COMMUNITY Co-OPERATION
SHARING IDEAS

The following poses questions and shares some thoughts. Is there potential for businesses to co-operate and create a competitive advantage for all? 

This is a work in progress, so please let me know if you have any thoughts and ideas you would like to add, by e-mailing  bob@ippjoules.com - many thanks

By sharing resources with other business - can you remove cost and become more competitive?

You could share premises, staff, transport - perhaps it just needs a way to communicate and arrange sharing. There are car sharing systems run by councils, perhaps this could be extended. How often do we use meeting rooms, how often do we have idle transport, how well do we use our staff's skills. Your company assets and resources could become income generating in new ways. Is it worth a thought?

Can you share processes or technology?

What if you have a way of working that would benefit others - do you keep it secret or do you share these ways of working? If the businesses around you are flourishing and profitable will there be more opportunities for you to promote your services? Or they may have processes that would benefit you. Or perhaps you share technology - photocopiers, scanners, servers, ftp sites, etc - why not?

What about sharing skills?

If you are not fully utilising the skills that some of your staff have, perhaps you could create flexible working conditions that allow those skills to be used by another company. Sharing skills across companies could provide the expertise at more competitive rates.

Imagine sharing an accountant, marketing manager, HR manager - raise your skills levels without the full financial risk.

Co-operative marketing activity - could be a winner.

If you operate in an area where customers are looking for more than you can offer - why not co-operate with other businesses and together offer the complete service.

Openness, trust and an acceptance of sharing the benefits is important.

So why not consider marketing the combined service, sharing the marketing costs, benefit from greater resources to manage the customers - may be everyone will benefit.

What about co-operation overseas?

Importing or exporting overseas can be challenging - so why not approach a company and ask if you can learn from them, and possibly even look to share resources.

If you share interests in similar countries, perhaps you will be able to gain economies from sharing marketing activity, contacts, possibly even sharing travel or transport.

Sourcing or selling overseas take time and money - share your ideas with other and possibly share the investment - co-operate.

Co-operation and innovation

If you are looking to improve processes, launch new initiatives, develop a new business - be innovative - working on your own, or with an existing team may lack the lateral thinking and objectivity required to make it a success.

Co-operating with other companies may bring in fresh ideas, additional resources which could make the idea more robust and marketable.

Keep you mind open to sharing ideas - an idea only has value to you, until it can be implemented.

What you don't use fully, could be shared. How about your office?

Look at your 'big' costs and think about sharing. If, for example you had the space, why not share your office with another company - you could literally cut your overheads in half.

It may take a bit of organising - but would it make you more competitive? Course it would.