Peer in episode #55 of the De Gebakken Peren Podcast.
1. A Short Decision Tree: Is It Good for the Members?
Cooperatives exist for their members. When in doubt, do what's good for them.
The clearer you are on the purpose of your company or organization, the simpler it becomes to make decisions.
For too long, companies have organized themselves around an economic myth of "maximizing profits for shareholders."
Members of cooperatives decide for themselves. And they have a more holistic sense of what's good for them.
2. Getting Off the Couch
Over the last decades, we've outsourced more and more responsibility and ownership of key elements of our lives to the government and "the market."
This was promised to bring efficiency and it definitely made it more convenient.
However, companies turned out to ignore externalities. And, adding value for customers turned out to be different from caring deeply about what's good for civilians.
We've been lulled to sleep.
Cooperatives are a way to organize the "assets of production" in a way that gives us influence and ownership of them.
However, this requires us to shift our mindset.
We can't blindly outsource. We have to get involved.
3. We Don't Need a Marketing Budget
Cooperatives have their members as their clients.
Members make the decisions, and the cooperative team is always in direct contact with them.
They don't need a marketing budget to reach their clients.
They sit next to them at the table.
