By Debbie Suassuna 149 July - August - 2010 In order to improve overall sales performance and compete effectively against other food stores, food co-ops can choose from several types of market research tools. Generally speaking, the results derived from implementing one of these research tools will enable a food co-op to employ two somewhat parallel marketing strategies— market segmentation and market differentiation. Differentiation [...]
By Marilyn Scholl, Joel Dahlgren, Bruce Mayer 148 May - June - 2010 Creating solutions begins with building the foundation for the future you want. One of the remarkable things about cooperation is that mutualism encourages solution-oriented growth, built on a vision of the common good. How profitability and capitalization are handled in cooperatives is an indicator of how much the co-op is actively [...]
By Michael Healy 146 January - February - 2010 Here it comes again: the monthly board meeting. You’ve figured out child care for the fourth Monday of every month, that version of parental Olympics where Mom runs out the door as Dad runs in. A fellow director has given up the bowling league because it conflicts with the board meeting schedule. Each director has [...]
By Thane Joyal 145 November - December - 2009 “A vital question, a creative question, rivets our attention. All the creative power of our minds is focused on the question. Knowledge emerges in response to these compelling questions. They open us to new worlds.” —Verna Allee, “The Knowledge Evolution.” (Quoted by Vogt, Brown and Issacs, The Art of Powerful Questions, 2003. www.worldcafe.com.) Questions: the [...]
By Marshall Kovitz 144 September - October - 2009 When we look at the future for the co-op, what do we see and how do we express it? These are vital questions for board members to ask because it’s the board’s job to articulate outcomes that guide and inspire the co-op. And the results must be a thriving business that meets owners’ needs and [...]
By Mark Goehring, Carolee Colter 143 July - August - 2009 A board evaluating the general manager (GM) of a food co-op…now there’s a process that directors should be able to describe, defend, celebrate and appreciate with little or no ambiguity or hesitation. In a recent online recorded workshop on GM evaluation, Thane Joyal and Carolee Colter laid out these four learning objectives [...]
A great cooperative thinker, Sid Pobihushchy, wrote an article in 2002 to help us understand the 10 cooperative values, “The Cooperative Values: Their meaning and practical significance” (find it at The Columinate Library). In his opening paragraph, he asserted that the cooperative movement and its businesses are the only way to accomplish the objective of community, the optimum condition for human fulfillment; that cooperative [...]
Mary Jones had reason to look forward with optimism to her upcoming performance review. She felt that over the past six months she had built a track record of good solid performance working as a cook in the co-op kitchen. She was consistently punctual, reliable, productive, and efficient. As a cooperative team member she had filled in many extra days during a coworker’s long [...]
By Thane Joyal 138 September - October - 2008 The man in the wilderness asked of me, How many strawberries grow in the sea? I answered him as I thought good As many as red herrings grow in the wood. —Old Nursery rhyme When I talk to members of a board of directors about its legal roles and responsibilities, I always try [...]
By Mel Braverman 137 July - August - 2008 When you drive your automobile, a number of gauges enable you to read critical factors in your auto’s performance. The dashboard presents “key indicators” of your auto’s health: fuel level, engine temperature, RPMs, oil level and battery charge. If you ignore these indicators, it may cost you much more than it would had you paid [...]
