Clik here to view.
Peter Marks on how the Co-operative societies can do their bit for the 'big society'
Peter Marks, the Co-op's Rolling Stones-obsessed chief executive, has been thinking a lot about the "big society" lately – and believes the world's largest consumer co-operative can play a useful role in the government's drive to switch public services away from the state.
But in a week when the big society project came under mounting criticism, Marks qualified his enthusiasm, warning that "while there is a place for mutualism in this whole debate, the mutual model isn't a panacea".
Marks, 61, an avid Bradford City fan who joined the Co-op at 17, has already helped groups of individuals set up local worker co-operatives through the "enterprise hub" he established last year.
These include Sunshine Care, a care home in Rochdale run by a group of former local authority workers, and a garden-furniture factory employing disabled people in York, which was set up after government-backed Remploy, the UK's largest employer of disabled staff, closed its factory in the city.
And, in a variation on the theme, more than 100 primary and secondary schools and colleges announced last week that they had formed the Schools Co-operative Society to "pool resources, expertise and buying power in the first organisation of its kind in the UK" – with backing and guidance from Marks.
However, these projects could be just the start of something much bigger, with Marks "looking at ways to help oil the wheels of the big society", potentially by developing its fledgling enterprise hub into a fully fledged consultancy business "providing advice and limited funding, that shows people how to do it for themselves".
"We are toying with ideas and looking around to see what we can do. Maybe a consultancy arm, giving advice, helping schools and other initiatives to set up. It would be very much a self-help project – we're not going to do it for them, we're going to show them how to do it," Marks says.
Such a move would probably be designed more to help the Co-op to fulfil its mission to be socially useful, rather than to make money, with any profits likely to be ploughed back into other community projects, Marks says.
"The big society is all about getting people to take some responsibility for their lives and we think there is a place for mutualism in this debate," says Marks.
However, although Marks believes the big society can play an important role in some areas of public services, he warns that it will be difficult to implement widely.
Marks also questions how successful the "John Lewis model" advocated by cabinet office minister Francis Maude – in which hospital, civil service, prison and other public sector staff might form co-operatives and take over the running of their services – would be in underpinning the big society push.
"Translating the big society concept into change is going to be very, very difficult. We as a nation have been bred on the idea of the state doing everything for us. Generations have been reared on the government intervening in every aspect of their lives," Marks says.
"The John Lewis model is treated as the answer to the big society, but I'm not sure that handing our public services to employees of public services is going to be the answer. The consumer needs to be part of the answer to the provision of social services. Consumer co-operatives [like his Co-op] could play a part," says the down-to-earth Marks, who was born and bred in Bradford.
Speaking after Dame Elisabeth Hoodless, the executive director of Community Service Volunteers, said that "draconian" cuts were threatening to undermine the big society by destroying volunteering, Marks reiterated that even a consumer co-operative could only have a limited impact. These things have to be done properly "otherwise they will fail, guaranteed".
"The mutual model needs hard business understanding behind it, good management, people that know what they're doing. History is littered with examples of failed co-operatives."
New benchmark
Marks's job requires him to oversee Britain's biggest convenience store chain, its largest farmer and, once its agreed merger with Thomas Cook has gone through, its most extensive high-street travel agency – not to mention Europe's biggest funeral services operation and a host of other businesses.
But he believes he can serve the Co-op much better if he doesn't become enslaved by it. Playing the drums in a local band keeps him in touch with the world of his customers, he believes, and provides a valuable distraction from the intense corporate pressures he faces.
So what else is keeping Marks busy? In addition to finalising the details of an "ethical operating plan" – due to be announced today – that he promises will "set a new benchmark for corporate social responsibility in the UK", Marks is preparing to open a new store in London. This site, near the Savoy hotel, means the 3,000-strong Co-operative Food chain will have an outlet in every single UK postal area.
Marks, who "hopes the Queen will pop in" to his new store, just down the road from Buckingham Palace, says the Co-op's brand of ethical capitalism is benefiting hugely from the financial meltdown.
"Trust in business has taken a real knock in recent years as the credit crunch has caused people to seriously question the capitalist model. The mutual is an alternative business model which chimes with the times. People want a business they can trust, with a strong sense of social responsibility. This is our DNA."
The issue of trust has become especially important in relation to what we eat, with people becoming increasingly concerned about the provenance of food, says Marks, whose Co-op group owns 50,000 acres of farmland.
"People want to know where the potatoes came from, which pesticide was used and so on. We grow a lot of our own food which we think is really helpful, and we are the only major food retailer that can claim that."
The Co-op's food shops and its farms have traditionally been separate, but in the past two years have become increasingly integrated as the group grows more of the products it can sell in its shops, such as garden vegetables. The trend will continue in the coming years as Co-op looks to further expand its "Grown by us" range and for its farms to supply a quarter of all the fruit and vegetables sold in its stores by 2015.
Last month, Marks completed his first three-year plan. This saw a merger with United Co-operatives transform the group into the world's biggest consumer co-operative, capping a series of smaller deals which collectively brought 80% of Britain's traditionally fragmented collection of societies into the same entity. The merger, which handed Marks the top job, was followed by the the acquisition of Somerfield – the largest grocery merger in UK corporate history – and the takeover of the Britannia building society.
These deals drove a doubling of sales, profits and membership – to 5.5 million – at the group, which was established in 1865. In short, Marks's first three-year plan has transformed the Co-op from a business in decline to one on the rise. It reported a record £402m profit on all-time high sales of £13.7bn in 2010.
Just over a month into his second three-year plan, Marks is keen to continue the momentum he has built up, with proposals to add 300 food stores, starting with the Strand outlet. By 2020 he would like to have 20 million members.
Marks, whose Co-op sponsors Bradford City, says: "We were in the lower league before and now we are in the Premier League. But it's one thing getting into the Premier League and quite another thing staying there. Then, of course, there is the Champions' League."
CV
Date of birth 27 October 1949
Education St Bede's Grammar, Bradford
Career Joined Yorkshire Co-op as a management trainee in the food division, which included a stint stacking shelves. Went on to manage various divisions and functions including travel, department stores and human resources.
2002-2007 chief executive of United Co-operatives (following the merger of Norwest and Yorkshire Co-operatives) 2007-present chief executive of Co-operative Group (after its merger with United Co-operatives)
Interests Golf, Bradford City Football Club, plays drums in blues band the Alligators
Family Married with two daughters