Thesis, Graduate(Master in Management)--University of the Philippines Mindanao, 2004

The KAPATAGAN LIVELIHOOD INTEGRATED DEVELOPMENT COOPERATIVE (KALIDECO) has been in its difficult times for almost five years now. Transparently saying, it is on the verge of extinction. Nevertheless, the management and officers, with their commitment to the cooperative movement, managed to keep it going even if in almost all aspects of operations, it is on the downward trend. And not only this, the worse is that the major intended operations, that is financing and facilitating trading of farmers? produce, were discontinued. In form, KALIDECO may be visibly surviving because of its merchandising operations but in substance it is dying. The writer opted to entitle the strategic plan ?KALIDECO: a turnaround ? because she would like to reverse the trend and shift it to an onward direction before it becomes too late. There has to be a CHANGE. The framework of Fred R. David (1991) was used by the writer in preparing the plan. It has three major phases namely: Strategy Formulation, Strategy Implementation, and Strategy Evaluation. This, of course, emphasizes the vision, mission, and objectives of the organization where strategies are directed to. There are a number of methodologies used by the writer to be able to come up with a holistic strategic plan. She believes that the management and officers knew more about KALIDECO particularly on what needs to be done than her personal knowledge. This is the reason why she conducted a strategic planning workshop on November 29, 2003 with the officers, management, some members and non-members. She also validated her inputs during the workshop. She concretely presented, in the form of graphs and figures, the downward trends of the cooperative?s performance as part of the internal analysis of the organization. The mission statement was defined and is a collective effort and output during the workshop. She also conducted interviews with management and gathered documented and undocumented information. Some members were also made to respond in a simple questionnaire about the services they expect from KALIDECO and what they can do for KALIDECO. At the external environment, literatures related to cooperative movement, agriculture, the vegetable industry and the research study output of the UP in Mindanao School of Management ?ACIAR Project has helped a lot. The broad strategies formulated in the order of priority were: Linkage for capacity building. This will give emphasis on strengthening the internal control of the organization through assistance from willing and able organizations. In any business venture, TRUST is a very important component to make it successful. The Cooperative can only win the trust of members by proving that they are good stewards of members? resources through installation of proper systems and good controls. Another strategy is market penetration first on the mobilization of share capital to the existing members and later to potential members. KALIDECO, in its deep financial crisis, will be able to restore the working capital needed to pursue the major operation. The third strategy is the restoration of the major operation of financing and trading of farmers? produce. With the major economic activity of producing and trading of vegetables dominated by big traders, there is a need for KALIDECO to engage again in this activity enhance farmer-members? share in the value of their produce being the primary stakeholders of the organization. It is expected that this will attract particularly the small farmers of Kapatagan. They have to become members of the cooperative as a means to improve their living condition. In the long run, KALIDECO shall become a major player in the supply chain of quality vegetables in Kapatagan. On the other hand, it is ambitiously desired that the structural systems of cooperatives from primary to secondary up to the tertiary or national level will play an active role in the supply chain of farmers? agricultural produce. However, since this is not yet possible, the cooperative will play as a business enterprise along with the private traders but will make a difference in the sharing of value added. Lastly, the writer is hopeful that the principles behind this strategic plan will not only apply to KALIDECO, but will also diffuse among the agricultural cooperative movement.