Opportunities to enhance cooperatives’ long-term success through strategic planning

Abstract: In order to enhance the inherent potential of cooperatives to support society’s move towards global socio-ecological sustainability, they need to plan strategically. Strategic planning with this goal in mind requires organisations to describe and identify steps towards a desired future. The research team set out to provide practical and context-appropriate guidance to cooperatives, describing opportunities to use strategic planning in the starting-up phase in support of their long-term success. The team deployed a qualitative and iterative approach based on grounded theory and conducted a total of twenty-four interviews with cooperative practitioners and experts as well as strategic planning experts.  The outcome of the interviews are thematic areas recommended to cover in the starting-up phase of a cooperative. The thematic areas are presented in an ABCD Strategic Planning process which aims to build a shared mental model among all stakeholders, using a participatory approach. The process may be useful for newcomers to the cooperative world; future research in support of cooperatives may want to implement the above mentioned strategic planning process while capturing lessons for its improvement.