Murray Goulburn’s cheese-maker bid shows co-ops strong health

24 October 2013

The new business council of mutual business leaders set up to champion member and customer owned business models – the Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) – says that bids by successful co-operatives like the Murray Goulburn takeover offer for Warrnambool Cheese and Butter, announced last Friday,was a sign of the sector’s strong commercial health and potentially offered far reaching benefits for Australian producers and farming communities.

BCCM CEO Melina Morrison said: “Warrnambool is Australia’s oldest cheese and butter processor and it’s heartening to see a well-established producer owned co-operative like Murray Goulburn make a bid to keep this a home-grown business.”

“The various bids for the dairy processor will be decided on their merits, but everything else being equal, co-operatives have the added advantage of ensuring a domestic stake in the business and a point of influence at every stage of the value chain –from the farm to the shelf.”

Morrison said the presence of co-operatives and mutuals in the economy adds business diversity and a unique ownership structure that drives benefits back to members who are the local owners and managers of the business.

“Diverse business forms are good for competition and choice for the consumer and their existence acts to mitigate risk in our business economy.”

Visiting international co-operative education expert, Dr Chris Cooper said: “Listed businesses are often focused solely on their share price and the need to make quick profits for the benefits of a limited group of institutional or high value shareholders rather than concentrating, as co-operatives do, on the needs of the member, customer and the community. Co-operatives are adaptable and flexible and in the interests of their members always seeking new and profitable opportunities.”

Morrison said the scale and scope of the member and customer owned businesses is not widely understood or appreciated but the sector combined represents a membership base of more than 13 million. The combined turnover of the top 100 co-operative and mutually owned businesses was almost $18 billion and there were some 1600 co-operatives in all industry sectors from agriculture, marketing and retail, to automotive, health, housing, social and financial services.