Project A1:
The Consumer Co-operative Sustainability
and Planning Scorecard
Leslie Brown, Mount Saint Vincent University
Elizabeth Hicks, Mount Saint Vincent University
André Leclerc, Université de Moncton
June 24, 2010
Community University Research Alliance - Atlantic Cluster
Halifax, Nova Scotia
1/20
Supported by & Partnered with
Southern Ontario Node, Social Economy Centre
SOCIALECONOMY.UTORONTO.CA
Today’s Presentation – An Overview
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Scorecard’s purposes
Research Partnership Main Goal
The Partners
Partnership in Research
Tool design process
Scorecard’s structure
Next steps
Time frame and responsibilities
Objectives and research priorities
3/20
Scorecard’s Purposes
A Scorecard to :
• Define and measure the Co-operative
Difference.
• Guide strategic planning of the Co-op
Difference.
• Help benchmark and improve your economic,
social and ecological performance.
• Provide valuable information to members.
• Raise cooperative’s public image.
• Develop leadership among co-operatives as well
as other organizations in social responsibility
reporting and planning.
4/20
Research Partnership Main Goal
To develop a self-assessment and planning tool that
measures co-operative sustainability (including the
social, economic and environmental performance) in
relation to targets and priorities set by the co-op’s
key stakeholders.
= a pilot project initially for consumer co-operatives
Actual tool’s name :
The Consumer Co-operative Sustainability
and Planning Scorecard
5/20
The Partners
1. Co-op Atlantic
• Léo LeBlanc, Corporate Secretary and Vice-President
of Human Resources and Corporate Affairs
• Monique Bourque, Corporate Marketing &
Communications Manager
• Roméo Cormier, Manager of Public Affairs
2. Academic Partners from 2 universities
• Leslie Brown and Elizabeth Hicks, Mount Saint
Vincent University; André Leclerc, l’Université de
Moncton
= 6 members of the Research Advisory Committee
(RAC)
6/20
The Partners (con’t)
3. Pilot Project Co-ops and CFM (7)
• 5 retail food co-ops (out of 57) & 2 co-operative food
markets (out of 13) set up Pilot Project Committees
(PPC)
• 3 - 8 persons selected by the Board (Co-op) or the
Advisory committee (Co-operative food markets CFM)
• Includes board or committee member(s) and other
key individuals such as general members, managers,
member relations officers and other employees.
• May consult with other stakeholders
7/20
The Partners (con’t)
La Coopérative Régionale de la Baie
Morell Consumers Co-operative
La Coopérative de St-Louis
Sackville Co-op Food Market
La Coopérative de Dieppe
Pictou County Co-op Food
Market
Musquodoboit Valley Co-op
8/20
Partnership in Research
Community-University Research Alliance =
“ … partnerships between community organizations and
postsecondary institutions which, through a process of
ongoing collaboration and mutual learning, will foster
innovative research, training and the creation of new
knowledge ...”
“These partnerships must demonstrably increase
research capacity across university and communitybased participants in the research, and result in
knowledge that is valued and useful for all the partners.”
(SSHRC, emphasis added)
9/20
Tool design process
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Drafting the tool, Recruitment of PPCs + Workshops;
PPC review of the main themes and practices;
Re-drafting the tool based on feedback from the PPCs
PPC reports on their co-op’s priorities for each of the
practices + researchers develop the indicators for each
practice;
PPC reports on performance using the indicators +
commenting on the process and critiquing the indicators;
Re-draft tool based on feedback from PPCs, making it
available;
Review stakeholder approaches and encourage cooperatives to develop a stakeholder engagement
strategy;
Pilot project co-operatives and other interested cooperatives use the third draft of the tool and report on
the results.
10/20
Scorecard’s Structure
• Initial version of the scorecard presented at 2009
Co-op Atlantic AGM :
– 178 practices structured in 5 sheets :
• co-operative principles;
• operations;
• economic measures;
• social measures;
• environmental measures.
• After the first evaluation by PPCs :
– Discard 31 practices.
– Revise or move elsewhere in the scorecard : 10
practices.
• Further revision by the RAC based on the PPCs
comments.
11/20
Scorecards Structure after revision
• Two scorecards :
– Autonomous consumer co-ops
• 145-150 practices organized in 4 sheets
(co-operative principles,economic
measures,social measures, and
environmental measures)
• practices related to co-op values
• indicators for each practices
– Co-operative food markets
• 130-135 practices organized the same way
12/20
Scorecard’s Structure - co-op version
Theme
Subgroup
# of pract.
First Sheet : Co-operative Principles
Open & Voluntary Membership
Democratic member control
12
I. Governance
14
II. Member Engagement
7
Member Economic Participation
7
Autonomy & Independence
3
Education, Training & Information I. Inform. & Image Manag.
5
II. Member Education
4
III Staff Education
4
Co-operation Among Co-ops
5
Concern for Community
3
Subtotal
64
13/20
Scorecard’s Structure - co-op version (con’t)
Second Sheet : Economic Measures
I. Budgets and planning
6
II. Strategic reporting and
monitoring
13
Subtotal
19
Third Sheet : Social
Subtotal
I. Our customers / members
5
II. Our employees
19
III. Our suppliers
9
33
Fourth Sheet : Environment
Subtotal
15
14/20
Scorecard’s Structure : example of practices
Principle 1 - Open & Voluntary
Membership
PRACTICES
Please indicate how your co-op would prioritize
each practice. Please circle the appropriate
number on the scale of 1 –5, where 5 is the most
important and 1 is the least important.
Least Important
1
2
3
The co-op makes sure that the
membership list is updated
regularly.
Our database (or manual list of
members) allows us to identify
inactive members.
The co-op has a member relations
policy to provide strong member
focus.
Most Important
Does
Not
Apply
N/A
1
2
3
4
5
N/A
1
2
3
4
5
N/A
1
2
3
4
5
15/20
Scorecard’s Structure : example of indicators
Principle 1 - Open & Voluntary
Membership
Indicators
Metrics - Adjust as appropriate for your cooperative
1
# of hours annually provided to pertinent staff
to review co-op membership information,
member sign-up procedures.
2
% increase or decrease in membership
3
# of new members recruited, year over year
4
# of inactive members, year over year
5
# of member resignation
6
# of re-engaged members
Our
Benchmark
Metric
16/20
Next steps
• PPC reports on their co-op’s priorities for each of
the practices
• Develop indicators associated to each practices
(in collaboration with managers)
– to measure the current state of co-op
sustainability and will help your co-op identify
opportunities for improvements.
• Using the indicators, PPC reports on
performance
• Web version of the tool?
17/20
Time Frame and Partner Responsibilities
RAC Responsibilities
RAC develops
indicators for
each practice
by
Spring/Summer
RAC makes
changes to
Scorecard by
Summer/Fall
RAC
reviews &
updates
indicators
by Fall
RAC prepares
guide / manual
on using the
Scorecard Fall/Winter
2010 AGM
PPCs work with the
tool, supported by
RAC (setting
priorities and
reviewing changes
to practices)
Spring/Summer
2010
2011 AGM
Interested co-ops
PPCsuse the
indicators to
measure
performance and set
targets, making
suggestions for
improvement of the
tool – Late
Summer/Fall
PPCs review the
final draft of the
tool and if the
timing works it
goes to the zone
meetings
– Fall
and CFMs volunteer
to produce a
sustainability report
using the Scorecard
– Late Fall/Winter
PPC Responsibilities
18/20
Objectives and Research Priorities
 Identify the performance practices and indicators
that best express the « co-operative difference »
and allow a co-op to evaluate and improve its
social, environmental and economic
performance; [i.e. produce a useful scorecard]
 Understand the ways that co-ops use the
information to engage in operations and in
strategic planning; [i.e. info’ feeds into plan for action]
 Learn from this stakeholder approach to the
creation of a tool; [i.e. capacity building for all]
 Contribute to the development of the theory of cooperative organizations & their impacts on
community [i.e. synthesis of info’ for co-ops too]
19/20
There you have it a partnership for change
THANK YOU !
QUESTIONS?
20/20