Co-Operative Strategies in International Business - Essay Example

? Cooperatives Co-operative is one of the common types of business in the current world. It involves individuals or organizations with common agenda or goals coming together to implement such business goals. Cooperatives strive to succeed in the emerging or current global economy despite its challenges which arise from their specific commitment values, their forms of incorporation as well organizational structures. These limitations disadvantage co-operatives in the business competitive world by posing risks of trade offs. Such trade-offs either leave the business to be based on the principles of members’ ownership as well as control or remain economically viable. This work would focus on some of the co-operatives’ challenges, more so those related to philosophy of working together. Cooperatives are formed by individuals of different thoughts in terms of educational background and fields of specifications. Everyone would have his or her opinion when it comes to certain sensitive business matters (Abraham, 2004). When not well handled, such argument may have some negative implications in the overall co-operatives operations. From the philosophical principles, human will always have different ways of approaching issues, and the same would apply in the business world. Some cooperatives are made up individuals from different countries, ethnicities, religious societies and beliefs among other traits. There have been cases where some co-operatives fail to make good business decisions due to mixed ideas or views by members. The current global economy is so competitive that a slight mistake may lead to huge losses. Such have made several co-operative businesses or societies closed and each member resume to personal or single partnership business. However, there are ways through which such problems can be dealt with. A defined co-operative should have a manifesto that contains how important decisions should be arrived at. This would guide the members in making contributions towards sensitive business agendas. Cooperatives should appoint different people to hold different titles like the chairman and departmental heads among others. Such leaders should be mandated to oversee important activities like meetings, to ensure every member has equal rights to air his/her view with regards to specific business issues. It is important to appoint qualifies and experienced leaders to collect all the views, analyze them then make the best final decisions based on some business or economic principles. Another way to adopt good group work initiative in the co-operatives is to use successful co-operatives as case study or examples. Business field allows different entities to learn from one another. However, this should be handled with care since no business will share its deep business secrets. As the chairperson of my cooperative, I intend to promote unity and understanding through different ways. Some of the arguments in the business are not based on business ideas but personal issues. I will organize regular meetings of the cooperative members and advocate for unity. Furthermore, I will authorize co-operatives end month parties as motivational initiatives. One of the best ways to ensure deep understanding of the business members is to create more time for interactions. Finally, I would conduct a survey to ascertain the needs of our employees and members developments and later contract training firms to offer some business short courses related to proper decision making. There is a specific incidence when our business faced some problems with regards to decision making. The co-operative proposed of advancing its technology and its organizational communications. The proposals were circulated to each member for opinions. The majority was for the ideas, but a few were against it. Cooperative business is so sensitive that withdrawal of a single member may be a huge setback to the entire operations. As the chairman I had to ensure every member’s idea or opinion is incorporated in the final decision making. There was this firm from Europe which was against the advancements due to the cost. It happened that the firm contributed over 80% of the business capital, their withdrawal would mean the collapse of the co-operative. The firm’s representative clearly stated that their firm would not acknowledge co-operative’s expenditure towards advancing the technology as well communications as stated in the proposals. Their main argument was that the business was not financially stable to make such moves. It happened that the latest internal audit indicated that our co-operative was mainly facing communication and technological set backs. Both sides of the argument had some sense, but we had to reach a constructive decision. As the chairman I had to intervene before our external stakeholders like clients and suppliers learn our internal problems. The business contracted some international auditing firm to convince the disputing parties, the benefits that would come with technology and communication improvements in the co-operatives. Personally, I was for the idea of such improvements, only that I could not make final decisions with the disputing members at stake. The auditing firm advised on the safe strategy to set aside equity capital for the advancements. The co-operative was to use 12% of the previous year income to cater for the amendments within the business. The co-operative was facing a huge challenge in communication with external stakeholders like the clients, distributors and consultants among others. Our competitors were taking huge advantage of this. Every member was finally convinced and we unanimously accepted the advancements. The cooperative had to set a framework of dealing with sensitive business issues to limit the occurrence of such scenario in the future. We developed a business strategy that indicated the best ways of handling such issues. Each department was given different responsibility to ensure the smooth running of the business. The cooperative so far has legal, finance and general administration departments and each has special roles. Both parties were comfortable with the strategies and we engaged the government industrial and co-operatives department to make it binding. Meaning, no member would dare threaten the rest from withdrawing once dissatisfied with certain business decisions. The document also included the correct procedure to be followed once certain members wish to withdraw or join the cooperative. This would ensure that each member has equal rights and obligations with regards to vital decisions within the business. I have developed several skills related to cooperative business through trainings and experience. I have learnt the difference between legal, moral and ethical issues within the business. Ethical issues are those non-binding principles that promote understanding between and without the co-operative. Each cooperative member has to treat the others with respect as stipulated in our rules and regulations section in the strategic plan. Our business comprises of people from different countries, culture and ethnicity. We conduct our arguments respecting each other beliefs as required not only my business manifesto but also the constitution. Legal matters are those elements with consequences upon violation. Some of the legal matters in our co-operative touch on the different contracts and agreements within the premise. Each cooperative member, whether individual or firm, signed certain contracts and agreements to indicate their full commitment to the cooperative activities. Such contracts also indicate being in agreement with all the elements in the co-operative manifesto. The contracts play great roles in the co-operative. For instance, should there be legal issues or conflict between the members and other take holders, the industrial court will make their verdict based on the signed contracts or agreements. I have also developed the importance of members and worker motivations to increase the co-operative’s productivity. I ensured the cooperative set a side a safe percentage of the annual revenue to hold end year parties and provide presents to the best employees or cooperative members. Business researchers indicate that companies or organizations with the defined motivational scheme are like to be more productive than those without other economical factors held constant. Workers from best departments will be guaranteed vacations or holiday in regional hotels; furthermore, they will receive some bonuses on their normal salaries. Co-operative members with the highest contributions will also get some bonuses on top of their normal dividends. This would ensure everyone works extra hard to ensure the increased production in the co-operative and motivational benefits. The issue of need for employees’ development is also important in the cooperative business. The current market is so dynamic due to regular technology and management advancements. The competition is also so great that a simple mistake or negligence can lead to loss of clients among other external stakeholders. My co-operative conducts yearly assessments to ascertain certain areas of weaknesses in our employees. The assessment is conducted through one-on-one interviews between the departmental heads and respective employees. However, all the employees must be informed on the importance of such assessments so that they do not panic or feel their rights are violated, as indicated in the co-operative’s manifesto. Appropriate measures are then taken to bridge the gaps within the employees’ skills and capabilities within the co-operative. On several occasions, our cooperative has contracted several reputable training firms to equip our employees with some technological skills lacking in them (Lorange, 2002). The co-operative has a registered a 3% increase in annual net revenue in three consecutive years since we adopted this program. We have also expanded our operations and increased the volume of our supplies since the introduction of employee trainings within the co-operative. The cooperative board members unanimously accepted the element of workplace diversity within the cooperative. This ensure that our work force comprise of different people from different experiences, ethnicity, educational back ground, age, race, beliefs and religion among other elements. The constitution states that everybody despite the above mentioned elements are evitable to be employed in any organization or company, whether governmental or private. We ensure that each employee respect each other for the purpose of teamwork within the organization. The co-operative has heavy penalties or consequences to any employee who becomes a victim of workplace diversity violation. The cooperative every employee’s religious values. We acknowledge religious holidays or worship days so that respective employees may join their families or religious members. Every Muslim is free to excuse him/herself on Fridays for their prayers. Christians on the other hand are free on Sunday to honor their spiritual beliefs. The co-operative has both the youth and the older adults as employees. However, duties are assigned in accordance to the age brackets and generalized health conditions of the employee. Workplace diversity has enabled associate with several clients and associates both regionally and internationally. Our products are preferred more so in the democratic nations, where every member of the society is valued. I have learnt the importance or applications of some advanced technology in our cooperative, for instance, the application of VDI (Virtual desktop infrastructure) in the daily operations within the business. This is a kind of cloud computing where the cooperative uses a single centric server to store important organizations’ information then accessed by different employees irrespective of the location through mobile gadgets like tablets, laptops and smart phones among others. This technology promotes team work without necessarily working on the same table or bench. Employees can discuss several business ideas and exchange data through the technology. It also saves on space within the premise. Employees can work in the comfort of their living rooms, provided the fiber networks linking their mobile gadgets and the co-operative’s centric server is active. This helps the co-operative cut on its rental wages among other related expenses. The technology also enhances electronic-human resource management (e-HRM) (Monasa, 2008). An employee can simply seek some information from the human resource department by logging into their respective accounts. The system has proven to be effective with economical benefits. However, I have to ensure that deep co-operative’s business secrets are not kept in the system. It might leak to the public and adopted by our competitors. There is a debate whether cooperatives should contribute to the current societal issues like politics and religious issues. I am for the idea that as cooperative members we have a say on the governmental issues, however, we must watch our limits. We can encourage our employees to maintain peace and order during political events like voting among others. Some employees may lack the opportunity to attain civil classes offered by the government. It would be our role to sensitize our employees on the importance of national unity during such events, more so for the sake of national economy. It would be important to accept all workers despite their political stands, as required by the constitution. As the chairman of the cooperatives, I would ensure nobody is disadvantaged of his/her place of residence. However, it would be wrong to convince our employees to vote to a particular aspirant, in other words, we will not take sides on the current political issues. This is likely to cut our links with certain stakeholders who may be supporting different parties. Business researchers indicate that several multi-billion companies or businesses came to their knees to being involved in active politics and taking sides. But as leaders we will encourage our employees to vote and support their favorite candidates, but in total peace and harmony. Furthermore, we will grant our employees opportunities to participate in the national and regional political activities (Proctor, 2000). For instance, we will close our business on national election dates to enable our employees exercise their democratic rights. Our employees are also free to vie any national or regional political positions as indicated in our organizational structure and the national constitution. The cooperative shall ensure total equity within the co-operative. Our employment merit will be solely based on qualification and experiences. Any religious believer can hold any docket provided the candidate has the capability. However, we may recruit fresh graduates in a particular field or interns then offer them training before deployed in various departments within the co-operative. Total equity will also apply to the salary allocation scheme. This will totally depend on the role a certain employee is playing in the co-operative. Salary packages will also depend on the employees’ educational background and experiences. The cooperative should participate in the society welfare. For instance we will set aside some fund to cater for the needs in the society. To enhance efficiency, the co-operative through the welfare department will liaise with the nearest governmental welfare departments to provide aid to victims of some disasters like hurricane of Katrina, floods and landslide among others. Furthermore, we shall fund some of the programs undertaken by the non-governmental organizations like Red Cross and St. John Ambulance among others (Schmenner, 2004). The cooperative will also encourage its employees to form some help groups and make contributions for their own developments. The business will be entitled to loan several groups of employees at subsidized interest rates compared with the financial institutions like banks. To conclude, cooperatives must ensure good working relations within and without the business. It would be more appropriate if the organization establish structures that acknowledge the opinions of every member. Furthermore, there should be some legal and ethical framework that major activities in the business. Good management of workplace diversity has several benefits with regard to increased productivity within the organization. The business must adhere to some important regional and national political issues as stipulated in the constitution. References Abraham, M. (2004). Cooperative business. USA: McGraw-Hill. Lorange, P. (2002). Co-operative strategies in International business. New York: Pergamon. Monasa, B. (2008). Business Today. New York: Wiley Proctor, T. (2000). Strategic marketing: An Introduction. New Jersey: Routledge. Schmenner, R. (2004). Making Business location decisions. New Jersey: Prentice Hall Read More