Have we lost the art of collaboration?

In 2005 the International Cooperative Alliance launched a new initiative called Global300.  It brought together information about the world’s 300 largest cooperative organisations.  

By analysing seven key industries, the Global300 Report demonstrated the strength of the collaborative business model.

The Global300 Report was recently replaced with the World Cooperative Monitor.  2032 cooperatives in 56 countries are now analysed each year.

What’s blatantly obvious from this research is the top organisations that have thrived post-Global Financial Crisis are cooperatives, especially in the agribusiness and food sector.  In fact many have experienced strong growth.

Cooperatives are punching well above their weight, with flexibility and adaptability a key feature of their success.  It’s also blatantly obvious that of the 2032 cooperatives monitored, Australia is virtually nowhere to be seen.

The Cooperative Bulk Handling (grain) ranked 153 and Murray Goulburn Cooperative Company Limited (dairy) ranked 186.  That's it.

Interestingly, New Zealand’s Fonterra Cooperative Group (dairy) is the fourth largest cooperative in the world.  A tiny nation representing a sector that is only 1% subsidised (Australia is 9%) has climbed to the top by shortening its supply chain; in other words collaborating to develop a value chain.

Indeed, many of the global food companies that people so-fear will take over our local agribusiness and food sector are cooperatives and private collaborations.

As the ‘agricultural powerhouse’ most noted to exploit the food boom, it seems Australia has been distanced from the action.  There is evidence to suggest it is because we stopped collaborating.

Consequently, the small businesses that make up 98% of industry are left feeling powerless and vulnerable to globalisation.

Cooperative is a dirty word amongst some who are in the sunset of their involvement in agribusiness and food.

So one of the great opportunities I see in the area of succession planning for the industry is to clear the way for a new generation of participants that I believe are natural collaborators.

So why don't we want to collaborate?  Are the benefits of collaborative behaviour misunderstood in Australia?  Have we lost the art of collaborating?  

Have we been losing competitive advantage because of this?

Click on comment below and share your view.

Australia's gloom boom.

Yes it’s true.  Australia is having a boom.

 

A boom in gloom.

Quite frankly readers, I’m sick of it.

In my previous blog I talked about the dangers of indecisiveness.  I described indecisiveness as a disease.

Like many diseases, it is the result of a prolonged exposure to something that is not good for you.

That something is negativity.

I’m a large consumer of content, dialogue, discussion, commentary and debate within the agribusiness and food sector - and beyond.

If the current language used is a barometer of progress, then I am very worried about our prospects.

The level of vitriol, animosity, intolerance, anger, blaming and spitefulness scares me.  It’s not a good look.

Happy to have the debate, but cut the crap.

So we’ve established we’re all under pressure right now.  Enough said.

I love the parallels between business and sport and how to deal with pressure.

You’re either in the game or not.

As all good athletes will tell you, if things are not going as planned it’s very important to use a sense of voice to talk yourself back into the game.

This is known as self-speak, or self-talk.

We must talk ourselves back into the game.  And pull-aside those talking in a manner that is simply not helpful.

Practising self-talk is a great influence on the esteem of those around you at work and the confidence of the industry you are in.

There are three easy steps:

• -       Listen
• -       Monitor.
• -       Change.

Listen to what you are about to say or write.  Question your intentions.  Change your behaviour.

I urge people to start developing some habits within their business that start setting a healthy tone.

It might not seem like much, but if we all improve our self-talk the industry can move ahead with the clarity and self-belief it needs.

The pandemic that is killing-off your business.

Dis-ease (dih-zeez): any harmful, depraved or morbid condition, as of the mind or society – or business.

About 6 years ago a new disease emerged that has since been slowly killing-off Australian small businesses.

This disease is called indecision.

What has allowed this disease to take-hold so easily?

Our obsession with risk.

Risk simply means you don’t know what the future holds.  Will the future be good or bad?  You don’t know yet.

Post-GFC obsession with risk as a negative event has stalled many businesses because people have stopped making decisions.

Why is it important to keep making decisions?

To keep moving your business forward.

What is it you need to keep deciding about?

Your future strategy.

Try this.

When determining your future strategy, put risk aside and focus on compromise.

Every different strategy has an individual set of compromises.

Work out what they are.

Decide which set of compromises your business is most comfortable and most able to deal with.

Act on that strategy.

If I’m not making these regular decisions, why is it going to kill my business?

Because without strategy your business is just wasting time.

What has time got to do with it?

The biggest cost of operating a business is the cost of time.

Making decisions shrinks time.  Not making decisions expands time.

It is the expansion of the cost of time, because people have stopped making decisions about strategy that is quietly killing-off many small businesses in Australia.

BTW – if you’re not making decisions on strategy because you can’t find a set of compromises you are happy with, then you are at the point of deciding should the business continue-on at all.

Blah blah blah. Blah blah.

Globalisation of the food system has put local producers under immense strain.  How food is produced and marketed has changed more in our lifetime than the previous 10 000 years.

This has caused what I can best describe as an identity crisis for our agribusiness and food sector.

To put it plainly, things are tough and everyone’s feeling a bit unloved at the moment.

Consequently, there has been intense analysis and exploration of how we view ourselves.

 

Interestingly, what’s evolved is the perception that the cause of all our ills is a new disconnect between consumers and the origin of food.  In some instances, this has bordered on complete anger that consumers haven’t devoted themselves to making us happy and profitable.

There is now a huge movement to tell the story about the origin of food and the people producing it.

What’s my beef with all this?  We now have an industry full of talkers and very few doers.

You can’t talk your way into someone’s fridge.

Where are the innovators and early adopters?  Where are the new business models and integrated exporters?  Were are the new products centred on food experience?  Where is the collaboration?

Talking is easy.  It means you can keep doing the same thing whilst hoping for a different outcome.

As Steve Jobs of Apple fame reminded us, there’s no point asking consumers. They don’t know what they want until you put it in front of them.

If you want to be loved by consumers, put something in front of them they'll love.  Then do it again.  And again.  And again.  And again.

I’d like to see less money wasted on talk-fests.  Quite frankly they have become very uninspiring and a blight on our industry.

More support needs to be directed at the doers in our agribusiness and food sector who want a seat at the global dining table, and can envision the great innovative products to get them there.

Know a business that is a doer?  Give their great product or service a plug here and expose them to thousands of readers by clicking on the comments link below.

FTAs and the little country that could.

The term Free Trade Agreement (FTA) conjures great expectations and like the Charles Dickens classic of the same name, it is a coming-of-age story for Australia in the Asian Century.

FTAs are economic policies based on the popular rationale that international markets should be free to trade across international borders without the interference of Government.

Most trade negotiations occur through the World Trade Organisation (WTO).  These agreements then cascade down to more localised initiatives such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, an ‘open market’ policy between Canada, United States and Mexico.

FTAs are complex and strategic.  Prime Minister Tony Abbot recently stated Australia’s ‘open market’ aspirations in the region by declaring we are “open for business”.

At a time when some of our industries are desperate for trade reform, the term free trade agreement is misleading because more-often-than-not, what has been finalised is something much different.

Consequently, we continually hear that the economic gains for Australia are minimal and lagging.

It is balance-of-power that determines the outcome of international trade negotiations.

Australia is a remote out-post of the world economy.  By global standards we have a very short trading history, the majority of which simply went back to the Motherland.  We do not understand what it’s like to be surrounded by multiple borders, meaning you learn to trade or learn to fight.

We have a small, fragmented population and economy.  We are not known for value-adding and our industries are increasingly uncompetitive which has been eroding any price advantage for even basic commodities.

The countries in our region we seek a close trading relationship with have been trading AND fighting across borders for thousands of years.  They have huge economies made up of very lean and competitive industries.

Constantly living under the economic or physical threat of multiple borders means these countries have a culture of deep-rooted domestic protection and austerity.  Hence we see the heavy-use of sanctions.  That is, the ability for a foreign industry to sue the Australian Government under a trade agreement.

An important feature of any negotiation is to know your anchor.  What is Australia’s anchor when it negotiates a free trade agreement?  In my opinion, Australia is viewed as a weak seller.

A philosophical view of free trade agreements is they are a diplomatic intent by Australia to keep the communication lines open when it comes to trade and investment, in an effort to ensure we can be part of the action and not get shut-out completely.

Australia recently signed the Korea Australia Free Trade Agreement (KAFTA) and the Economic Partnership Agreement (EPA) with Japan.  As always the devil is in the detail; much of which is conspicuous by its absence on these occasions.  For agribusiness and food, it will be 20 years or so before we feel the economic impact in some instances.

Like the little engine that could, international trade negotiations will continue to give Australia long-term optimism and hope.

In the meantime, of greater urgency for local exporters is that the Australian Government increases its focus on our own domestic situation and starts pulling the right economic levers to help us become internationally competitive, free trade agreements or otherwise.

What levers should the Government be pulling to make Australia's agribusiness and food system globally competitive and profitable?