SEPTEMBER 2018
The September edition of Co-op News looks at how co-ops cab maintain co-operative values and principles while operating in competitive markets and how this can be a challenge for large co-ops. We examine current research into what influences a co-op’s take on the traditional values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity.
The September edition of Co-op News looks at how co-ops cab maintain co-operative values and principles while operating in competitive markets and how this can be a challenge for large co-ops. We examine current research into what influences a co-op’s take on the traditional values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity.
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RETAIL<br />
New building, new chapter for radical<br />
co-op store October Books<br />
October Books, the a radical bookshop<br />
co-operative in Southampton, is ready to<br />
move ahead with plans to turn a former<br />
bank building into a community hub.<br />
On 6 August the co-op became the legal<br />
freehold owner of the former NatWest<br />
branch at 189 Portswood Road. The co-op<br />
raised £487,800 through a combination of<br />
loan stock, crowd funding, personal loans<br />
and gifts, and a loan from Co-operative &<br />
Community Finance.<br />
The team will use the ground floor of<br />
the building, which will double up as<br />
a community hub. The top floor<br />
has already been sold to a private<br />
leaseholder, while the first floor is being<br />
sold to the society of St James, a local<br />
charity for homeless people.<br />
The co-op, currently based at a smaller<br />
site on the same street, is renovating the<br />
premises and plans to open the new store<br />
in October.<br />
It will continue to sell a range of popular<br />
fiction, non-fiction, children’s books,<br />
radical books and magazines, specialising<br />
in adoption, humanities, political and<br />
social issues.<br />
Customers can also choose from a<br />
variety of greeting cards, organic and Fairtrade<br />
foods and green household items.<br />
The bookshop runs with support from<br />
five employees and a team of over 40<br />
volunteers and supporters.<br />
Clare Diaper, who joined the team in<br />
2016, said: “We have recently extended<br />
membership of the co-op to customers. We<br />
want local people to have the chance to<br />
get involved in the business and influence<br />
what we do and sell.<br />
“We have been amazed by the support<br />
we have had from the local community<br />
and we want to give something back.”<br />
Founded in 1977, October Books<br />
has been providing books for the local<br />
community for over 40 years. The<br />
crowdfunder aimed to secure the longterm<br />
future of the bookshop by helping it<br />
establish a permanent base.<br />
Ian Rothwell, investment manager<br />
at Co-operative & Community Finance,<br />
p The store is planning a community hub<br />
said: “There is something about radical<br />
bookshops, especially long-established<br />
ones like October Books. They have a<br />
special place in the hearts of local people<br />
and now by opening up the old bank to<br />
community use that bond will become<br />
even stronger.”<br />
Members of the co-op include singersongwriter<br />
Jaquie Daniels, who composed<br />
a song, Buying the Bank, to show the<br />
strong community spirit within the<br />
co-op bookshop.<br />
EMPLOYEE OWNERSHIP<br />
Cambridge tech firm now in the hands of its staff<br />
p There’s a new addition to the family of<br />
worker-owned firms<br />
Product and technology innovation<br />
experts Cambridge Design Partnership<br />
(CDP) have made the switch to<br />
employee-ownership.<br />
CDP’s new structure will see its 10<br />
partners continue to manage the company,<br />
with staff electing a committee to represent<br />
them. A member of this committee will<br />
attend regular management meetings to<br />
maintain staff involvement.<br />
The move gives all staff the opportunity<br />
to share in the profits of CDP, which was<br />
set up 22 years ago by three engineers in<br />
Toft, Cambridgeshire. Since then, it has<br />
grown to employ around 120 scientists,<br />
both in the UK and at the company’s office<br />
in Palo Alto, California.<br />
CDP has switched to employeeownership<br />
to give the company the<br />
flexibility to further expand without the<br />
involvement of external shareholders, and<br />
to reinforce its status as a key employer<br />
in Cambridge, fostering the skills of<br />
locally trained engineers, digital experts,<br />
designers and support staff.<br />
The move comes as research from<br />
independent panel of 20 leading<br />
business organisations was published<br />
in the report, The Ownership Dividend.<br />
Over the past 12 months, the panel,<br />
comprising senior business leaders and<br />
industry experts, found that employee<br />
ownership delivers outcomes that are<br />
significantly beneficial at three levels: for<br />
individual workers, for businesses and<br />
the wider economy.<br />
Founding partner Mike Beadman said:<br />
“As a technology consultancy business,<br />
CDP recognised that people were the real<br />
value in the company and the key to future<br />
growth, so transferring ownership was the<br />
most logical progression.<br />
“For the clients of CDP, employee<br />
ownership demonstrates the commitment<br />
of the company to independence and the<br />
long-term relationships that fuel their<br />
success. We are now looking forward<br />
to the next phase of growth where we<br />
can take on even more challenging<br />
developments for our clients.”<br />
12 | <strong>SEPTEMBER</strong> <strong>2018</strong>
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