Boycotts and Democracy – The Eden Foods Product Boycott as an Opportunity to Renew Co-op Participation and Democracy
By Todd Wallace In the summer of 2014, a Supreme Court ruling in the case of Burwell vs. Hobby Lobby led the CEO of Eden Foods, a prominent organic foods producer, to revive an earlier [...]
Operational Wisdom from General Managers
By Thane Joyal 181 Nov-Dec 2015 Successful cooperatives are guided by strong boards, and those boards rely on strong individuals to manage the cooperative’s business enterprise with excellence. The nature and quality of the board-general [...]
Cooperative Acronyms
4-in-3 — Four Cornerstones in Three Stages :A development model for food co-ops. 4PCG — Four Pillars of Cooperative Governance :A governance model for co-ops. ACBA — Austin Cooperative Business Association :a joint project between [...]
Components of a Successful System of Accountable Empowerment
Accountable Empowerment It is always important for a co-op board of directors to have good systems of accountability in place to provide proper and strategic oversight of the general manager. With strongly increasing demand for [...]
The Decision Matrix
By: Carolee Colter & Jeanie Wells When an organization is going through rapid change, roles within the organization change, too, and not always in a consciously thought-through manner. Expansions can result in forming new [...]
A case against ‘fair pay’
Natural foods purveyors often have an ethos to maintain as fair a workplace as possible--but it's important to make a distinction between what's fair and what's equitable. Look at any report on what kills employee [...]
