Co-operative News - Housing

Singaporean co-operators honoured in co-op awards

Emily Barker — Tue, 22 Jan 2013 15:24:13 +0000

Over 30 co-operators were honoured in the Singapore National Co-operative Federation (SNCF) Honours Awards 2013 on 19 January.

Seven esteemed figures, including former Singapore President S R Nathan and the late Singapore President CV Devan Nair were celebrated for their contributions to the growth of the Singapore Co-operative Movement.

Mr Chan Tee Seng, Chairman of SNCF, said: “Without their support, vision and leadership through the decades, the Co-operative Movement would not have thrived and achieved a reach as wide today.”

Other 22 co-operators and co-operatives were also recognised from sectors such as finance, education, retail and social welfare.

NTUC FairPrice Co-operative, who received the Rochdale Plaque in 1998, was given the Special Rochdale Award, a new category nominated by SNCF to recognise the work that NTUC FairPrice has consistently accomplished in the last 15 years.

Another new category created was the Special Commendation Medal, given to individual co-operators for their outstanding body of work and contribution towards the Singapore Co-operative Movement.

The Co-operative Champion award, specially created for individuals who championed the co-operative missions, honoured Member of Parliament for Marine Parade GRC and NTUC FairPrice Chief Executive Officer, Seah Kian Peng, immediate past Secretary-General of NTUC and current Singapore Labour Foundation Deputy Chairman, Lim Boon Heng, former Minister of State for the Ministry of Community Development, Youth and Sports, Yu-Foo Yee Shoon, who also served as Chairman of the SNCF Board of Trustees, Chairman of Central Co-operative Fund and former Chairman of NTUC FairPrice, S Chandra Das and Chairman of Seacare Co-operative Limited Leow Ching Chuan.

The SNCF have also been supporting the Co-operative Movement in other areas. This includes awarding scholarships to three young individuals chosen from 150 applicants. They are: Li Mengzhu, 20, Joan Loh, 19 and Koh Wei Meng, 21.

SNCF are also launching a new Grant Framework under the Central Co-operative Fund to address the specific needs of co-operatives and to assits them with their growth and development.

The Grants can be used to set up co-ops or for existing co-ops to improve their productivity and services.

“The aim is to provide them with practical social entrepreneurial experience and provoke their sense of social mindedness. We have received very good support from the schools. We are working together with the Registry of Co-operative Societies to simplify the setup of co-operatives or form co-operative clubs in secondary schools to enable more young social entrepreneurs to use their passion and creativity to address social needs as part of character building;” said Mr Chan.

The Singapore Co-operative Movement celebrated the International Year of Co-operatives through a series of events including: Co-opaliciouz, the largest gathering of Singapore’s Co-op Movement in history and releasing a set of legal tender co-operatives stamps.

I ♥ Co-ops: Cooperative Business New Zealand

Emily Barker — Fri, 18 Jan 2013 11:44:29 +0000

I ♥ co-ops shows the amazing power of co-operatives in the different trades and sectors throughout the world.

This week we have featured a video of Ramsey Margolis, Executive Director of Cooperative Business New Zealand.

We want to hear from you, if you want to take part in I ♥ co-ops then email us at emily@thenews.coop

Share your story of co-operation! #Iheartcoops

Social media round-up: World Food Day celebrates co-ops

Emily Barker — Wed, 17 Oct 2012 13:35:13 +0000

On 16 October World Food Day celebrated Agricultural Co-operatives and described them as 'the key to feeding the world'.

McKinsey report finds strength in co-operative business model

AnthonyMurray — Tue, 09 Oct 2012 20:33:03 +0000

Co-operatives grow at an identical rate to companies, and those mutuals in the food and agricultural have surpassed their corporate counter-parts.

This is the message from the Mckinsey on Cooperatives report unveiled at the International Summit of Cooperatives today.

Andrew Grant, Managing Partner of McKinsey & Company, revealed the statistic by studying growth patterns between 2005 and 2010. He said: "We found that the sources of growth of co-ops differ from their peers. While most companies are carried by the momentum of their portfolio of services in market segments rapidly expanding growth of cooperatives is mainly gain market share.

"We observed two characteristics in co-operatives that have successfully met the challenge of growth: 1) they develop and provide a systematic way of products and services that prioritize the interests of their members rather than short-term financial gains and 2) they evaluate the broader needs of their members in complementary markets attractive and adjust their business model accordingly to take advantage of these opportunities."

The study analyzed how 47 co-ops grew and compared those results with results for 54 publicly listed companies in the same industries and geographies. The research covered the four industries where co-operatives have a substantial presence—insurance, banking, retail, and agriculture—spanning Asia, Europe, North America, and emerging markets.

McKinsey found that while overall growth rates are similar in the aggregate, the composition of that growth is different between these two types of organisations. Co-operatives outperformed publicly listed companies on market-share gains, underperformed on portfolio momentum, and were roughly on par in mergers and acquisitions.

The report said: "It is not surprising that coops enjoy greater market-share gains. Co-ops traditionally focus on the needs of their members, have better proximity to and knowledge of their markets, and generally adhere to a strong set of social values that benefit their members.

"When we looked at performance by sector, we saw that these advantages were strongest in insurance and diversified financials, where the majority of the co-ops’ customers are also their owners. Retail co-ops were on par with public companies with respect to market-share gains, and agricultural co-ops actually fared worse than their public competitors."

McKinsey expressed concern in one area of growth compared to companies. It said portfolio momentum is the most important of the three growth drivers for companies, which accounts for over 55 per cent of total growth, and co-ops under-performed compared to publicly-held organisations on this measure regardless of industry.

It said the reasons for this were co-ops focus more on their members’ current needs than on developing innovative new products or actively searching for new markets to serve. Second, because co-ops tend to have a governance structure that favors consensus over executive decision making, it is more difficult for them to redeploy capital as quickly as public companies can — especially to new market segments where there may not be immediate benefits to the co-op’s current membership base.

Based on the McKinsey analysis it found two primary growth opportunities for co-operatives. First, co-ops should play to their natural strengths and continue to pursue market-share gains by delivering a unique member and customer experience. The other big growth opportunity for co-ops, and probably the one with the most potential, according to McKinsey, is to more actively pursue opportunities in fast-growing adjacent markets (products, customers, or geographies). It noted that most co-ops lagged behind their public-company competition on this measure.

McKinsey said co-operatives provide a unique member and customer experience. The ownership model provides a true competitive advantage for growing market share. Co-operatives that stood out from their peers on this type of growth typically displayed three characteristics. First, they placed the interests of their members ahead of the organisation’s short-term financial interests. Second, they leveraged their proximity to their members to serve them better. Finally, they broke down organisational silos to maximize benefits for their members.

Mr Grant added: "Although co-operatives will not suffer in the short term, the market pressure to expand their business, 96 per cent of executives see growth of co-operatives as a strategic priority for their organization and believe it is essential to maintaining a competitive range of services and the protection of the interests of their members."

• For more, see the full report below.

The first International Summit of Cooperatives gets underway in Quebec

AnthonyMurray — Mon, 08 Oct 2012 20:05:08 +0000

The first International Summit of Cooperatives opened on Monday in Quebec, which is set to host almost 2,800 participants from 91 countries to discuss key business issues of cooperative model.

Under the theme "The Amazing Power of Cooperatives", the Summit will feature internationally renowned speakers, including several Nobel Prize winners and various personalities from politics and economics. This international event is held under the auspices of three co-hosted: Desjardins Group, the International Cooperative Alliance (ICA) and Saint Mary's University.

President and CEO of Desjardins Group, Monique F. Leroux believes that the Summit is an important opportunity for cooperatives worldwide. "The Summit is a unique opportunity for the development of partnerships between cooperative groups to better promote our business model," she says. "I firmly believe in the need to build an economy, which is based on both an efficient public sector on private sector (corporate) well regulated and cooperative sector hard."

The President of the International Co-operative Alliance, Dame Pauline Green, sees the Summit as a key moment to reaffirm the intent of the cooperative movement to bring growth to a higher level, building on the momentum from the International Year of Cooperatives. Said Dame Pauline: "I am very clear about this: from now on, we can not that moving forward with a renewed energy and momentum, and our role makes sense because we represent a solution in a world looking for a new economic paradigm. "

Dr Colin Dodds, President of the Saint Mary's University, host of the pre-Summit conference, Imagine, also hopes that the Summit creates the conditions necessary for new initiatives. "Reflection and action must supply the education sector has a major role to play in raising awareness of the economic and social contribution of the cooperative movement."

Over the next three days, the participants will discuss many issues affecting all sectors of economic activity. They will do this for the contribution of renowned speakers, among which are including:

Ms. Madeleine K. Albright, former Secretary of State of the United States (1997-2001) and Chair of Albright Stoneridge Group
A. Michael Spence, Nobel Laureate in Economics (2001)
Jacques Attali, economist, writer and director of PlaNet Finance
Ms. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, professor at Harvard Business School
Mr. Dominic Barton, Global Managing Director, McKinsey & Company
Mr. Carlo Borzaga, President Euricse
Rüdiger Krech, director of industry Ethics, World Health Organization
Dr. Huguette Labelle, Chair of the Board of Directors, Transparency International
Peter Marks, Chief Executive, The Co-operative Group
Riccardo Petrella, economist, political scientist and anti-globalization
Michael Sabia, President and Chief Executive Officer, Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec

The Summit will also unveil new studies on the cooperative business model, on issues as diverse as productivity, organizational best practices or strategies for the development of the cooperative model in the world. These studies were carried out by national and international renown: McKinsey & Company, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Oliver Wyman, Ipsos / UQAM and Université de Sherbrooke.

The first day of the Summit will also set the tone of the event, with the participation of the economist, political scientist and world-renowned anti-globalization, Riccardo Petrella, who will speak at the opening conference. The Prime Minister of Quebec, Pauline Marois, the Federal Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, the Honourable Denis Lebel, the mayor of Quebec City, Régis Labeaume, will be among the personalities during the opening ceremony.

The Co-operative Revolution: A Graphic Novel

Emily Barker — Fri, 14 Sep 2012 14:32:55 +0000

The Co-operative Movement’s history has been retold in the form of a graphic novel.

The Co-operative Revolution: A Graphic Novel follows the co-operative journey from the Rochdale Pioneers to an imagined co-operative future where co-operators are the first humans to land on Mars.

The book was created for the Co-operative Group and authored by cartoonist Polyp, also known as Paul Fitzgerald. Polyp draws cartoons for the co-op magazine, the New Internationalist and lives and works in an art/housing co-operative in Manchester.

He explained that he had always wanted to write a positive story of co-operation: “People seem to be constantly feeling that we’re in the middle of this crisis and trying to make the world a better place is pointless. There’s that pessimism that is ingrained into our culture and this is an attempt to go against that.”

Paul Monaghan, Head of Social Goals at the Co-operative Group and one of the editors of the novel, explained that they wanted to show the real story of the co-operative movement through this book. He explained that the pioneers “were genuine radicals in their communities, the equivalent of these would be the people sitting outside the cathedral of their day".

He added that the novel also gave them to chance to show the genuine achievements of the co-operative movement globally and present up to date scientific evidence to show how people how co-operation is “hardwired into them” on a basic biological level.

Examples of co-operatives used in the book include Barcelona Football Club and Co-op city in the Bronx, New York, one the world’s largest housing co-ops.

Polyp admitted that the book itself was co-operative effort with people helping to check scientific evidence, statistics and investigate rumours. The novel took around a year to complete, Polyp admitted: “By discovering how rich this history is, it has encouraged me and reinforced my belief in co-operation. That’s what we want it to do for other people.”

Paul Monaghan hopes communities will be able to use it to spread the work of co-operation: “Co-operators will have tools to engage their communities. What we really feel is that people who are advocates for co-operation will have the most fantastic tools they have ever had to energise their communities.”

The book will be included in delegate packs for the all the major political conferences and the publisher hopes to reach 5,000 Green schools linked with the Co-operative Group.

• To find out more about the book, visit: www.co-operative.coop/graphicnovel

Brutal eviction of the workers of an Argentinian Graphic Cooperative

admin — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:03:30 +0000

On 14 May, employees of the Graphic Cooperative MOM, former Lanci Printing, in Buenos Aires (Argentina), were “brutally evicted by the Metropolitan Police that arrested 15 of them”, according the Federation of Worker Cooperatives in Argentina, FECOOTRA.

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Celulosas y Papel, S. Coop. And.

admin — Thu, 16 May 2013 22:52:55 +0000

A successful example of a failed enterprise transformed into a cooperative is the cooperative “Celulosas y Pepel”, located Mollina, a rural town of Andalusia with 5000 inhabitants, in the South of Spain. The cooperative was created in February 2010 after the bankruptcy of CEDEMOLL, active in the production of cellulose and paper for more than 25 years. In particular, four former workers of CEDEMOLL created the “Celulosas y Papel”, which now has doubled the number of workers since its (...)

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Sanford Co-operative: housing alternative in the struggle for renting ...

Dena Patrick — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:32:28 +0000

A Deptford housing cooperative now accommodating 120 people continues to thrive in “a crisis” London housing market described as desperately short of affordable private renting and home ownership. In the last fortnight ...

See it on Scoop.it, via Cooperatives | Co-ops

Video: Chicago workers open new cooperative factory five years ...

Dena Patrick — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:24:56 +0000

Workers at the New Era Windows Cooperative are celebrating the grand opening of their new unionized, worker-owned and operated business. Almost a year to the day after their window factory closed, a group of former ...

See it on Scoop.it, via Cooperatives | Co-ops