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COG's Mission
is "to
create, build and serve a coalition that promotes broad ownership of
productive capital; reduces inequality of income and wealth; increases
sustainable economic development; expands opportunities for people to
realize their productive and creative potential; stabilizes local
communities by improving living standards; and enhances the quality of
life for all."
The following goals and objectives are in rough chronological order.
Therefore, the later goals and objectives are less clearly formed than the
earlier ones.
COG Goals
(in bold) and Objectives (in italics) are:
1) Clarify the
factual case underlying our mission
a) "Obtain research"
(meaning "collect existing research and commission new research if needed")
on the effects of broadened ownership on community economic development,
company financial performance, and wealth creation in the local community;
b)
Obtain research on the dimensions of existing broadened ownership programs,
and their utilization in a wide variety of countries and circumstances.
Find out which ones have the greatest impact and why.
c) Develop an analysis of the most effective existing means of broadened
ownership and why they are effective.
d) Based on this and other economic data, develop policy proposals for
improving the means and effectiveness of additional broad ownership
mechanisms.
2) Broadly disseminate
information supporting our mission
a) Publish scholarly
and lay materials explaining our research, policy proposals and public
opinion data.
b)
Actively seek media exposure for these ideas and examples of them in
all forms of media
c) Utilizing the diverse contacts of our diverse Working Group, Advisory
Board, and staff ingenuity, seek to open the discussion of broad ownership
as a solution to a variety of social ills in as many forums as possible.
d) Build a broad and diverse coalition supporting our mission, and make
an effort to keep the discussion of mission open enough to foster ongoing
inclusion of new groups.
3) Find out what
the public knows and cares about concerning capital concentration, the
problems it generates, and the public's perception of broad ownership
schemes as a potential solution.
a) Commission
public opinion research to provide COG with objective data on this question.
b) Analyze this research and determine a public education strategy based
on it.
c) Utilize this information to formulate a strategic plan for implementation
of broadened ownership policy proposals.
4) Find out what
opinion makers know and care about concerning capital concentration, the
problems it generates, and the opinion makers' perceptions of broad ownership
schemes as a potential solutions
a) Commission
public opinion research to provide COG with objective data on this question
b) Analyze this research and determine a policy leader education strategy
based on it.
c) Utilize this information to formulate a strategic plan for implementation
of broadened ownership policy proposals.
5) Develop policy
alternatives to actualize our mission
a) Commission
policy papers proposing policies aimed at solving the problems caused
by capital concentration; utilizing the research we obtain on the forms
of broadened ownership which show positive social effects; and which
have the greatest potential for actualization based on the public and
leadership opinion research we obtain.
6) Build a broad
coalition supporting our mission
a) Create a
Working Group comprised of people knowledgeable and experienced with
broad ownership from business, labor, government, and academia.
b) Create an Advisory Board of opinion leaders from a wide range of
disciplines with concerns about the problem of capital concentration
and interest in broad ownership as one potential solution.
c) Utilize our public education and technical assistance mechanisms
to reach out to diverse constituencies and engage them in discussion
and joint work in those areas where our concerns and theirs are similar.
7) Provide solid
data and policy proposals supporting our mission to policy makers, opinion
makers, the media and the general public
a) Create a
compilation of economic data, opinion research and policy proposals
to provide coalition members, the public, and policy makers with the
information needed to create workable policies aimed at achieving COG's
mission.
b) Create books, pamphlets, articles and encourage development of materials
in all media to disseminate our data and proposals, including providing
to the public speakers, data, proposals and expertise for development
of broad ownership policies and mechanisms.
8) Create and
Enhance examples and models of co-ordinated broad ownership systems
There are several
existing models of organized collaboration between broadly owned companies,
and several institutions that support and enable them, such as the Mondragon
Cooperative Community in Spain, the Ohio Employee Owned Network, ESOP
Association local chapters, the National Center for Employee Ownership
and numerous former or existing state programs supporting employee ownership
- We want to:
a)
develop and support projects that strengthen these existing institutions:
b) Gather data on the relationship between state supported employee ownership
technical assistance, and, for example, the incidence of economically
successful employee owned companies and the growth of personal wealth
amongst the general population in the communities where employee ownership
exists.
c) Create new mechanisms to strengthen these collaborations, for example:
joint bonding authority for a group of small employee owned companies,
employee owned industrial parks with shared secondary institutions; models
for virtual employee owned companies; an employee owned version of a union
hiring hall; create a business succession program involving development
banks, technology resources and empowerment zones based on the idea of
the Mondragon Bank R&D department, etc.
9) Develop technical
assistance capacity, materials and replication programs to:
a) Disseminate
research and policy proposals supporting our mission (described above)
b) Assist local organizations create policy or programs to broaden ownership
(described above)
c) Replicate or improve upon models of co-ordianted broad ownership
systems (described above)
d) Create TA capacity, educational materials and replication programs
for long term growth and capacity building in the broad ownership sector.
10) Co-ordinate
policy development in many countries to create policies that raise the
social wage floor, without sacrificing development opportunities for poor
countries.
a) Maintain
this goal as a guiding principal in strategy and policy development.
b) Begin with policy development in the developed countries where common
people have the greatest economic and political power to effect change
and bring leverage in relationship to global corporations.
c) Expand policy development to, and learn from, developing countries
where there are social, economic and political openings to explore broadened
ownership.
11) Develop policy
alternatives that work for common people in developed and developing countries.
a) Include on
the Working Group and Advisory Board members from many countries so
that programs and policies are developed considering perspectives and
needs of people in both the developed and the developing world.
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