Co-operative Management Advantage Newsletter, Master of Management, Co-operatives and Credit Unions, April 2010

Dear Colleagues,

 

Please find attached our latest newsletter as well as the “hot off the press” Newsletter Bulletin below.

 

A Special Bulletin to Readers of

Co-operative Management Advantage

 

Master of Management, Co-operatives and Credit Unions

tom.webb@smu.ca or 902 634 4536 or 902 496 8170

 

June 10 in Trento

Tom Webb and Dr. Alan Robb on

 

Tom Webb, MMCCU Program Manager, has been invited to present a paper on Co-operative Capital, which he co-authored with MMCCU instructor Dr. Alan Robb, a Board member of the internationally focused Centre of Excellence in Accounting and Reporting for Co-operatives, and James Smith, an accounting instructor in the MMCCU program. The event is a conference on Financial Co-operative Approaches to Local Development Through Sustainable Innovation, taking place June 10-11 in Trento, Italy. The conference is being organized by the European Institute for Co-operative and Social Enterprise or EURICSE.

 

The paper is titled Co-operative Capital: What Is It and Why Our World Needs It. The authors compare the characteristics of co-operative capital and investor centered capital and distill from this what they call the co-operative capital difference.

 

Tom Webb was one of the initial creators of the concept of Marketing the Co-operative Difference that inspired numerous Marketing Our Co-operative Advantage or MOCA programs. He has also played a role in the development of workshops on Managing the Co-operative Difference and Co-operative Accounting. The Co-operative Capital Difference paper will be available soon at www.mmccu.coop.

 

October, 2010 (Italy); 2011 (Mondragon)

 

The US consulting co-op CDS has announced that one of two non-student spots on MMCCU’s annual Study Visit are available to participants in their Cooperative Board Leadership Development program.

 

The CDS invitation states “Sometimes getting out of town and having a meaningful new experience can inspire new thinking about what’s possible in the world...[and] field trips provide long term benefits to the cooperative movement.” The CBDL team works with directors before and after the trip to optimize the experience.

 

The 10-day Study Visit is conducted by MMCCU’s Program Manager Tom Webb and is a regular part of the curriculum. It offers a rare, in-depth exposure to large-scale co-operative systems. Included are extensive sessions with senior managers and other leaders, site tours and meetings with workers, and detailed analyses with scholars.

 

Vicki Swartz of the MMCCU Class of 2006 echoes many graduates when she says, “The trip alone was worth the tuition. It was a pinnacle experience, a validation of my work and of the co-op model.” See Graduate Profiles:www.mmccu.coop/stu_profiles.html.

 

 

YES! According to Terry Appleby, longtime GM

Hanover (NH) Consumer Cooperative Society

 

“Our Co-op’s student in the MMCCU program is doing great work. I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to sit in meetings and hear him put his learning into action. He has always been a great contributor to the work of the Co-op, but his value has really increased with what he is learning daily in the MMCCU program. The new perspective he brings to the job is exactly what I was hoping for and expecting. Each new student is a voice for a saner, more cooperative world! Just thought you’d want to hear. The program is making a big difference.”

 

 

Master of Management, Co-operatives and Credit Unions

For September, 2010 Class