strategy
Coordinating community economic ventures
Synonyms:
Coordinating community business venturesIncreasing scope of business operations in small communities
Developing community enterprises
Broadening community business ventures
Coordinating community initiatives
Organizing new community ventures
Implementation:
Glasgow (Scotland) pioneered the idea of community business – setting up companies which aim to employ people rather than provide profits. The first community business was set up in 1984. More followed providing a range of basic services – shops, decorating, arts – and within seven years there were 45 community businesses in the region. By then Strathclyde Community Business (SCB) had amassed a development fund of £1.5 million.
The guidance of the local priest in Mondragon (Spain) led to five local entrepreneurs turning their stove-making business into an employee-owned co-op. They also set up a local bank, which oversaw the expansion of a series of other linked co-ops in the town. Now the group consists of around 120 businesses, employing 22,000 local people. Only a handful have ever failed. When the Basque region unemployment rose to 30% in the 1980s, Mondragon's employment was maintained.
Broader:
Creating communityRenewing local economyCooperating in commerceFostering small businessEncouraging potential businessImproving existing communitiesPromoting small-scale human society Narrower:
Organizing local marketingUsing employee co-managementOrganizing community trading companyPublicizing local products nationallyExpanding cooperative store operationActivating commercial cooperative unionConstructing local cooperative facilityEstablishing community development corporation Constrained by:
Limiting scope of business operations in small communities Facilitates:
Using workgroup computingDesigning model communitiesDiversifying local economiesEnabling economic cooperativesImplementing programmes on sustainable livelihoodsFostering favourable commercial environment for crafts Facilitated by:
Relating community groupsIntegrating community goalsPromoting social innovationDeveloping smart communitiesEstablishing community banksCatalyzing development dynamicPromoting community self-determinationLegalizing community rights to resource useProviding private-sector support for local community Problems:
Disconnected community initiativesFragmented planning of community life
Ineffectiveness of tradition-bound small business methods
Subjects:
Society → CommunitiesCommerce → Business enterprises
Economics → Economic
Strategy → Coordination
Development → Development
Type Classification:
C: Cross-sectoral strategies Related UN Sustainable Development Goals:
