Tag: cooperatives (Page 2 of 2)

Collaboration Prize continues to make a difference to winner

Joanna Dewar Gibb, right, with SFS member Amanda Millen

Joanna Dewar Gibb, right, with SFS member Amanda Millen

Screen Facilities Scotland (SFS) is one of the earliest winners of the Collaboration Prize, having formed in 2012 to enter during the inaugural year of the competition.

In the two years since winning the award the consortium, made up of Scottish-based film, television and commercials facilities, has flourished.

Here, Joanna Dewar Gibb, one of the directors of SFS, describes why winning the prize was so important to its development.

We were delighted to be one of three winners of the Collaboration Prize in 2012 and we continue to reap the rewards from that. Since we’ve formed as a consortium, we’ve gone from strength to strength and benefit in many different ways.

The seeds of our co-operative were well and truly planted before we spotted the opportunity to be considered for the prize, but when we did we were pleased to see the entry process was both manageable and straight forward. Our entry was completed and submitted with the minimum of fuss.

And that’s been the case the whole way through.  From being short-listed, to eventually winning and then formally establishing SFS, the whole process has been possible thanks to clear guidance, simple structures and succinct documentation provided by Co-operative Development Scotland.

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We have used the prize money in different ways. It gave us a cash boost while waiting for membership fees to come in during our first year, with the money spent across various activities including collaborative marketing materials our launch networking event and administration costs.

Each of our members has since benefitted from shared marketing and promotional activities, new networking opportunities, better engagement and participation across the creative industry sector and closer working with colleagues and clients, both new and old, all of which helps us work towards a stronger, busier future.

It is no exaggeration to say SFS would not be where it is today if the collaborative consortium business model did not exist and if the Collaboration Prize, comprising of valuable business advice and welcome cash, had not helped us to flourish.

Until we had formed, many lucrative contracts including those originating in Scotland, were won by businesses based elsewhere, particularly in the south-east of the UK, so hopefully SFS has made a difference not just to our own businesses, but to the whole Scottish film, television and commercials production sector.

Myths busted at Co-operative Business Development Seminar

Jim_Maxwell,_Business_Development_Manager,_Co-operative_Development_Scotland_resizedCo-operative Development Scotland’s business development manager, Jim Maxwell, was a guest of Glasgow City Council on Wednesday, speaking at its second Co-operative Business Development Seminar.

Held at the Orkney Street Enterprise Centre, Jim was asked to talk about the use of consortia and the growth of employee ownership. Here, he gives his thoughts on the event.

Glasgow City Council’s commitment to co-operative working in the city was crystal clear on Wednesday when I was invited to speak to around 25 of the city’s business advisers about consortium working and employee ownership.

It was so encouraging to see the interest shown in both these models.  Glasgow’s front-line advisers clearly do feel these are concepts worth introducing to suitable client businesses.

This was a perceptive (and quite challenging!) audience with searching questions about the consortium model and how it provides a collaboration structure with the minimum of risk and bureaucracy.

Interest quickly focused on procurement and how the model is used by groupings of businesses to bid for larger contracts they couldn’t win individually. In fact joint-tendering is the most common use for the consortium model and much of the free support CDS provides is in setting up tendering consortia.

Consortium-based tendering also fits well with Glasgow City Council’s procurement policy and public procurement generally, which aims to achieve local community benefit wherever possible.

The annual CDS Collaboration Prize always produces a rush of interest from businesses interested in forming consortia. This year it launches on October 1 so watch our website for details.

With prizes of £10k up for grabs, my guess is we’ll be receiving a fair few enquiries via the Glasgow business advisers!

The discussion on Employee Ownership turned out to be rather a ‘myth-busting’ session with advisers raising the kind of questions they expect from their client companies, such as:

Q. What if the employees can’t afford to buy the business?

A. The business itself purchases the owner’s shares, not the employees

Q. What if the owner feels the business cannot be run successfully by committee?

A. Employee owned businesses are not run by committee, they have normal management structures.

Q. What if the owner isn’t ready to exit yet?

A. The exiting owner controls the whole process of transition, including the timeframe.  Most successful employee buy outs are planned well in advance.

the futureInterest also focused on the (considerable!) new tax benefits for owners when they pass a controlling interest to an employee trust and how company performance invariably benefits when employees have a meaningful stake via employee ownership.

The steps being taken by Glasgow City Council to ensure local businesses derive benefit from the “Co-operative Council” agenda are exemplary.

The strength of commitment is clear in the overwhelming response to the second stage of their co-operative support grant scheme and the recent announcement of a £1million budget to support business ownership transfer.

Practical steps like these are a real boost to co-operative working in Glasgow, and very much to be commended.

Council’s ringing endorsement of co-operatives

GillianKirton-002The eyes of the world have been on Glasgow over the last week and a half as the city plays host to the Commonwealth Games.

Here, Gillian Kirton, Project Manager at Co-operative Development Scotland, looks at how the host city’s council is providing real support to co-operative businesses.

With almost 20 per cent of Scotland’s co-operatives residing in Glasgow, the ‘sector’ is thriving – these co-operatives employ almost 1400 individuals and account for £192m turnover per annum. Impressive numbers indeed.

To further enhance this, Glasgow City Council is one of just 21 Councils in the UK to commit to becoming a Co-operative Council and is certainly taking its commitment very seriously.

There’s real practical support available to companies and the council are putting their money where their mouth is – to date they have awarded 13 co-operatives a total of £210k to implement ‘transformational business development activities’.

people make glasgow

A further tranche of funding is now available with sums of between £2,500 and £25,000 available for eligible activity. And at a Glasgow Business Embassy event last week, it was announced that a pot of £3m will be available to support companies looking at business ownership transfer.

I’m confident we will see more companies following in the footsteps of Glasgow-based Page\Park and opting to transfer ownership to employees.

Co-operative Glasgow sees partnership working as key to successfully delivering their action plan and it was a pleasure to meet so many of those partners.

In collaboration with the Council, we delivered a seminar to many Business Gateway and other front line advisors. It gave them the opportunity to hear more about co-operatives, the impact they can make to the local economy, the many benefits of the model, and the support available to their clients.

Glasgow City Council logo

It’s fair to say that there was a lot of enthusiasm and excitement about the models – they see them as a perfect solution to meet the needs and growth aspirations of many of their clients.

CDS is delighted to continue to work in partnership with the Council, Business Gateway and other advisors to provide free advice and guidance to those businesses considering employee ownership and co-operative business models.

Our annual Collaboration Prize has seen some amazing success stories in Glasgow – Music Co-OPERAtive Scotland and Screen Facilities Scotland are going from strength to strength.

This year we will launch our Collaboration Prize on 1st October – up to three collaborative ideas will each gain a substantial £10k prize to get their idea off the ground. Will we see further success stories in Glasgow?  Watch this space!

Enjoy the Commonwealth Games – another exciting reason to celebrate all that Glasgow has to offer!

Taste of success for food consortium

When you’re a small-scale producer keen increase your sales and exposure across the UK, how do you do it?

Nine food producers in Argyll considered this very issue in 2008, recognising that there was greater opportunity for them all if they worked together.

With the help of Co-operative Development Scotland, they came together to form Food from Argyll – a consortium aimed at taking their goods into a wider market.

Here, the producers describe the benefits they’ve enjoyed since forming the consortium.

Building to a better future


Page\Park celebrate EO DayGlasgow-based architecture firm Page\Park hosted the third event in our programme of Successful Succession Seminars  on Friday, July 4 – Employee Ownership Day. 

Here, Page\Park employee owners David Page, Brian Park, Karen Pickering and Eilidh Henderson give their views on how employee ownership has impacted on the company.

Brian Park, founding partner: “There are three principles central to everything we do: creativity, integrity and making a difference.  That’s what Page\Park is about. A sale to a larger firm might have compromised that. An important benefit of the move to employee ownership is that the Page\Park brand is protected for the long term.”

David Page was part of the transition team who met regularly throughout the business transfer process. “We invested a lot of time in the transition to employee ownership, and it was time well spent. “We believe we were investing in our future. The founders had to wean themselves away from ownership and control, and the employees had to learn more about the business aspects of the company.

“We devised a structure where all employees get involved in at least three business areas as well as their architectural projects.  This means that we have a greater understanding of the business as a whole and are not solely focused on our own projects.”

Karen Pickering has been an employee of Page\Park for 22 years. Karen described how the business operates differently now all employees are owners. “Under the old partnership structure, there was a tremendous pressure on the founders to make the business work; to ensure the books balance, the order book full, we have enough resource to manage our projects.

“Now that we all own the business, the responsibility is shared. We are all much more mindful of costs than we were before and we all know how important it is to win new business.”

Page Park Architects 11“We operate with a flat structure and match each job to people’s talents and interests,” says Eilidh, an employee of 11 years. “It’s quite usual for junior staff to attend high level meetings; there is no top or bottom, we are all in it together.

“This works for us.  We have no need to advertise for recruits.  And once people join, they stay.  This is a great place to work.”

The profession agrees – Page\Park was awarded best employer in the AJ 100 Awards, the architectural sector’s Oscars. The move to employee ownership is about much more than a change in legal structure for the employees of Page\Park.

Eilidh is convinced the model fits with the firm. “There is a strong sense we are creating something quite powerful and dynamic.”  Karen agrees.  “Now we are employee-owned, we are architects of our own destiny.”

Co-op Congress a real Saturday success

Jaye Martin 03Bees, thumbs up and visual minutes made for a different conference experience at this year’s Co-operative Congress.

Here, CDS specialist adviser Jaye Martin talks through some of the key points from the session.

The Town Hall in Birmingham, with its impressive architecture and historic organ dating from 1834, is not a bad place to spend a few hours. Even if it is on a Saturday (the middle Saturday of Wimbledon, a World Cup Round of 16 day)… and it’s sunny in Glasgow.

Being a consummate professional, I was able to set all this aside and concentrate on the subject at hand. Which was, of course, co-operation – or, more specifically, Co-operation: How?

This year’s Congress had been trailed as a pared down, back to basics approach to provide a space for open and honest discussion about the future of the co-operative movement. Two themes from the International Co-operative Alliance’s Blueprint for a Co-operative Decade were used as the focus of the debate:

  • How do we promote the co-operative message and secure our identity?
  • How do we take participation in co-operatives to the next level?

The pitches, debates and pledges stemming from these themes were used to help shape an action plan for the movement. Delegates were given voting cards with ‘thumbs up’ and ‘thumbs down’, to be used throughout the debate whenever the mood took us.

Visual minutes at the Co-op Congress

Visual minutes at the Co-op Congress

The take-aways were, for me, around the innovative tools employed to make this a different and truly more interactive conference, so I’m giving a thumbs up for:

  1. A good theme – the humble bee, long a symbol and unofficial ambassador for co-operation, was utilised to good effect in Ed Mayo’s opening speech, in the branding of the conference and even in the honeycomb-shaped pledges that attendees were encouraged to write on and stick up on a great honeycombed wall of hope.
  1. Steph McGovern – the BBC Breakfast business presenter was an inspired choice of Congress facilitator, with her down-to-earth humour endearing her to the assembled audience from the off. She has recently covered developments regarding The Co-operative Group and The Co-operative Bank for the BBC and her genuine interest in the sector was clear.
  1. Visual minutes – professional artists from Creative Connections recorded the debate and feel of the room through illustration, creating this wonderful piece of art which is a lasting legacy of Congress 2014.

That was the year that was – a look back at 2013-14

Sarah Deas resizedCo-operative Development Scotland had a stellar 2013/14, working with co-operatives and employee-owned businesses throughout the country.

Reviewing progress, chief executive Sarah Deas outlines how the results demonstrate the potential for growth in the coming years.

During 2013/14, Co-operative Development Scotland supported 36 new ventures and buyouts across the country, nurturing successful business collaboration and succession.

consortia infographic

We helped establish 19 new consortia covering key sectors, including tourism, creative industries, forestry and renewables. This will directly benefit more than 150 businesses in the first year – with that figure expected to increase to more than 350 over the next three years as the influence of the consortia grow.

We also helped eight new community ventures to get off the ground and are currently advising 91 Scottish companies that are interested in the employee ownership model as a succession option.

The figures, published in our 2013/14 annual review, demonstrate clearly that co-operative and employee ownership models are proving attractive options for businesses as the benefits become more widely known.

It is for that reason we are confident we will meet our target of a 10-fold increase in employee ownership over the coming decade, as well as helping to establish a further 350 new co-operatives in the same period.

the future

Others are keen to learn from our approach; last year we advised the Malawi Trade and Investment Centre on Scotland’s approach to co-operative development.  We also participated in a project led by the Flemish Government to promote co-operative entrepreneurship across European member states.

Looking forward, we will continue to work closely with Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise, as well as key partners including Business Gateway, industry bodies, membership organisations and professional practices, to raise awareness, provide advice and influence policy.

We are determined to build on the successes we have had over the past year – and the enthusiasm the model has been shown so far only whets our appetite to spread the message even further.

A new generation lighting the way…

Sarah Deas resizedLeaders from across Europe came together recently in Brussels to discuss all aspects of co-operative development, including how to engage with young people looking to collaborate in business.

Fresh from the insightful conference in the Belgian capital, CDS chief executive Sarah Deas reveals some of the different approaches being taken by various countries.

Across Europe the next generation is eager to create new endeavour – young people wanting to start their own businesses.  Many are talking about doing so together – championing a co-operative approach to match their values.

Recently I attended an event at which this message was loud and clear. I joined leaders from Flanders, Finland, Italy, Sweden and the UK in Brussels to share our approaches to co-operative development.

We heard from Gordon Hahn, chair of Sweden’s Coompanion, on how his organisation is tapping into this growing desire to collaborate. They recently launched ‘Generation Kooperation’, a campaign targeting 20 – 35 year olds.kooperation

I explained how here in Scotland we are also supporting the growing interest in the younger generation by developing teaching resources and a toolkit for use in universities and colleges. Following a successful pilot, we are now working with the Scottish Funding Council to support the roll-out of these resources across the futher and higher education sectors.

Other insights from our day in Belgium included recognition of the role that strong national bodies play in promoting the adoption of co-operative models. We were all impressed to hear how Coompanion, which operates 25 co-operative development centres across Sweden, has supported 5,000 new co-operative entrepreneurs over the last fiveyears.

Niina Immonen and Mirja Taipale, from Tampere Region Cooperative Center, also described the important Finnish initiative upskilling 820 business advisers – ensuring co-operative models are considered as mainstream options. Their contemporary campaign – ‘Enterprising Together’ – was designed to stimulate public interest in working with others. It involved radio broadcasts, mass distribution of brochures and events across Finland.  Together these initiatives resulted in a 10% per annum increase in co-operative start-ups.

enterprising

All the nations identified emerging opportunities for co-operatives in:

  • creative industries
  • tourism
  • social care
  • renewable energy
  • broadband

Consortium co-operatives are becoming increasingly prominent in the tourism and creative industries as a vehicle for business collaboration. Italy’s distinct legislation has resulted in 15,000 social co-operatives. The UK’s community shares initiative has enabled over 200 communities to invest in local enterprises. And, in Sweden, co-operatives provide 20% of the broadband infrastructure.

Our host, the Flemish Government, in its commitment to co-operative entrepreneurship is calling for ‘proposals’ for new co-operative business models – a refreshing and pioneering approach.

The increasing relevance of co-operative models in modern-day Europe was evident throughout the day – driven by changing societal values and the need for innovative solutions to local issues. A big ‘thank you’ goes to Kristof Welslau for arranging such a valuable day.

It is over 50 years since President Kennedy spoke of the torch being passed to a new generation. “United, there is little we cannot do in a host of co-operative ventures”. It may be our young people who will now take forward that torch and drive the adoption of co-operative models, not just in Scotland but world-wide.

My personal journey to employee ownership

Nick Kuenssberg ICAS photoIn 2012, industrial textile manufacturer Scott & Fyfe – a fourth-generation family business – made the transition to employee ownership (EO).

Non executive chairman Professor Nick Kuenssberg explains how lessons learnt in Germany, Peru, Chile and the UK led to the introduction of EO to the family behind the Tayport-based firm.

 

Germany, 1967

  • Representation and trust are paramount
  • Social welfare is necessary in the wake of mass redundancies

germany

I helped with the restructuring plans of a Hamburg manufacturer. Its acquisition proved to have been a major strategic mistake (the first bank con that I came across) and the textbook solution was to transfer the rump of the business elsewhere and close down the balance.

What struck me forcibly was that it proved possible to close it in an orderly way without headlines or hysteria – not only was there a social welfare plan for those made redundant but there was union representation on the supervisory board which meant that the employees believed the management story.

Peru, 1971

  • The profit motive is critical if investment is to prosper
  • Expectations for EO must be managed realistically and sympathetically

peru

The left-wing military government introduced the concept of an industrial community, a form of co-operative within each industrial company, which gained ownership up to 50 per cent of equity through the allocation of 15 per cent of annual pre-tax profit. The greater the profit, the faster the original shareholders were diluted, undermining the normally acknowledged capitalistic profit motive. Incidentally, there was also a profit share to be distributed on a per head basis.

This novel regime undermined the industrial sector within a few years because the profit motive was eliminated – investment dried up and any actual investment made saw surcharges on imports deposited outside the country – and the trade unions which dominated the industrial community board also had representation on company boards.

There were ways round this to be exploited involving transfer of profits but these routes di little to promote industrial development generically.

Chile, 1974

  • The rigid communist state planning controlled price model does not work

chile

In the post-Allende era, I worked to recover a company that had been sold to the Chilean Government (but never paid for). The company was comprehensively bust and 23 per cent inflation per month made normal life difficult.

Real demand collapsed and government price control meant not only that costs could not be recovered, but that the product was resold at a black market premium. Staffing was excessive and there was no cash to cover the payroll – other than via a government bank that charged interest at inflation plus.

Radical restructuring was necessary to recover the situation and price freedom was vital to make this possible.

Since then both economies have recovered and flourished under the Chicago School of Economics model with open frontiers, low duties, realistic exchange rate and promotion of investment and exports.

UK, 1975

  • The relevant parties did not listen to each other
  • Determined people will beat most governance systems unless board, management and employees are working to the same agenda

gb

The Bullock Report on employee representation appeared, recommending that employees be represented on the boards of UK companies with directors to be selected by the trade unions.

The bosses rejected this (in the light of the state of play in the late 1970s) and the unions did too, as they interpreted it as undermining their pay bargaining rights.

UK, 1999

As a non executive director of a large engineering company owned by the workforce through a trust, I resigned. The combination of an ambitious chief executive and a self-aggrandising chairman persuaded the company to embark on a reckless path to European leadership.

This transaction needed short-term finance of an aggressive acquisition which could not be refinanced, ending with a fire sale to private equity at a fraction of its market value.

Scotland, 2014

scotland

Many of the above lessons were applied to the transfer of ownership at Scott & Fyfe, ownership that is both indirect via an employee benefit trust and direct in that it provides opportunities for employees to acquire shares in the business.

The benefits have been real, wide-ranging and surprising; greater flexibility of labour, improved productivity, enhanced understanding of the business, an end to company politics and genuine trust in management. The move from employee to owner is well under way.

Employee ownership provided an exit route for shareholders and has contributed to a much better business – one committed to its local community, less exposed to takeover, sustainable in every sense and geared to a long-term strategy.

The Wee Agency hopes collaboration will bring big results

Eilidh Marshall headshotLast year, for a second consecutive year, CDS ran the Collaboration Prize – an opportunity for three businesses from across Scotland to each win £10,000 worth of cash and support to get their consortium business idea off the ground.

Working with Creative Scotland, CDS crowned Highland-based The Wee Agency with the creative sector prize. Eilidh Marshall from Muckle Media talks through the benefits of being part of a Scottish consortium.

It’s an exciting time to be part of The Wee Agency. Having just launched, we are delighted to have won the Co-operative Development Scotland Collaboration Prize.

According to Co-operative Development Scotland, there are 578 registered co-operative businesses in Scotland, and no doubt many more businesses collaborating behind the scenes. These businesses play a major role in driving economic growth with a combined turnover of £4bn and providing employment to 28,600 people.

Collaboration can have significant benefits – increased productivity, creativity and greater influence are just some. Working with different people outside your own agency can spark new ideas and give insight into the other specialities. All the while, individual businesses can retain their own brands; collaboration simply allows them to be part of something with greater impact.

Collaborating and combining skills makes things a lot simpler for clients too. There’s no need to brief different agencies or companies, no more juggling projects, reading through multiple proposals or duplication of tasks or costs. Clients are reassured that everything is taken care of by one company.

Compare it to say, building a house. Imagine one project manager presenting you with the options on how to achieve your ideal home – you don’t need to find an architect, builder, decorator, bathroom fitter, electrician or spend your time coordinating how they work together. You choose the end result you want and the team does the rest. 

And that’s how we work.

In an increasingly digital world, it’s important that companies have accessible and interesting websites that are marketed effectively – therefore increasing their chances of being seen by consumers. At The Wee Agency, we bring this together with 2bcreative providing the design, Alchemy+  bringing the IT and Muckle Media providing PR and marketing.

David Massey, managing director of Alchemy+, Nathalie Agnew MCIPR, director of Muckle Media and John Young, director of 2bcreative, represent the three firms that have formed The Wee Agency.

David Massey, managing director of Alchemy+, Nathalie Agnew MCIPR, director of Muckle Media and John Young, director of 2bcreative, represent the three firms that have formed The Wee Agency.

So how do projects with The Wee Agency work? 

  • After being briefed by the client on their needs and wants, we brainstorm to find the best creative idea that will sit at the centre of the campaign
  • We plan the project utilising the best channels to reach the audience
  • The design team then produce the creative material
  • Once approved, the web developers and IT team build the website
  • During this process, the PR and marketing team plan for the launch
  • The PR and marketing team reach out to media and run social media to drive people to engage

When working in the creative industries it’s important to be able to bounce ideas off each other which can then spark bigger and better solutions. The consortium approach enables us to do this efficiently.

Our multi-channel team condenses the workload for our clients and working together allows us to provide big results. Without the need to liaise between different agencies, our clients are able to concentrate on other aspects of their business. So whether it’s a start-up or an established organisation we’re working with, we can help make it a success.

Find out more about The Wee Agency at www.theweeagency.co.uk or follow us on Twitter to keep posted on the latest trends and news in the digital world @theweeagency

Take Five

Jaye Martin 03Jaye Martin is a specialist adviser who joined Co-operative Development Scotland this summer. Here she shares her experience of what it’s like to work at Scotland’s co-operative and employee-owned enterprise development organisation.

It’s already six months into my new role as a CDS specialist adviser, focussing on collaborative business models, so now is as good a time as any to pause for a moment and take stock of my top five experiences so far in what has been an exciting and challenging few months.

 

 1. The CDS Collaboration Prize

PrintThis has been a revelation for me as I’d never been involved behind the scenes of a competition before – unless you count making up a quiz sheet for Comic Relief to sell around my village when I was 12! We were overwhelmed with the quality of the collaborative ideas contained in the applications this year and it’ll be a valuable learning experience for me to be involved in the strategy sessions for the winners when they take place in due course. Excitingly, we are poised to announce our winners shortly so watch this space…

 

2. New consortia

We support so many groups of businesses and communities across Scotland in exploring and formalising their ideas for collaboration and I love the variety this work provides. To mention only a few of the new collaborations we’ve advised so far this year: Destination Stirling, the new tourism group supported by Stirling Council, Scottish Enterprise and VisitScotland; Scottish Mountain Biking Consortium, a group of like-minded businesses committed to developing the best family mountain biking experiences, packages and solutions in Scotland; and Community of Raasay Retail Association (CORRA), the community group behind the purchase of the only shop on Raasay.

 

3. Community shares

On my second day at CDS, I attended our Advisory Board session on ‘Community Shares – Realising the Potential’. Of great interest was a presentation by Hugh Rolo of the Community Shares Unit in England. Their newly launched dedicated web platform for community share issues, Microgenius, is a potential game-changer for this growing sector. We are seeing increasing interest in community co-operatives in Scotland, particularly in relation to renewable energy generation (wind, hydro) and broadband projects.

 

4. Tweeting

Another revelation. Somewhere between dinosaur and sceptic when it came to social media,CDS Twitter I can now see the real value in tweeting, blogging and their ilk – there is the potential to strike up dialogue with like-minded individuals and organisations and to spread the word about co-operative business models. Follow me @CDSjaye and us @cdscotland to find out more!

 

5. Collective Futures workshop

I was pleased to be asked to present on the consortium co-operative model at one of the Collective Futures workshops. This is an exploratory project to define the nature and form of co-operative business models used by designer/makers to sustain and grow their creative businesses. The project is itself a collaboration between Gray’s School of Art, University of the West of Scotland, Glasgow School of Art and a selection of residents who are practising designers/makers from all over Scotland. I was (unsurprisingly) impressed at the creativity used to facilitate the discussion on collectives, particularly the ‘mood boards’ which caused much hilarity (one included a photo of Katy Perry being blasted into outer space) but also revealed inner thoughts about the pros and cons of collaboration.

And as for my top moment outwith CDS…? It has to be when a boy from Dunblane lifted the Wimbledon trophy on that oven-hot day in July. Let’s hope the next six months are just as exciting!

 

2014: An exciting time to collaborate

Marc Crothall picture

The Scottish Tourism Alliance (STA) is an independent trade body comprising trade associations, individual businesses, marketing and local area tourism groups who earn their living from tourism or have an active interest in tourism.

Marc Crothall, CEO of the Scottish Tourism Alliance, explains why the organisation has partnered with this year’s Collaboration Prize at an exciting time for the Scottish Tourism industry.

The STA’s primary role is to lead, facilitate, co-ordinate and provide support to industry to help enable the successful delivery of the national strategy (Tourism Scotland 2020) objectives and vision. Other activities undertaken by the STA on behalf of its members are to collaborate with and represent industry views to government and agencies, offer advice and information to its members and enable strong networking opportunities across industry sectors.

We are recognised by government and public agencies as a credible and fully representative ‘voice of the Scottish industry,’ which Co-operative Development Scotland (CDS) has also acknowledged, and we are pleased to have been asked to work in partnership with them as a representative of the Scottish Tourism Industry.

The STA is delighted to support CDS’s Collaboration Prize as it focus’ on one of the key elements that underpins the National Strategy (Tourism Scotland 2020) “Collaboration”.

With the hook of a great £10,000 prize, the competition creates market opportunities, facilitates collaboration, endorses sustainable tourism and helps drive economic growth in the tourism sector. All of this contributes towards the Tourism Scotland vision in: “Making Scotland a destination of first choice for a high quality, value for money and memorable customer experience, delivered by skilled and passionate people.”

Tourism is one of the most important industries in the Scottish economy, generating £4.3bn from overnight visitors, employing 185,900 within the tourism growth sector and attracting 15 million visitors in last year alone.

Now is an exciting time to be a part of the Scottish Tourism sector which will grow exponentially in the coming years with three landmark events taking place next year when Scotland “Welcomes the World” in 2014 with our second year of homecoming and two of the world’s biggest sporting events: the Commonwealth Games and the Ryder Cup.

These events are key to the tourism industry as they will not only give us the opportunity to showcase Scotland to the world, but will provide the stepping stones to delivering the growth ambition set out in Tourism 2020. Many opportunities will also be generated for our home grown talent to work together to succeed on the world stage and compete in the world market.

With these vast opportunities on the horizon the STA is looking forward to seeing the calibre of entrants that emerge from the Collaboration Prize this year and how they plan on taking advantage of these forthcoming key events. Fundamental elements we will be looking for in the proposals are: 

  • Innovative and creative concepts
  • Collaborative opportunities identified
  • Sustainable plans and projects
  • Valuable contribution to the Scottish Tourism sector
  • And most importantly, vision for future expansion and growth

The STA is looking forward to seeing what the future stars of the Scottish Tourism Industry have to offer.

If you are not yet a member of the Scottish Tourism Alliance for more information on membership please visit www.scottishtourismalliance.co.uk or email jean.kilpatrick@stalliance.co.uk

Community co-operatives – realising the potential

Karen BirchThe nature of communities in modern society is evolving, but their role remains more important than ever.

Here Karen Birch, managing editor of 3rdi magazine, a leading voice of the co-operative sector, assesses the value of co-operative community enterprises.

Karen is also a member of Co-operative Development Scotland’s (CDS) Advisory Board.

 

Community co-operatives are organisations set up to provide services to a particular community which use co-operative principles to guide their activities. 

A local community, such as a village or a block of flats, has physical boundaries which makes it easy to recognise. But in the increasingly complex world most of us inhabit many different communities exist and playing different roles. For example, we may be a member of a faith group, a volunteer for a charity and or a member of a local sports team.

Almost every activity which involves people coming together for common purpose has the potential to create a co-operative community enterprise. The co-operative enterprise I am most closely involved with, the 3rdi magazine, is just such a community with women and men3rdilogo5 from across the UK coming together to create an on-line magazine which looks at business issues from an ethical perspective.

We do not serve a local community but rather serve a community with a shared interest in ethical business practices and in furthering equality and diversity in the workplace. Community is an active condition reinforced by active membership with people choosing to identify with and support community values and purpose. 

Community Investment involves members of that community buying shares in an enterprise that serves that community. It gives people a stake in the success of that enterprise. Common ownership puts the assets of the community co-operative in a similar relationship to its members as the village green is to the inhabitants of a village. Everyone has use of the asset but no one person has title or claim and no one person can dig it up and take it away. 

Throughout the last century, the model of community action has been one of volunteering and was heavily reliant on grant-funding from public sector bodies and individual philanthropy. This is not sustainable. I am a fan of enterprise and I’ve run successful businesses for the last 20 years. I see community enterprise as a real alternative to the market failures in the private sector and the continual withdrawal of funding from the public sector. 

Community enterprises provide goods and services to meet the needs of their communities. Community shareholders, unlike traditional shareholders, only expect a fair return not a maximal or rapid return on their investment. This long-term alignment of shareholders to the needs of the community enterprise, promotes long-term sustainability over short-term profit-taking. 

At a time when many communities are faced with the loss of local amenities this change in focus is, I think, crucial. And community shareholders are also far more likely to get involved, to become active supporters of the enterprise, and not just remain as consumers of products and services.

This engagement also strengthens the business model. It creates role flexibility: as customer and supplier and employee and owner is a true stakeholder model, and is more robust and sustainable than the traditional supplier-to business-to customer model. It is this combination of engagement, flexibility and sustainability that leads me to conclude that we need more community enterprise and ownership.

So, what sort of services can community co-operatives provide? Examples are wide ranging and reflect the needs of the communities they serve. These include a crèche in a tower block containing many single-parent families which has enabled them to seek work, through to a launderette in a housing estate.

Most successful community share issues focus on an asset, which is why community shops, pubs and community buildings have featured amongst the big success stories for co-operative community enterprise. As an Advisory Board Member of Co-operative Development Scotland (CDS), I’ve seen first-hand how shared ownership enables communities to develop services such as utilities and broadband, and this can work particularly well in remote regions.

However, just because a community lacks a service that it wants, it does not automatically mean that there is a viable business model that can meet that need. As with any business an opportunity only exists if there is sufficient demand from customers willing to pay a reasonable price for the goods or services provided.

With our long term energy future, particularly our reliance on fossil fuels, looking increasingly insecure, more and more attention is being drawn to renewables. Local communities are rightly seeking to benefit from renewable energy projects based in their vicinity.

By coming together to form a co-operative the local community can receive a direct financial benefit from the development and can use any profits generated to re-invest in other community projects. The profit generated stays within the community rather than rewarding shareholders outside the area.

Harlaw Hydro Electric directors (from left): Martin Petty, Simon Dormer, Lynn Molleson and Ian Hynd – pictured at Harlaw Reservoir.

A good example of this is Harlaw Hydro Limited whose purpose is to own and operate a micro-Hydro scheme. It will generate revenue by selling ‘green’ hydro-electricity. The income generated will allow Harlaw Hydro Ltd to contribute to other projects and initiatives within the local area through the Balerno Village Trust. It is 80 per cent of the way to raising £313,000 through a share offer scheme.

CDS works in partnership with other organisations such the Co-operative Enterprise Hub to help communities develop community co-operatives in the renewable energy and broadband arena. The benefit of this model is that co-owners are involved in decision-making. Income can be invested back into the community through local projects or distributed among the members.

From my perspective the key is enterprise and long-term viability and I think that the model of ownership and engagement in community co-operatives means that they can be more robust and sustainable than either their private sector or charitable counterparts.

If you like the sound of this way of doing business do sign up or visit our website: www.the3rdimagazine.co.uk/ and follow us on Twitter, @the3rdimagazine

Co-operative Development Scotland is a Scottish Enterprise subsidiary, established to help companies grow by setting up consortium, employee-owned and community businesses. It works in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

 

Success is the common currency of employee ownership…

Carol LeslieEmployee ownership is a business model that reaps rewards for companies home and abroad. Carole Leslie, specialist adviser, Co-perative Development Scotland, reports on her visit to America and why success is the common currency between UK and US employee owned firms.

we the owners

 Here at CDS we’re always keen to cast the net as far and wide as possible when it comes to broadening our understanding of employee ownership. Last month we ran a highly successful series of screenings across Scotland of the powerful film We the Owners: Employees Expanding the American Dream,which interviewed American workers. It cut to the heart of what it means to be an owner in your own business. 

  

I was also fortunate enough to travel to the US recently to take in a conference of employee owned businesses (EOBs) in New England. I was struck by the similarities rather than the differences that exist between British and American models of ownership.

On both sides of the Atlantic, companies owned by their employees are competitive, professionally run, excel in their sector, and operate a form of responsible management with inclusive and transparent governance systems. The result is a more robust and fairer model of business. 

carris reels logoA good example is Carris Reels. Carris Reels designs and manufactures reels and spools for the wire and cable industry, employs 450 staff and has locations across the US and in Mexico.

 

 

BillI met with Bill Carris, who engineered the transition to employee ownership in 2008. Bill’s father started the business in 1951, and Bill grew up in the company, taking over as CEO in 1980. Father and son shared the recognition of the importance of the individual, and of community.

 

 

Bill looked to find ways to involve employees more in the business. He knew that many companies pursued “emotional ownership” but he wanted his employees to have real ownership of the business. He embarked on what became known as the “LTP” or Long Term Plan, which would not only transfer 100 per cent of the ownership to employees but also 100 per cent of the governance.

Carris Reels 2Herein lies the real challenge. Firms who have gone through the transition, whether in UK or US or anywhere else, would agree that getting the technical elements in place is the easier bit of the business transfer process. Attaining true ownership – hearts and minds ownership – is much more difficult. Speaking with some of the employees and seeing the business results left me in no doubt that Carris Reels has been successful in achieving that transformational culture of employee ownership. 

Carris Reels used a three stage process to implement their ownership culture. The first step was to set out the objectives and vision. Bill Carris was quite clear in what he was looking for – total employee governance to fit with total legal ownership.

Carris Reels

The second step was to make this vision real by building the capacity of employee owners to understand what ownership means for them. This included a wide ranging examination of the business goals and how the company is managed.

A thorough education programme was implemented which explained the risks and rewards, company strategy and operation, and the technical details of ESOP operation.

 

The third stage examined the context for employee ownership, ensuring that managers and staff have the appropriate skills to manage and work in a transparent and productive environment. As part of this stage, structures for employee involvement and participation were devised and introduced, as was a systematic process clarifying decision-making responsibilities. Each one of these three stages is constantly assessed, reviewed, revisited and new recruits are fully inducted.  

Carris Reels StaffThis kind of programme might appear daunting and time consuming, but the long term benefits are evident. Indeed, Scottish firms such as Clansman Dynamics and the Keil Centre will testify that doing the spadework in the early stages reaps rewards later on and brings success much more quickly. Getting the legal structures and the tax repercussions resolved are both important; but these are only the start of what is a continual process.

The US experience tells us that legislation to support employee ownership in tangible ways is key if we want to see a step change in growth. However, to achieve that transformational change takes sustained and considered application. In many ways, the technical architecture is just the vehicle.

Achieving true employee ownership takes courage and conviction. But US companies like Carris Reels and native examples like Woollard & Henry and Accord Energy, clearly show the results are positive and far reaching.

Co-operative Development Scotland is a Scottish Enterprise subsidiary, established to help companies grow by setting up consortium, employee-owned and community businesses. It works in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Seafood Producer Serves Up Food For Thought…

Angela Wardrope hi resScotland has a thriving food and drink sector. Employee owned companies like seafood producers Aquascot are reaping the rewards of co-operation.

Angela Wardrope, project manager, Co-operative Development Scotland, shadowed Aquascot’s Dennis Overton when he went before the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Food.

 

I had the opportunity to hear Employee Ownership Ambassador Dennis Overton from Aquascot address the Scottish Parliament Cross Party Group on Food in January. The experience provided an insight into Aquascot’s journey towards employee ownership and a fascinating bird’s eye view of Scotland’s food and drink sector. It got me thinking about the bigger role co-operation could play in this industry. AquaScot Dennis Overton 94

Aquascot is based in Alness and takes its inspiration from the 1920 pioneering profit sharing model of employee ownership set up by John Spedan Lewis. The seafood producing firm began its journey towards employee ownership in 2008, which it will complete 2016. 

AquaScot 02In 2008 the main driver was to sustain and grow the business for the future. The potential was huge: a strong team, accelerating health drivers, expertise in aquaculture and strong market demands. A business owned by the employees was the only solution to create long term value in a fairly remote part of Scotland.

Now, four years later turnover has reached £29m and total staff numbers are up to a healthy 135. Aquascot is also benefiting from a reduction in absenteeism and leaving rates – half that of the sector average. Staff are twice as productive as the sector average and feel they can bring forward ideas that are listened to and implemented.

AquaScot 05So what is the wider potential for this model in Scotland’s food and drink sector? The industry is made up of lots of micro-businesses, a few large family businesses such as Tunnock’s and Mackies and a few giants like Devro. The industry also has plenty of first generation entrepreneurs, who in my view would be a great fit for employee ownership. The challenge is how we ensure other companies take inspiration from the benefits enjoyed by Aquascot, and think about employee ownership themselves.

But back to our parliamentarians. A good debate took place amongst Cross Party Group members following Dennis’s address. They wanted to hear more about the risks when changing ownership structure and how businesses adapt to this change. Dennis responded by pointing out the difference between ownership and management. He conceded the transition process can add complexity to the mix, but a well run business is a well run business, irrespective of the ownership structure. 

A question was also raised around ‘co-opetition’, when businesses co-operate with competitors. At Co-operative Development Scotland (CDS), we are seeing a strong appetite for this. Especially where there is an opportunity for businesses to collaborate to help a sector grow.

For example Food from Argyll is a consortium of nine food producers that came together to sell their produce at events under its singular banner. Overall, the members all saw the co-operative as an opportunity to get into a market that would be really hard to crack on their own. A consortium co-operative allows single businesses to pool their resources in this way without compromising their independence as singular entities. They look at the bigger picture and will reap the benefits as a consequence. 

Best of Food Argyll 2So did the Cross Party Group members feel that co-operative business models were a good fit for Scotland’s food and drink businesses? Overall, there was a feeling that any form of co-operation would be beneficial. And that much more needed to be done to promote collaboration for the benefit of the sector.

CDS supports all businesses in Scotland, irrespective of sector or size. If you like the sound of accessing bigger markets through co-operation we can help you. We have produced a short paper on Scotland’s food and drink sector, so if you want to read more see: Co-operate for growth; Growing Scotland’s food and drink sector.

Co-operative Development Scotland is a Scottish Enterprise subsidiary, established to help companies grow by setting up consortium, employee-owned and community businesses. It works in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

Employees can have their ‘stake’ and eat it…

Austin Flynn - PortraitAustin Flynn is a corporate lawyer and head of Morton Fraser’s business team where he advises business owners from across the UK. Here, he reflects on the rising popularity of employee ownership and says workers’ rights need not be compromised by this business model.

 

 

For more than twenty years I’ve been advising businesses on a variety of corporate and commercial legal matters. For most of that time the majority of my clients have been owner-managed. As a result, the person who’s instructing me not only works for his/her business, but also owns it, has capital tied up in it and sees the business as ‘part of the family’ and inextricably linked with it.

There isn’t the kind of work/life distinction that allows owner-managers to leave work behind when they get home and it certainly creates a different dynamic when compared with taking instructions from someone who is simply an employee and has no share in the business. Interestingly, increasing numbers of my owner-managed clients are now looking at ways of giving their key employees a financial stake in the business.

sharesThese range from share option schemes where a small proportion of the company is made available, to more radical and far-reaching re-structurings that in some cases can effectively be a partial exit for the owner. As with anything in life, there’s no ‘one size fits all’ solution when it comes to employee ownership but it’s striking how popular the concept has become, thanks to organisations like CDS spreading the word about the benefits.

On my own weekly blog on the Morton Fraser website I commented last year on George Osborne’s new owner-employee contract under which employers will be able to award shares to staff in return for staff giving up unfair dismissal, redundancy and training rights and also relinquishing the right to ask for flexible working.

FiguresI commented at the time that as a fan of employee ownership I couldn’t see any reason why an employee can’t have his/her employment rights and a stake in the company. My guess was that many of the benefits of true employee ownership (increased productivity, innovation and profitability) would be undermined by a structure where the employee is shackled to a company and can be walked over roughshod. Also, the lack of liquidity in the private company share market could make the value of such shares very subjective anyway.

 

It was therefore interesting that recently in the House of Lords John Gummer declared the plans to be ‘mystifying’, adding “I cannot imagine in any circumstances whatsoever that this would be of any use to any business that I have ever come across in my entire life.”

Lord Pannick QC added: “What is so objectionable is that these employment rights were conferred by Parliament over the past 50 years and they have been protected by Governments both Conservative and Labour precisely because the inequality of bargaining power between employee and employer means that freedom of contract is quite insufficient to protect the employee. To allow these basic employment rights to be traded as some sort of commodity frustrates the very purpose of these entitlements as an essential protection in the employment context.”

I couldn’t have it put it better myself, so I won’t even attempt to do so.

Co-operative Development Scotland is a Scottish Enterprise subsidiary, established to help companies grow by setting up consortium, employee-owned and community businesses. It works in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

A co-operative consortium that’s bringing home the bacon…

D&G Farmers Cooperative 02Farmers Nigel and Angela Taylor look after 180 Highland cattle at Castle Douglas, Dumfries and Galloway. The company, Barlochan Highlanders, was one of three similar outfits to win the CDS Collaboration Prize. Here, Nigel reports on why forming a co-operative consortium with Annanwater Organics and Clash Saddlebacks will bring home the bacon.  

 

 

I once read that forming a co-operative could best be described as a leap into the unknown. Until now I never fully appreciated the scale of the challenge involved, but more importantly I’d never really considered the huge benefits that taking a collective approach to a business can bring.

All that changed a few months back when myself and two other farming outfits from Dumfries and Galloway found ourselves clinking champagne glasses together having just won £10,000 worth of funding as part of Co-operative Development Scotland’s (CDS) inaugural Collaboration Prize

My partners are Steve and Sarah Burchell from Annanwater Organics, based near Moffat, who sell organic blackface and blackface-cross lamb and Robert and Caron Stewart, based at Port Logan, whose firm Clash Saddlebacks sells rare breed traditional pork and bacon.D&G Farmers Cooperative 07

The first strength of our enterprise is the fact that we have known each other for years and our triumvirate of existing businesses all share an obsession with delivering produce of the highest quality. Here in Dumfries and Galloway we all have the same approach to high animal-welfare, outdoor reared, slow grown, ethically and locally sourced and artisan produced meat.

We would all tick the same boxes and this has proved a positive foundation to forming our co-operative.

So what’s the big deal? Well, I guess it’s all to do with working together…the very definition of a co-operative, you might say.

Of course agriculture is known for its solitary lifestyle. After all my outdoor office in the beautiful Scottish countryside, and comprises just me and 180 Highlanders (cattle that is!) and we spend most of our days together. It’s only when a rep turns up, or I have to go and get something fixed, that I meet anyone else.Highlander Barlochan 2 for blog

Farmers’ markets each weekend throughout the season can be a real test of my dormant social skills.  We are simply not used to working with other people, especially when we only have a share of the decision making process. But then again, that’s the whole point.

Setting up a consortium has been a big step forward for each of us. We have immediately been thrown into a season of re-adjustment that we could never have envisaged. Geographically separated by almost 100 miles of open space, we have had to plan ahead and consciously think about how to communicate. Whoever invented the conference call deserves a pat on the back.

We have had to adjust to each other’s timescales in terms of lifestyle and when we are each available. Steve & Sarah (Burchell) from Annanwater Organics, out at Moffat, are just about to embark on what is their most demanding time of the year … lambing! Sheep Annanwater 2 for blogWhilst Robert and Caron (Stewart) in the fantastic area of Port Logan with Clash Saddlebacks are always busy.

Saddleback Clash 1 for blogGood communication will be key to our success and is all part of our exciting new venture.

I think each of us are quite creative in their own way and that again is important for this enterprise. We each have strengths and specific areas of experience that we each bring to the kitchen table (or conference call).

Okay, we each have our weaknesses and areas we would rather avoid, but somehow the co-operative knits together six individuals, all from different backgrounds, knocks out all the rough edges off, sticks us all back together, and then gives us something exciting and rewarding to fight for.

The future looks bright. We are just about to sign the lease for premises that will enable us to develop an exciting range of pork, beef and lamb added value charcuterie products, as well as providing a distribution and admin location.

Our new branding (including new co-operative name … watch this space) is in development with one of the top marketing companies in Scotland, and we just can’t wait for the summer when we are planning our official launch.

So, to answer the initial question: Yes, we are taking a huge step, but so far we are all finding it a hugely exciting one to be making.

Highlander Barlochan 4 for blog

Co-operative Development Scotland is a Scottish Enterprise subsidiary, established to help companies grow by setting up consortium, employee-owned and community businesses. It works in partnership with Highlands and Islands Enterprise.

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