Of, by and for…why a co-operative should be a perfectly promotable business model

The co-operative is currently going through a bit of a tough time which got me thinking back to some work I did a while ago to try to help express the uniqueness of a co-operative business model.

One of the things I explored was about businesses having to excel in one, two or three aspects…most can’t do all three, but I believe a co-operative is uniquely placed to utilise this model…

Businesses need to:

The obvious examples of excellence are things like Apple that is completely for the customer…it excels in making its customers feel great about the products they buy and how they use them (i.e. it is for the customer). To some extent it is of the customers by sharing values of clarity, ease of use and with some environmental credentials. It is not by the customer. In the Steve Jobs days, one man shaped and run the company…certainly not it’s customers. Although you could argue that the App store pays some token to the by the customer focus in that the developers create apps by which users experience the product. So yeah, maybe.

Using this model, it is a co-operative that could really excel…

• A co-operative is of its members: it shares a set of values and principles with its members delivered through a set of social goals
• A co-operative is by its members: the members own and democratically control aspects of the running of the business delivered through a governance structure
• A co-operative is for its members: a co-operative exists to meet the social, economic and cultural needs and aspirations of its members delivered through the stores and branches of the co-operative

The intersection of values, ownership and an awesome member customer experience should provide untold advantage over other business promotion.

Anyway, that’s what I think. I think that, put in these terms, a co-operative could be seen as a brilliant business model with unique advantage over others in the way that it promotes itself and conducts its business.

What do you think! Do you have any other business examples that are of, by and for their customers?