THE POTENTIAL OF COOPERATIVES
BANTAY GOBYERNO SERIES 066
By Ike Señeres 04/30/2011
THE POTENTIAL OF COOPERATIVES
Many cooperatives in the Philippines have failed or are failing because of corruption. This problem in the local cooperative movement is indicative of what is happening in the broader society that is also beset with corruption. In other words, the problem in the cooperatives is a microcosm of the corruption that is happening in our country as a whole.
Regardless of the pervasive problem of corruption in our country however, we have to other choice because we only have one country, and we could not replace it. What we could replace however is the conduct of our society, so that corruption will be decreased, to a point where it will become more of an exception than the rule itself.
Comparing the state of corruption in our country and the state of corruption among the cooperatives however, I would say that there is no other alternative for the cooperative approach as an instrument for the more equitable distribution of wealth, or in other words, for the democratization of economic opportunities for everyone in our society.
I have looked all over, time and again, and I have always arrived at the conclusion that there is really no alternative for the cooperative approach. That being the case, we have no other choice really except to reform the conduct of the cooperative movement, so that corruption will be lessened.
I know that some critics might disagree with me when I say that my goal is only to lessen or decrease corruption, and not to remove or eradicate it. The fact is, corruption is a product of greed, and it will always be around as long as greed remains as a human weakness. It could only be reduced, but not removed.
The law says that cooperatives should appoint professional managers, but it seems that only a few of them are obeying this law. Good business practice says that coops should not appoint their own members to work as professional managers in order to avoid conflicts of interest, but again, many coops are going against this rule. Not unless the coops will obey these two basic conditions, they will never be able to get out of their present problems. As an incentive to the coops that are willing to reform, they could avail of free management training right away.
Since it is part of my work to identify and integrate information and communications technology (ICT) solutions for business applications, I already have direct access to ICT resources that could readily be used by the coops. I am ready and willing to share these resources with all coops, provided that they would agree to implement the two basic solutions.
Aside from management, marketing is the other most common problem of coops. The solution to this is of course simple, and that is the identification of a good buyer. Not so much to start with, but I have already identified good buyers for cacao, rice and tree seedlings, among others. These buyers are potentially able to issue letters of intent already.
Automation is the biggest challenge of business enterprises today, and that also includes cooperatives. Automation should include manufacturing and marketing systems as well. So much could be done in these two aspects in terms of enabling increased revenues and saving more money. In short, the bottom line of coops could really improve, if only they could adopt the right technologies.
Most Filipinos could not afford to invest in big business, and could not also buy the stocks of big companies. That being the case, the only practical alternative for them is to invest in the coops. Most Filipinos are also unable to manage their own business, and that is what the coops are supposed to do for them, provided of course that the coops would hire professional managers.
The idea behind the coop concept is to pool together small amounts of money from small investors, so that it would turn into bigger capital. Since that is the idea, why not pool together the money of professionals so that they could invest in the infra that they need to practice their professions? This idea could work for doctors, nurses, sailors and ship captains, and why not for drivers and mechanics too?
Doctors and nurses could pool their money to put up coops that would own clinics and hospitals. Sailors and ship captains could put up coops that would own ships and barges. Drivers and mechanics could put up coops that would own buses and taxis. The list could go on and on with more imagination applied. The idea about buying ships is interesting because we have so many sailors and yet they do not own a single ship, despite the fact that they collectively earn so many millions.
Tune in to KA IKING LIVE! 6 to 7pm Thursdays in Global News Network (GNN), Channel 8 in Destiny Cable. Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text to +639997333011. Visit www.senseneres.blogspot.com. Join Coffee Clutch Fridays
By Ike Señeres 04/30/2011
THE POTENTIAL OF COOPERATIVES
Many cooperatives in the Philippines have failed or are failing because of corruption. This problem in the local cooperative movement is indicative of what is happening in the broader society that is also beset with corruption. In other words, the problem in the cooperatives is a microcosm of the corruption that is happening in our country as a whole.
Regardless of the pervasive problem of corruption in our country however, we have to other choice because we only have one country, and we could not replace it. What we could replace however is the conduct of our society, so that corruption will be decreased, to a point where it will become more of an exception than the rule itself.
Comparing the state of corruption in our country and the state of corruption among the cooperatives however, I would say that there is no other alternative for the cooperative approach as an instrument for the more equitable distribution of wealth, or in other words, for the democratization of economic opportunities for everyone in our society.
I have looked all over, time and again, and I have always arrived at the conclusion that there is really no alternative for the cooperative approach. That being the case, we have no other choice really except to reform the conduct of the cooperative movement, so that corruption will be lessened.
I know that some critics might disagree with me when I say that my goal is only to lessen or decrease corruption, and not to remove or eradicate it. The fact is, corruption is a product of greed, and it will always be around as long as greed remains as a human weakness. It could only be reduced, but not removed.
The law says that cooperatives should appoint professional managers, but it seems that only a few of them are obeying this law. Good business practice says that coops should not appoint their own members to work as professional managers in order to avoid conflicts of interest, but again, many coops are going against this rule. Not unless the coops will obey these two basic conditions, they will never be able to get out of their present problems. As an incentive to the coops that are willing to reform, they could avail of free management training right away.
Since it is part of my work to identify and integrate information and communications technology (ICT) solutions for business applications, I already have direct access to ICT resources that could readily be used by the coops. I am ready and willing to share these resources with all coops, provided that they would agree to implement the two basic solutions.
Aside from management, marketing is the other most common problem of coops. The solution to this is of course simple, and that is the identification of a good buyer. Not so much to start with, but I have already identified good buyers for cacao, rice and tree seedlings, among others. These buyers are potentially able to issue letters of intent already.
Automation is the biggest challenge of business enterprises today, and that also includes cooperatives. Automation should include manufacturing and marketing systems as well. So much could be done in these two aspects in terms of enabling increased revenues and saving more money. In short, the bottom line of coops could really improve, if only they could adopt the right technologies.
Most Filipinos could not afford to invest in big business, and could not also buy the stocks of big companies. That being the case, the only practical alternative for them is to invest in the coops. Most Filipinos are also unable to manage their own business, and that is what the coops are supposed to do for them, provided of course that the coops would hire professional managers.
The idea behind the coop concept is to pool together small amounts of money from small investors, so that it would turn into bigger capital. Since that is the idea, why not pool together the money of professionals so that they could invest in the infra that they need to practice their professions? This idea could work for doctors, nurses, sailors and ship captains, and why not for drivers and mechanics too?
Doctors and nurses could pool their money to put up coops that would own clinics and hospitals. Sailors and ship captains could put up coops that would own ships and barges. Drivers and mechanics could put up coops that would own buses and taxis. The list could go on and on with more imagination applied. The idea about buying ships is interesting because we have so many sailors and yet they do not own a single ship, despite the fact that they collectively earn so many millions.
Tune in to KA IKING LIVE! 6 to 7pm Thursdays in Global News Network (GNN), Channel 8 in Destiny Cable. Email iseneres@yahoo.com or text to +639997333011. Visit www.senseneres.blogspot.com. Join Coffee Clutch Fridays
posted by Ike Señeres at 7:06 AM
1 Comments:
Hi Ike,
This is Edel, your classmate at UP-NCPAG. Your blog post is very near to my heart. Being the part-time Chief Executive Officer of the fastest-growing and strongest cooperative in Surigao del Norte- the Socorro Empowered People's Cooperative (SOEMCO, I agree with what you had written. Good governance in tandem with effective and efficient management are the real ingredients for the success of the cooperatives. If we have good leaders and managers, support from the members will naturally follow. From the capital of P 35,000.00 in 1996, we achieved a total asset for the 5 branches of P 117 Million as of December 2010. We will be celebrating our 15th Foundation Anniversary this May 27 here in Socorro and I am cordially inviting you to attend so you can witness how vibrant is the cooperative movement in our place.
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