Information on past conferences:

1999 Conference

The 1999 Conference theme was "Co-operation into the New Millennium" and the two principle speakers were Graham Melmoth, Chief Executive of CWS, who spoke on "How Europe's largest retail consumer society had put the ICA Statement on the Co-operative Identity into practice", and Professor lan MacPherson, Dean of Humanities at the University of Victoria, Canada who spoke on "The International Impact the Statement had Made".

Dr MacPherson had chaired the most recent review of co-operative principles on behalf of the International Co-operative Alliance, whilst Mr Melmoth was President of the ICA when those principles were formally adopted in 1995. This year's Conference programme proved to be extremely engaging, with both speakers offering their own perspective of progress, four years on.

Mr Melmoth made brief reference to the long history of the CWS and the remarkable changes along the way. However, the millenium would bring a new intensity and with it, an even greater need for change. "Co-operatives have to adapt and be relevant."

Mr Melmoth then talked of the progress within the CWS since 1995. He started by reminding delegates that they should never forget they were running a business. Great progress had been made within the CWS to lever benefits from links between the core activities. The family campaign with its explicit focus on co-operative identity had been widely acknowledged as extremely effective. Mr Melmoth went on to identify the CWS progress in values and principles training for staff at all levels, in making membership meaningful for the existing members, and in encouraging customers to become members. In answer to a delegate's question, Mr Melmoth saw no incompatibility between democratic control and business efficiency.

Dr MacPherson spoke about the 1995 process of the review of co-operative principles. This process had to reconcile the perspectives of co-operators from the different sectors and the various cultures around the world. In particular, there had been a division between those looking to maximise benefits from co-operation to the individual member and those seeking to achieve a collective benefit from co-operation for the community. He described the end result as a direction to pursue rather than as any attempt to set absolute standards. The ICA Statement was designed to be flexible and to facilitate development and leave room for lots of experimentation. Dr MacPherson felt there was scope for more international collaboration, greater integration and greater effectiveness. Finishing on a high note, Dr MacPherson was optimistic about the future of co-operation into the next millennium.

1998 Conference

Items  reviewed during the conference:

• Profits with Principles: Developing Co-operation for Sustainable Stakeholding (full text)
  "How does an organisation go about defining its ethical position, and how does it subsequently demonstrate ethical performance."   Dr. Sara MacKian
  
  
• Business Ethics, Values and Governance in the Co-operative Context - John Donaldson

1997 Conference

Items  reviewed during the conference:

• Re-asserting the Co-operative Advantage
  Society for Co-op Studies Research and Development Project.
  Report to conference meeting by Roger Spear   (Full Text)
  
  
• How can the Co-operative Sector Contribute to the Development of a Stakeholder Economy? 
  By Simon Blackley  (Full Text)

1996 Conference

Items  reviewed during the conference:

• The future of Mutuality
• The UKCC - The Way Forward

Rita Rhodes, author and writer on International Co-operation spoke on "Co-operatives and the Conversion Syndrome Abroad".

Adrian Coles, Director General of the Building Societies' Association presented a paper covering the background to the decisions by a number of large building societies to de-mutualise and also looked at the "new mutualism" from which building societies were redefining their reason for existence.

Gerald Gregory, Director of Marketing and Mutuality at the Britannia Building Society spoke about societies like the Britannia which have rejected the headlong rush to convert to plc status, and have re-committed to mutuality using their creativity to modernise and adapt it.

Peter Walker, Chief Executive of the United Kingdom Co-operative Council spoke on "The UKCC - The Way Forward". The UKCC had brought together the disparate parts of the total UK Co-operative Sector which had led to many fruitful collaborative projects.

1995 Conference

Three themes were reviewed during the conference

• Neither public nor private: the Co-operative Way
• The future role of the Society for Co-operative Studies
• A proposal for a Co-operatives Act for the UK

The first two themes were introduced by Dr. Johnston Birchall and then discussed by an expert panel and then by the members in workshops. The panel members were Roger Spear, Open University; Edgar Parnell, Plunkett Foundation; Dr. Peter Davis, Leicester University; Mervyn Wilson, Co-operative College and Jean Whitehead,  Co-operative Party.

The third theme relating to the Proposal for a Co-operatives Act for the UK was introduced by Ian Snaith, a Solicitor and Senior Lecturer in Law at Leicester University.

1994 Conference

Theme:

• Commercial Success: Moral Dilemma?

Bob Burlton, Chief Executive of Oxford, Swindon & Gloucester Society spoke on the Co-operative Union's Report on Corporate Governance. The background to the report and plans for implementing the recommendations generated considerable interest and support.

David Skinner, Chief Executive of the CWS was invited to speak on the need for "A Single National Society?" Mr Skinner felt that participative democracy remained the retail movement's cornerstone, and this was difficult to equate with one single national society which would be unlikely to be quickly achieved. He reiterated his belief that developing closer working relationships between societies was the key to future progress.

Professor Peter Richmond the CWS's Head of Regulatory Affairs spoke on "Managing for the Future". Technological usage - in a world where information technology could be used world-wide, the Co-operative Movement should be developing techniques to take advantage of it.