Social Media Adoption by the Australian Co-op sector

Co-operative Research Group

The University of Sydney Business School & Macquarie University

Presentation Outline:

› Research context: the Australian Co-op sector: Current challenges

› Foundations: Organisational adoption of social media

› Research aims and objectives

› Research method

› Pilot project: Qualitative analysis of selected Co-op organisations

› Preliminary Research findings

› Using Social media to address the current challenges of the Australian Co-op sector

› New challenges created by social media

› Future research

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Research context: The current state of play of the Australian Co-op sector

- 1,600 co-operatives

- 103 financial mutuals ($83 Billion combined total assets)

- 13.5 million members (estimated, overlapping memberships)

- $17 billion for top turnover 100 in 2011

- Sizeable examples of co-ops/mutuals

- Credit Union Australia (Credit Union, $9 Billion assets)

- Co-operative Bulk Handling Ltd. (Grain, $2.9 Billion revenue)

- Murray Goulburn Co-operative (Dairy, $2.3 Billion revenue)

- Capricorn Society Ltd. (Purchasing Co-op, $1 Billion revenue)

The co-operative sector (Australia)

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Research context: The current challenges of the Australian Co-op sector

- Decline of Rochdale Co-operative Movement

- Demutualisation of Producers Co-operatives

- Problems with establishing a national umbrella organisation

- Broad shift away from collective solutions since the 1990s

- Emphasis on individualism

- Focus of business education on non-co-op sector

- Low public profile despite IYC 2012 (Australian Institute survey)

- 79% of Australians members of co-op

- 30% can name co-op/mutually owned enterprise

- Only 16% believe they are members of one

- Highlights ‘an opportunity or need for the sector to build a stronger public awareness of its prominence and importance’ (Australian Institute Survey, 12)

Challenges

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From Web 1.0 to Web 2.0

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› Web 1.0 – static web pages, hyperlinks, customer feedback

› Web 2.0 – new forms of engagement with customers and within organisations

Categories of social networking applications Turban et al., 2011

Foundations: Social-media platforms

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- Facebook- Twitter- LinkedIn- Blogs- Wikis- Online forums- Google +

Enterprise social networks- Yammer

Number of Facebook users grew 2010-12 from 431 to 901 million jeffbullas.com

More than 1 million websites have integrated with Facebook in various ways The Huffington Post

Current research landscape

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Commercial companies

Governmentagencies

NFPs Co-oporganisations

Current research on Social media applications

Social media in the commercial sector

› Areas: business, marketing, brand promotion, communication, monitoring user collaboration and knowledge sharing.

›

› Applications:

- Creation of communities (Goodwin-Hones, 2003),

- creation of virtual customer environments (Culnan et al, 2010),

- spreading customer news, getting customer reviews, monitoring customer opinions (Gallaugher and Ransbotham, 2010)

- Marketing, brand promotion, HR services (Case and King, 2011)

- Knowledge Management (Grace 2009, Kang et al. 2010)

A survey of Fortune 500 companies (Case and King, 2011)

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Social Media Application in the Australian NFP organisations

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Web 1.0

Web 2.0

Based on the 2012 analysis of 595 Australian non profit organizations from a range of industries.

Social Media Application in the Australian NFP organisations

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The 2012 analysis of 595 Australian non profit organizations from a range of industries shows:

Foundations: Organisational adoption of Social-media

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Source: Gallaugher and Ransbotham, 2010

Foundations: Organisational adoption of Social-media

› The Megaphone: Firm-Initiated Social Media Dialog used for:

- Promotions, competitions, campaign management, distribution of time-sensitive information, brand positioning, recruitment of new customers & employees

› The Magnet: Customer-initiated Social Media Dialog used to:

- Capture customer feedback, enhance market research, augment customer service and foster innovation, display/share the interaction of a first with other customers.

› The Monitor: Customer-to-customer Social Media Dialog

- Social media provide opportunities for customers to interact with each other (independently). The Monitor activities enable the company to monitor, participate and even shift some customer-to-customer dialog.

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An illustrative example: Starbucks

13Source: Gallaugher and Ransbotham, 2010

The “Megaphone” examples at Starbucks

14Source: Gallaugher and Ransbotham, 2010

The “Magnet” examples at Starbucks

15Source: Gallaugher and Ransbotham, 2010

The “Monitor” examples at Starbucks

16Source: Gallaugher and Ransbotham, 2010

Social media in the Australian Co-op sector: Research questions

› What is the current level of use of social media in the Australian Co-op sector?

› What are the factors that impede the uptake of social media within this sector?

› What are the future opportunities for social media adoption?

› What can we, applied researchers, do to enable propagation of good practices across the Australian and international Co-op sectors, in a systematic, research-informed manner?

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Research method

› A pilot project (Australian Co-op survey) with a social media component (currently in progress)

› Selection of a sample of Co-op organisations from Australia with social-media presence

› Qualitative analysis of:

- Identification and analysis of current social media application from the customer (outside) perspective

- Analysis of social media applications using the Megaphone/Magnet/Monitor model to establish the current level of social media maturity among the selected Co-ops

Next steps:

- A more comprehensive qualitative analysis of the Australian Co-ops

- Research case-studies of the selected Australian co-ops/

- Presentation of results at the Co-op Research Group Symposium in November 2013.

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Social Media Use – Outline

Agri-A Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No No No No NoRetail-A Yes Yes No Yes No No No Yes Yes No Yes NoRetail-B Yes No No No No No No No No No No No

Health Insurance

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Approx 340 social

media sites

Motoring & Insurance

Yes Yes No Yes No Yes No No Yes Yes Yes No

Banking & Insure - A

No Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

Approx 340 social

media sites

Banking & Insure - B

Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes Yes No

approx 340 social

media sites

Agri-BRetail-CRetail-DFinanceHousing

No Social Media Use

Qualitative Analysis of the Australian Co-ops

Co-operative Megaphone Magnet Monitor

Agri-A Yes Yes

Retail-A Yes Yes

Retail-B Yes No

Health Insurance

Yes Yes

Motoring & Insurance

Yes Yes

Banking & Insure - A

Yes Yes

Banking & Insure - B

Yes Yes

Agri-B No No

Retail-C No No

Retail-D No No

Finance No No

Housing No No

Social Media Use – Modes of Engagement

Qualitative Analysis of the Australian Co-ops

Using Social media to address the current challenges of the Australian Co-op sector

Communicating the ‘Co-op Difference’ to members and potential members.

Building and maintaining a regional, state and/or national co-op network.

Enhancing member voice.

Building a sense of community.

Online purchasing.

Promotion of sales, events etc.

Role of social media:

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New challenges created by Social Media

› Privacy and security concerns

› Data ownership

› Management of different channels

› Better integration between an organisation’s front-end (Social media) and back-end (operations)

› Resources (including HR)

› Strategy-driven applications

› Continuous learning and innovation

› The need to become more agile in customer interactions

› Current research and practice focus on Social media in the Corporate/Government and NFP sectors – the Co-op sector is yet to be considered.

Some things we need to be aware of:

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THANK YOU!