Business Etiquette

Cooperation dates back as far as human beings have been organizing for mutual benefit. Tribes were organised as cooperative structures, allocating jobs and resources among each other, only trading with the external communities. In alpine environments, trade could only be maintained in organized cooperatives to achieve a useful condition of artificial roads such as Viamala in 1473.[3] Pre-industrial Europe is home to the first cooperatives from an industrial context.[citation needed]Robert Owen (1771 - 1858) was a social reformer and a pioneer of the cooperative movement.

In 1761, the Fenwick Weavers' Society was formed in Fenwick, East Ayrshire, Scotland to sell discounted oatmeal to local workers.[4] Its services expanded to include assistance with savings and loans, emigration and education. In 1810, Welsh social reformer Robert Owen, from Newtown in mid-Wales, and his partners purchased New Lanark mill from Owen's father-in-law David Dale and proceeded to introduce better labour standards including discounted retail shops where profits were passed on to his employees. Owen left New Lanark to pursue other forms of cooperative organization and develop co-op ideas through writing and lecture. Cooperative communities were set up in Glasgow, Indiana and Hampshire, although ultimately unsuccessful. In 1828, William King set up a newspaper, The Cooperator, to promote Owen's thinking, having already set up a co-operative store in Brighton.[citation needed]

The Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, founded in 1844, is usually considered the first successful cooperative enterprise, used as a model for modern co-ops, following the 'Rochdale Principles'. A group of 28 weavers and other artisans in Rochdale, England set up the society to open their own store selling food items they could not otherwise afford. Within ten years there were over 1,000 cooperative societies in the United Kingdom.[citation needed]

Other events such as the founding of a friendly society by the Tolpuddle Martyrs in 1832 were key occasions in the creation of organized labor and consumer movements.[citation needed]

Friendly Societies established forums through which one member, one vote was practiced in organisation decision-making. The principles challenged the idea that a person should be an owner of property before being granted a political voice.[5] Throughout the second half of the nineteenth century (and then repeatedly every 20 years or so) there has been a surge in the number of cooperative organisations, both in commercial practice and civil society, operating to advance democracy and universal suffrage as a political principle.[9] Friendly Societies and consumer cooperatives became the dominant form of organization amongst working people in Anglosphere industrial societies prior to the rise of trade unions and industrial factories. Weinbren reports that by the end of the 19th century, over 80% of British working age men and 90% of Australian working age men were members of one or more Friendly Society.[10]

From the mid-nineteenth century, mutual organisations embraced these ideas in economic enterprises, firstly amongst tradespeople, and later in cooperative stores, educational institutes, financial institutions and industrial enterprises. The common thread (enacted in different ways, and subject to the constraints of various systems of national law) is the principle that an enterprise or association should be owned and controlled by the people it serves, and share any surpluses on the basis of each members' cooperative contribution (as a producer, labourer or consumer) rather than their capacity to invest financial capital.[11]

The cooperative movement has been fueled globally by ideas of economic democracy. Economic democracy is a socioeconomic philosophy that suggests an expansion of decision-making power from a small minority of corporate shareholders to a larger majority of public stakeholders. There are many different approaches to thinking about and building economic democracy. Both Marxism and anarchism, for example, have been influenced by utopian socialism, which was based on voluntary cooperation, withoutrecognition of class conflict. Anarchists are committed to libertarian socialism and they have focused on local organization, including locally managed cooperatives, linked through confederations of unions, cooperatives and communities. Marxists, who as socialists have likewise held and worked for the goal of democratizing productive and reproductive relationships, often placed a greater strategic emphasis on confronting the larger scales of human organization. As they viewed the capitalist class to be prohibitively politically, militarily and culturally mobilized in order to maintain an exploitable working class, they fought in the early 20th century to appropriate from the capitalist class the society's collective political capacity in the form of the state, either through democratic socialism, or through what came to be known as Leninism. Though they regard the state as an unnecessarily oppressive institution, Marxists considered appropriating national and international-scale capitalist institutions and resources (such as the state) to be an important first pillar in creating conditions favorable to solidaristic economies.[12][13] With the declining influence of the USSR after the 1960s, socialist strategies pluralized, though economic democratizers have not as yet established a fundamental challenge to the hegemony of global neoliberal capitalism.

In some countries, e.g. Finland and Sweden, there are specific forms of incorporation for cooperatives. Cooperatives may take the form of companies limited by shares or by guarantee, partnerships or unincorporated associations. In the USA, cooperatives are often organized as non-capital stock corporations under state-specific cooperative laws. However, they may also be unincorporated associations or business corporations such as limited liability companies or partnerships; such forms are useful when the members want to allow[citation needed]:

1. some members to have a greater share of the control, or
2. some investors to have a return on their capital that exceeds fixed interest,

neither of which may be allowed under local laws for cooperatives. Cooperatives often share their earnings with the membership as dividends, which are divided among the members according to their participation in the enterprise, such as patronage, instead of according to the value of their capital shareholdings (as is done by a joint stock company).

Old timers around the campfire will often tell you that service is not what it used to be. Service, long ago, was the product of genuine care and concern for consumers as people. Sometimes, service meant giving away a product, or offering to spend extra time with a customer or person in needs. Other times, service meant trying new things to solve individual problems, and going out on a limb without a guarantee of reward. Either way, the general consensus around the campfire is: "Service ain't what it used to be."

Chances are good that you patronize places that make you feel good as a consumer, places that respect you as an individual, and they may even remember your name. These people and businesses thought about what you needed as a consumer and before you asked - knew what might be of service. They thought about you when you were around, and when you weren't. Good doctors have it, good lawyers have it - but what is the service mindset?

The service mindset is the result of internalizing three basic truths. Once inside, they become part of who you are - like language. These beliefs, like all beliefs, influence and inform everything you do. Looking around at the public servant professions, exempting politics of course, you can see your librarians, police officers, firefighters, social service people, and volunteers exemplifying the service mindset. What are the truths that lead to the service mindset?

Truth #1: You aren't alone in life AND no one else is either

Look around you. Life abounds. All creatures and plants share the same quality of being alive as you do. You share this same quality with every other living thing. People around you are alive, embroiled in the dramas of their own life. The quality of being alive puts us all "in the same boat" so to speak. Being alive means you aren't alone - every other living thing is experiencing life, just as you are - ups and downs, turns and shifts.

People often look for what makes us different rather than what makes us the same. Differences between people create uniqueness, but they also create isolation. Celebrate what is the same in you, as in everyone else. Being in service to other people, and other living things, requires an appreciation of sameness.

Truth #2: You need other people AND other people need you

If all living things have life in common, then they all have needs in common as well. Basic biological needs like food, safe environment, and resources exist across all domains of life. Even getting the basics often requires help. A baby, for example, does not start with the ability to feed itself. A baby comes with the ability to suck, and a mother comes with the ability to nurse. When the mother can not nurse, others make formula for the mother to buy to feed her child. Biological needs quickly expand into people and places you do not know, and may have never been. You need people that you don't even know to keep doing things that you don't know how to do. You need to keep doing what you do so that people you don't know can keep living.

Apart from the basic biological needs, skills and life lessons are also needed. They are hard to learn, and life is not a level playing field. Some of us can't read, are bad with money, or don't know how to be accountable. On the other hand, some of us have learned things that we can share with you. (No one was born a doctor, or with an understanding of how a checkbook works.) Other people need the things that you have learned.

Your family, friends, and even complete strangers can use what you have learned to thrive and make better lives for themselves and others. Others may need time, knowledge, or other resources to live and thrive. This need of ours to learn and grow is perpetual. You will forever be in need of knowledge, and forever providing what you know to others. The same holds true with time, love, energy, money and every other commodity upon which human life is reliant.

Truth #3: No one is "better" than you AND you are not "better" than anyone else

If all living things share life in common, and all living things have needs, then all needs are part of life. We all need. Because my need may be for discipline, and your need may be for money, or my need may be for safety, and yours for comfort does not make any one of those more important than any other. There is nothing inherent in the nature of ones needs that makes them greater or lesser. The nature of our neediness makes us all the same.

There is nothing inherent in people that make them greater or lesser. People are people, needs are needs. You grew and learned in a way that made you good at math or English, they grew in a way that made them good at social engineering, or solving problems. Everyone has a gift and everyone has a need. We are all the same - in that way - but each combination of gifts and needs is unique and special. Each unique individual has something that they can teach you, and you can teach them.

You may be smarter than someone else. That does not make you better than them. You may be stronger, or more emotionally capable, or more eloquent. These strengths are to be celebrated as a gift. They should not be used to demean or oppress others. Intellectual and emotional bullies are still bullies. Think of others like you would a child who hasn't learned much yet. Their behavior is a best guess, just like yours is in domains of your weakness. Use your strength to cultivate and grow others.

The application of these truths combined with a sense of accountability as discussed in the article on personal accountability demonstrate a service mindset. Going the "extra mile" is what this feels like to others, but when you have the service mindset and hold these truths as part of your reality, it won't feel particularly special at all. These truths compel action in ways that respect the connections between all of us, regardless of circumstance or situation.

Having the service mindset doesn't mean that you don't say no. Being exploited or abused is not part of the service mindset because it violates the third truth. No one is better than you. Saying no, while holding the service mindset and being accountable is done in a very special way. It is a "no" that people can walk away from and feel whole and understood. A customer is always right until being right hurts someone - including themselves.

Having the service mindset costs nothing! Cultivating a personal understanding of the truths above will influence your actions. It will not to change them completely, but it will influence them to be more considerate, more charitable, and more understanding. Consideration, charity, and understanding, are all free. They cost nothing, and they mean everything in times of need - and we all need sometimes.

By applying these truths in your daily you begin cultivating the service mindset. In thinking about the truths above, think about someone who nurtured you and helped you grow. Imagine life without them. Imagine what life would be like if none of these truths were true? If we were kicked out of the house as infants, if no one helped pick us up when we fell down, if no one shared the secrets and gifts of knowledge with you that you now know. The service mindset is a great part of what makes this world and society happen. Be a part of it. Serve yourself and serve others.

Company information that shows how a company is organized: This often identifies business type, and provides a list of office locations and subsidiaries, along with contact information including URLs, and the parent and corporate family name.

Snapshot of top-line data to give a sense for company size, longevity and viability: Number of employees, credit rating, annual sales and year of incorporation are data that fall into this category.

Business description showing how the company positions itself: This briefly summarizes a companys focus, history, competitive position and corporate structure.

Listings of senior staff to support marketing campaigns and meeting preparation:

The most detailed company profiles also include top executive profiles.

Financial health data: Credit ratings, recommended credit limits and annual sales data is often provided.

Market position data that shows how the company competes: Common information includes major brands and trade names, lines of business, neighboring businesses, key competitors, markets served, and SIC and NAICS codes.

Announcements and news coverage: A comprehensive company profile summarizes headlines publicizing key events and provides full text of select news coverage and press releases."