Do you have a cooperative business idea? If so, join Cooperation DC and the ONE DC Black Worker Center for a training on developing a business strategy. It will be led by the ICA Group, a leading technical assistance provider for employee owned businesses around the country.

To succeed, worker co-ops need to truly understand their business strategy – how is it your co-op is going to create and capture value? Whether your co-op is just starting up, or you’re ready to think about growth, this highly interactive workshop will help cooperators work through a process designed to provide insight into what makes their business tick, how to understand their market, and how this can help you succeed. Most co-ops don’t need a thorough written business plan, the key determinant of success is a fully developed business strategy that all members of the coop own and can articulate – this workshop will help you start this process in your co-op.

Objectives:

1. Participants will understand the difference between a business plan and a business strategy (or model); what a written business plan’s purpose is, and what its limitations are.

2. Participants will be introduced to the elements that make up a business strategy including what value proposition is, how to identify customers and their problems and needs, what the components of a market analysis are, and the key concepts in understanding and constructing a revenue and cost structure that fits with the realities of the market.

3. By working through the process of analyzing a business strategy, participants will be better prepared to take this approach back to their own work.