Cooperative Application in Business Plans - Coursework Example

Cooperative Application in Business Plans Student’s Name Institution Cooperative Application in Business Plans Introduction Cooperative learning and participation help students in many ways especially in relating with each other and coming together to work on a particular project that is beneficial to all of them. It helps them strengthen their core values and learn how to use teamwork in different aspects of life. From the above point of view, we can say that cooperative learning helps in creating a positive mindset and interactions between students in ways that lead to the creation of positive interdependence and promoted interactions. Collaborative learning employs the use of different structures, and all get governed by the principle of interdependence and accountability for each involved. An example of the results of cooperation learning is the formation of cooperative enterprises which adhere to all set of values taught in the module. Cooperative structures get their origin from the early times, and evidence of their existence show that human beings get organised in many ways when there is involvement of a mutual benefit. People arrange themselves in cooperative structures so as to enable job allocation and simplification, to pool resources together and to carry out a venture that is mutual to all of them. The formation of cooperative enterprises dates its origin from way back in the year 1761 when the Fenwick Weavers Society got created to help in selling discounted oatmeal to local workers. The main aim of cooperative enterprises is to combine all interests of individuals in a given society so as to achieve social and capital purposes. It involves democratic governing where everybody has a say equally, and control of members is minimal (Haahti Madupu & Babakus 2005). It encompasses democratic oversight in decision-making so as to ensure equal distribution of resources and other benefits for members of the organisation. As a result, I can say that a cooperative is a legal entity governed by laws, regulations and also policies and its members control it. Members can either be the producers or the consumers in the cooperative and also the employees. In the United Kingdom, organisations use the industrial and provident society structures put in place by the law. The returns of a collaborative enterprise get shared among members in the form of dividends and sharing gets done through checking the participation of members in the business. Due to the nature of the formation of cooperatives businesses and its legal nature, membership is open. Thus this means that anyone who satisfies membership requirements and conditions can join. Cooperative enterprises are classified into different categories i.e. housing cooperatives, saving cooperatives, producer cooperatives, consumer cooperatives and also workers cooperatives. They get differentiated from other forms of incorporations as profit-making, and their stability gets determined by the interests of the members involved. As a result of the cooperative enterprise's structure, research shows that these businesses tend to have more stability thus provide a better and more efficient way of entrepreneurship sustainability. It's got attributes from the way cooperative enterprises share rewards and risks among its members and also to how decision get formulated through a combination of ideas from all members. This reflection helps in checking problems that face us during the application of cooperative learning in the day to day planning and strategizing in different enterprises and businesses. A good example is how some students came together and applied cooperation learning to come up with the 5 MINS business. Cooperating activities helped in the formulation of a proper business plan which led to the safe launching of the enterprise into the market scene. The formation of this program was due to the poor services provided by the university to the students, and thus a group of students sought to satisfy this dissatisfaction by offering catering services which aimed at improving the quality of services being provided. As a result, the enterprise deals with freshly prepared, locally outsourced foods which are organic and very nutritious. As a part of better services, the business uses technology so as to enable students to make orders from there and reduce the service time especially time wasted in queuing for meals. A part of the proceedings from the cooperative enterprise i.e. 40% of the profits go to support kitties for the homeless. The union also aims at educating and uniting students so as to work together in the combat of homelessness in the region. It is evident that the primary objective of the cooperative enterprise is to empower the students and also to create a culture of social responsibility thus resulting to a positive learning environment for everyone. The business also employs different methods in marketing its services and products. First, it uses strategic positioning of outlets to make them more accessible to the consumers. It helps in strengthening the business relationship between the two parties so as to ensure the long-term sustainability of business activities and to help retain customers. The three key drivers for the services of the cooperative are healthiness, affordability of products and fast delivery of services. All strategic marketing and service plans revolve around these three pillars so as to ensure the enterprise meets its goals and objectives. 5 MINS has different values that govern its operations. Promoting the core values i.e. dynamic, student-focused, fast, and easy order process, cheap healthy and organic products, and helping those in need works hand in hand with the business promotion. So as to enable this the company employs the use of posters, social media, mobile application, and referrals to enhance awareness of its services to students and the involved parties in general. Just like other cooperative enterprises, 5MINS has its values, some which are universal in all cooperatives. The business core values include; Voluntary and open membership Democratic member control Economic participation by members Autonomy and independence Education, training and information Cooperation among cooperatives Concern for the community Challenges Faced By Cooperative Members It is evident from the above enterprise that cooperativeness in learning plays a significant role in nurturing and creating dynamic characters among the students. Positive interdependence among the cooperative members means that the group realises that collective effort is essential if it wants to achieve its goals. Students have different perceptions on collaborative learning and getting incorporated into various groups (Peredo & Chrisman 2006). A few themes arise during this activities. First, to make cooperation successful, a person becomes engaged with the others and thus gains a new perspective on how he or she views certain things. As a result, this weighs down on individual skills and also on the enthusiasm and may lead to redundancy, confusion, and complexity in decision making thus creating pressure upon an individual member. In different business settings, people want a particular person to be in charge of the group. It causes conflicts in cooperative enterprises, as all members get involved in all operations of the business. An individual in a particular group will always want to advance his or her personal skills and excel in different areas. Nonetheless, cooperative enterprises focus on a person as a part of the group thus they do not provide the opportunity for skills advancement. It limits the individual’s growth and productivity and in the long run, may end up diminishing the motivation required for a person to excel his or her area of expertise. Cooperative members face many challenges some of which are hard to control. The first problem concerns the cooperative governance. Due to the nature of the equity principle in cooperative enterprises, bad management is at times evident, and a member can do nothing about it. A person with leadership skills, and team management skills lacks a platform to use them thus leading to this problems. Another issue that affects cooperative members is the challenge of inter-cooperation. This difficulty arises due to the dynamic nature of organisations which involves sharing of labour, expertise, risks, joint purchasing and even in the promotion. Some of these practices lead to dissatisfaction among members due to favours and lack of agreement on certain aspects of the associated activities. Cooperative education also challenges members in cooperative enterprises. Member’s abilities do not get checked nor improved as success gets measured by the rate of returns on different investments. It is clear that the success of cooperatives should be substantiated regarding their principles and values. It is however not the case in many scenarios thus weighing down the member's enthusiasm and limiting their skills. It is thus clear that there is a struggle among members as they try to link their daily decisions to the cooperative enterprises they belong in and checking on this can help address this problem. As much as matching personal abilities and decisions with the business activities are necessary, allowing members to be a little independent in pursuing their work so as to advance in their practices helps a lot in member’s motivation. Problems Relating To Cooperation in Business Plan Development Different business ventures require a person to organise thoughts properly so as to come up with a business plan. The program covers all the intentions a person has with the business and the implementation strategies available. In writing a business plan, one is forced to look deeper into the idea so as to come up with strategies on how to turn it into a business. One of the problems I encountered in the formulation of our plan of activities was a lack of suitable methods in the conduction of a market analysis. During the formation of a business plan, it is important to select a target market and analyse it so as to come up with ways of successful entry into the market. The market analysis represents any activity done by a group of researchers in the effort of gathering information related to the customers and the target market of a particular product or service (Mullins Walker & Boyd, 2012). As a result, it is a crucial factor to consider during the formulation of a business plan. Due to the nature and scope of market analysis methods available, the activity requires individuals who are specialised in the area so as to come up with perfect information. In cooperative enterprises, membership is voluntary that people with the right skills are not readily available. Data collection and handling become hard thus creating difficulties in the formation of any business plan. In my aspect, the team backing me up lacked knowledge in the field of activities thus I had to independent researchers to help deal with the problem. It amounted to extra costs which could have been avoided if I had knowledgeable members to back me up. The initial data collected was of low quality especially due to the large volume needed. Lack of correction on this leads to poor insights thus may cause the business not to work. The best solution was to use independent researchers thus enabling collection of accurate data. Market analysis requires experts, as it’s a crucial part of business plan formulation. Researchers face different problems i.e. The existence of vast amounts of data creates difficulties in sorting it out. The internet currently has excessive websites making research cumbersome as dealing with the large quantities of information gets hard and tiring. Another problem is the increase in expectations on the client’s side due to dynamic business movements. It is hard to match the rate at which the client’s expectations are changing thus business end up using different forecasting methods to predict the future consumer trends. Competitors also affect the methods of conducting a market analysis. To make a product unique and more acceptable in the market planners should compare their strategies with those of their competitors. The standard methodologies do not provide technologies that would enable a business to stand out from the rest (Noe Hollenbeck & Wright, 2006). As a result, it is clear there is need of a highly trained team to help combat this problem. The team should be able to study the market characteristics so as to come up with strategies that ensure the business plan gets implemented and works well (Lusch & Vargo, 2014). Potential sources of information are always available, and the team should have expertise in the techniques applicable so as obtain data. So as to combat this problem, some reforms need to be carried out in the cooperative enterprise platform. The recurrence of this problem is avoidable in some ways. First, when acquiring members, the cooperative enterprises should check on their qualifications. It helps in ensuring that each activity has an expert in it and thus ensuring smooth flow of operations. Cooperative companies can also offer education opportunities to members so as to give them the required knowledge in different fields of activity. Conferences and workshops play a significant role in adding knowledge and in the long run increasing the productivity of members. Making this education platforms free plays a prominent role in encouraging different members to join them. It also shows that the enterprise acknowledges the need to develop qualities and values of members and improve them positively. How Cooperators gets Equipped to contribute to the Wellbeing of a Nation Different authors recognise the need for citizens in a given country to uphold spiritual, cultural, and moral qualities so as to move forward (Bekkers, 2010). Cooperation stands for togetherness in facing different challenges that arise in the day to day lives of different people. It builds the spirit of friendship, teamwork, and thinking as a group and not individually (Illingworth2016). Cooperation aims at bringing together the groups when needed so as to come up with fast and plausible solutions especially when solving particular problems. It is clear that when a group of people undertakes a particular venture together, the success rate gets higher than when a person does it individually (Birchall, 2014). The world is getting more interdependent day by day thus more need for cooperation. Impact of Involvement in Cooperative Enterprises on Core Values and Principles My commitment to a cooperative society comes from a few factors. The fundamental values governing a collaborative enterprise play a prominent role in ensuring membership commitment. They determine how a member interacts with others and also how he carries out activities predisposed to him of her (Carrasco, 2007). My loyalty and commitment to the enterprise were to the values that revolved around me. This values patronised my involvement in decision making, and also the effort I invested in contributing to the firm’s development. These values and principles governed how I dealt with challenges especially in globalisation and other aspects of the environment that surround cooperative enterprise. After getting involved in the module about joint involvement, I realised the advantages of cooperation learning and cooperative enterprises. The module gave me different aspects of cooperative businesses and what one should consider before getting involved in them. Avoidance of assumptions is very crucial, and a person should have the required knowledge to make a better judgment. Cooperative enterprises should not limit one’s ability to advance and enhance his or her skills.it should not also have an adverse impact on the general motivation of a person when entering a specified venture. If there is evidence of negativity, a person should refrain from being involved, as the performance level will be low. My experience as being part of a cooperative member increased and strengthened as information is power. The module enabled me to make good decisions, and also respect the values and principles that govern cooperative enterprises as well as improve on my personal skills (Birchall & Ketilson, 2009). It also gave me the confidence to and information required if there is need to approach a group in the future or join another cooperative society. My self-esteem about fellow members improved and I can now work with different people in different environments freely and be productive. It shows that the module plays a significant role in shaping how people relate in the future. References Bekkers, R. (2010). A situation study of aims to give time and money. Social Science Research, 39(3), 369-381. Birchall, J. (2014). Building Communities (Routledge Revivals): The Co-operative Way. Routledge. Birchall, J., & Ketilson, L. H. (2009). The resilience of the cooperative business model in times of crisis. International Labour Organisation. Carrasco, I. (2007). Corporate social responsibility, values, and cooperation. Different Universal Advances in Monetary Research, 13(4), 454-460. Haahti, A., Madupu, V., Yavas, U., & Babakus, E. (2005). Cooperative strategy, knowledge intensity and export performance of small and medium-sized enterprises. Journal of world business, 40(2), 124-138 Illingworth, P. (2016). Us before me: integrities and community capital for global well-being. Springer. Lusch, R. F., & Vargo, S. L. (2014). The service-dominant logic of product promotion: Dialogue, debate, and directions. Routledge. Mullins, J., Walker, O. C., & Boyd Jr, H. W. (2012). Marketing management: A strategic decision-making approach. McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Noe, R. A., Hollenbeck, J. R., Gerhart, B., & Wright, P. M. (2006). Human Resource Management: Gaining a competitive advantage. Peredo, A. M., & Chrisman, J. J. (2006). Toward a theory of community-based enterprise. Academy of Management Review, 31(2), 309-328. Read More