonstrated how co-ops are world leaders in social responsibility and showed that they are uniquely placed to make significant contributions to CSR. The newly formed ICA Communications Committee (ICACC) held its inaugural meeting to formulate a strategy for improving co-operative communications across all sectors. It was decided the action plan should focus on the three core areas of uniting, serving and representing co-operatives. One of the first tasks of the committee is to produce a generic communications kit for major co-operative promotions. Caroline Naett, Secretary General, European Community of Consumer Co-operatives was elected Chair of the committee. The committee also met with the Communications Manager to the Polish Prime Minister, in the PM's office, to exchange practical experiences in communications, especially media.
Back to Top ACCORD ProjectsInvestment incentives on share capitalIn a new research project ACCORD will examine the issue of investment incentives linked to former member entitlements. Co-operatives can re-evaluate their assets and distribute bonus shares to members, effectively permitting members to share in the increase in the net worth of the co-operative during their membership, rather than at the time they leave the co-operative.
Co-operatives will need to consider broader management issues regarding the regularity of bonus share and dividend issues that are not matters for legislation, but rather matters for education and managerial discretion.
Anyone interested in this project should contact Paul Fitzgerald, Deputy Director, ACCORD, paul.fitzgerald@uts.edu.au Co-operative ProfileCo-op KidsVisit the Co-operative Housing Federation of British Columbia for kids information on Co-ops.
Social Enterprise Partnerships
Social Enterprise Partnerships support ventures and partnerships for social purposes. They produce a regular newsletter of activities. Back to TopThe Peppercorn Artists Group
The Peppercorn Artists Group in Richmond (Tasmania) has been formed by a local group of artists to re-open the Peppercorn Gallery as a co-operatively run outlet for their work. The Peppercorn Gallery had a long-standing reputation as an outlet for fine art and craft and it is the aim of the group to maintain this reputation. Back to Top The Co-operative AdvantageAlternative Money MarketsAs reported by The Australian Financial Review (2/9/04), the new private initiative - Australian Pacific Exchange - will establish a "freer" stock exchange targeting small and growing SMEs. It will be suitable to companies with an unusual capital structure such as co-operatives and could prove useful to the trading of Co-operative Capital Units in trading co-operatives. A copy of the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) in the UK (though the Australian Pacific Exchange is competitive to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), whereas the AIM is a venture of the London Stock Exchange), the new exchange can offer better, cheaper, and a much more personalised and flexible regulatory approach to allocating and trading "employee shares", than the ASX, particularly through the use of the "Nominated Adviser". The "Nominated Adviser" (Nomad) - is the key to reducing the cost and complexity of both investor protection and smaller scale share trading. This could assist the spread of Employee Share Ownership Plans (ESOPs) in small, private and unlisted companies, and equity investing in co-ops through CCUs. Back to TopCo-ops over the airwaves
The story so far….. Britain's famous long-running agricultural radio soap, The Archers, has provided the perfect setting to debate the benefits of agricultural co-ops. Catch the storyline at BBC Radio 4 . Back to Top'No worries' about the fine printThe simple philosophy of equality and a 'fair go' is the fundamental idea behind the Muslim Community Co-operative Australia (MCCA). MCCA is the first progressive financial venture of its kind in Melbourne and Sydney. Fully independent, it doesn't 'lend' per se, but shares money, that isn't quite money and 'co-owns' homes with thousands of people. Back to TopSME ownership successionEmployee ownership and the opportunities arising for both co-operatives and employee share ownership from retiring business owners, who wish to sell their business to their employees, has been the subject of a new project that investigates practical solutions in this area. The project has the key objective of researching opportunities in the growing business ownership succession market, and has been exploring potential new business models at the intersection of mutuals with Employee Share Ownership Plans (ESOPs). Back to TopICA NewsDotCoop welcomes co-op as registry operatorOxford, Swindon & Gloucester Co-operative Society Ltd (OS&G) will take over the registry operator business for the .coop TLD, from Poptel Limited. OS&G, based in the UK, has also purchased the .coop registrar business from Poptel. Stories from the ICA Weekly digest are archived on the ICA's website Back to TopNews in BriefAustraliaCommunity enterprise: What role for government?
UNITY to offload chemist shops
The sale marks the break-up of the state's third biggest pharmacy chain after East Yarra Friendly Society, which owns 44 outlets, and National Pharmacies, the South Australian friendly society, which owns 24 stores in Victoria. Back to TopUKDesperately seeking support
The first report, Turning big ideas into viable Social Enterprise, was commissioned by Triodos, the UK's leading social bank. The second report, titled Social Enterprise in the balance - Challenges for the voluntary sector has been published by Charities Aid Foundation (CAF). Co-operative capital
Launched in October 2002 by the New Ventures Panel of Co-operatives UK, the project is funded by Co-operative Action and supported by The Co-operative Bank. The project culminates with the launch of a book, Co-operative Capital, at the Power to the People? conference in London on 14 October 2004. Back to TopOther territoriesInternational accounting body still getting it right for co-ops!
What's OnIn AustraliaWhat Kind of Third Sector, What Kind of Society? International Ethical Investment Association Conference 2004 Community Economic Development Conference 2004 Where To Now ? Advocacy & Accountability and Recruitment of Third Sector Executives Bursting at the seams? Making Links Australia New Zealand Third Sector Research Conference OverseasAgriculture Cooperatives Study Tour, Korea, The Co-operative College 2004 International Programme: "The importance of Women in Co-operatives Today" - a programme about women for women 3rd Asia-Pacific Regional Research Conference The Co-operative College 2004 International Programme: English Through Co-operation - language training programme We welcome your comments on our newsletter and any suggested topics or items for inclusion in the next issue, due for publication in November. If you have any items of interest please ensure that these are forwarded to suzanne.henderson@uts.edu.au by 27 October 2004. To refer a friend or to unsubscribe, please e-mail: accord@uts.edu.au. All contact information provided will be kept strictly confidential. |
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