ICA-AP Committee on Cooperative Research (CCR) conducted the 6th COOP Colloquium on 21 June to build upon its series of academic dialogues on issues that are relevant to cooperative education and research. The Colloquium was held in collaboration with Australia’s Business Council of Co-operatives and Mutuals (BCCM) and Melbourne-based Monash Business School (MBS). Around 20 participants from 6 countries joined the webinar to learn about the nature and benefits of measuring and communicating the total value that a cooperative and mutual enterprise (CME) creates.
Dr. Yashvantha Dongre, Chairperson, ICA-AP CCR welcomed the participants and said that CCR is committed to sharing the rich and diverse experience of cooperative research and scholarship across the Asia and Pacific region through the COOP Colloquiums. He said the current iteration will focus on understanding the Mutual Value Measurement (MVM) Framework and thanked the guest speakers Ms. Melina Morrison, CEO, BCCM and Dr. Paul Thambar, Professor, MBS. Mr. Balu Iyer, Regional Director, ICA-AP in his opening remarks welcomed the initiative to discuss measuring the value created by coops and mutuals. He commended the support of countries like Australia in encouraging education and research on the value created by CMEs.
Ms. Morrison made a presentation on BCCM’s aim to further deepen the understanding and appreciation of mutuals and cooperatives to promote the sector’s significant contributions to national development. She spoke about its work as a peak body in the country dedicated to cooperative education, training and research engagements. BCCM’s innovative approach to measuring the total value mutuals and cooperatives create offers a potential solution to the problem of mutual value measurement the world over. Measuring and communicating the total value that CMEs create has long been a challenging task as financial numbers (e.g. profit) rarely capture the complete value. The challenge of developing a consistent approach to measuring mutual value led BCCM to engage with accounting researchers from one of Australia’s leading research-focused business schools, MBS.
Dr. Thambar made a presentation on the collaboration with the BCCM, StateCover Mutual and twelve other CMEs to design and develop the MVM framework. This ground-breaking measurement framework enables any CME to measure the whole value of what they do and communicate it to the broader community, including members, potential new members, and financial markets. MVM provides CMEs with the capability to measure and communicate information relating to environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Importantly, the MVM provides a strong focus on the measurement of social and governance-related issues which are not well covered by other frameworks (e.g. integrated reporting) which tend to focus more on environmental issues. The BCCM has embarked on an advocacy project with a select group of CMEs in 2022 to further assess and understand the policy and reporting implications of ESG for CMEs. As part of this project, Dr. Thambar and his colleagues will further develop the MVM to provide ‘a bridge’ to ESG measurement and reporting.
Mr. Mohit Dave, Secretary, ICA-AP CCR moderated the comments, questions and reflections from the audience and thanked the presenters. The participants hoped it will inspire the viewers to go back to the core of the MVM framework. This colloquium is a starting point for these discussions, bringing together cooperative advocates, practitioners and youth from the Asia and Pacific region who are committed to infusing meaning, relevance, enthusiasm, and promising returns in the value creation and measurement space for CMEs.
BCCM is a powerful and informed voice in the business community, working to remove the barriers to fair competition and improving the business environment for all cooperatives and mutuals. For more details on the research collaboration with the Monash Business School, see www.mvm.coop.
