The project which launched this work was carried out over a period of two years (April 2004 –March 2006) by the Plunkett Foundation and Co-operativesUK. The research was funded by Defra under its Agricultural Development Scheme and by Co-operative Action.
The purpose of the project was to work with five new start-up or fledgling co-operatives, helping them to develop into successful organisations, and then to use this experience to build a generic models of a co-operative in each market sector.
The expertise of Plunkett and Co-operativesUK, and their consultants, was used to:
The franchise models are based on our experiences of working with farmer market groups in each sector, but they are NOT exact replicas of the groups studied. What the franchise models do is to assess the external factors impacting on the business (market and industry structure) and then model a co-operative business that represents best practice in these given circumstances.
The first stage was to carry out a review of all the literature in this area to find out what other researchers had discovered about what makes an agricultural co-operative successful.
The next stages of the research involved drawing up assessment criteria for potential market sectors, and for co-operatives within this sector who might participate in the project.
We were then able to identify market sectors and co-operatives that matched our selection criteria. Project consultants selected the five groups that had the “best fit” with our assessment criteria. We then worked with them over a period of 6-12 months to help them to establish themselves as sustainable business. This method of research is called “action research” – the results are based on interactions with real people and real businesses in current markets.
From this work, and our previous research, we were able to draw up the Key Success Factors for the organisation - the things that every co-operative marketing organisation needs to have in place to facilitate success.
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In Partnership with:
