COMING TOGETHER TO ADDRESS COMMON ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL NEEDS

Purchasing and Supply Services

,Facilitate independent business owners to benefit from economies of scale

Purchasing and supply service co-operatives are able to benefit from economies of scale in procurement and throughout their supply chain, which enables them to operate in sophisticated, crowded markets whilst simultaneously maintaining their focus on their locality.

Support and encourage entrepreneurship

The existence of co-operative business consortia enables independent business owners to run and operate businesses in competitive marketplaces where they may otherwise be squeezed out by pressure from larger firms.

Have lower input costs and improve business productivity and efficiency

Shared procurement and operating costs help to improve the productivity and efficiency of businesses. This benefits regional Australians without creating a monolithic enterprise that can leave people overcharged and underserved.

Have lower production costs and pass on value to consumers

Economies of scale enable co-operative enterprises to lower the costs of production, which helps drive value for the consumer.

Consortia provide access to finance for small business

The co-operative enterprise consortia model is extremely successful at producing access to finance for smaller, regional businesses who would otherwise struggle to compete in developed markets.

Profit sharing spreads the benefits of business and wealth is distributed more widely

Co-operative businesses facilitate profit sharing, which means that wealth is spread more widely than is typically the case for listed businesses.

Examples