THE RURBAN FRINGE

Cooperatives a Rising Trend

Becky McCray over at Small Biz Survival drafted a recent post about using cooperatives as an alternative business model.  Once thought to be strictly the domain of agricultural producers, the cooperative model is enjoying a slow revival, with 2012 already declared the International Year of Cooperatives by the United Nations.  Basically, cooperatives are owned and operated by a group [...]

Is Lumber the New Oil?

“It all depends, analysts say, on Chinese building codes and the financial mathematics of 150 million new kitchen tables.
Optimism over the prospects for lumber has been growing steadily for some months [and a] new code … in effect, allows Chinese building needs – the titanic construction effort association with accommodating 20 million people every year moving [...]

Embracing the Longview

Last week, I had the pleasure of hearing Gordon Pitts - author, lecturer and senior writer for the Globe and Mail’s Report on Business - speak on the future of small and family-owned business … with a Western Canadian twist.
Chatting with him briefly following the presentation, he reiterated that SMEs, especially family-owned ones, need to embrace the “longview” and try to [...]