could collaboration and consortia work for you? · • inter-trading. busnes cymdeithasol cymru...

Busnes Cymdeithasol Cymru

Social Business Wales/businesswales.gov.wales/socialbusinesswales

Could Collaboration and Consortia

work for you?



Social Business Wales is funded by the

European Regional Development Fund and

Welsh Government. Delivered by the

Wales Co-operative Centre, it is part of the

Business Wales service.

/business.wales.gov.uk



Sarah Owens

Business Advisor

Social Business Wales

David Madge

Project Manager

Social Business Wales

‘Strength in Numbers’

Could Collaboration and Consortia

work for you?



What is a Consortium?• Owned and controlled by the

people or organisations that use its services

• Primarily provides a service to its own members

• Members = self-employed individuals / sole traders / independent businesses / social enterprises



ORGANISE!



Consortia – The Opportunities‘Something is worth more than the sum of its’s parts’

‘Collective action to solve individual problems’

• Shared costs

• Bulk purchasing

• Increased brand recognition

• Enhanced business efficiency &

professionalism

• Continuity and volume of

supply

• Shared skills and knowledge

• Greater presence in the market

place – access to new markets

• Ability to tender for large

contracts

• Peer support and creative

exchange

• Shared responsibilities and

risks

• Inter-trading



Development Stages

Stage 1:

Strategic

Rationale

Stage 2:

Identify

Partners

Stage 3:

Early

Stage

Planning

– Joint

Vision

Stage 4:

Developing

the

Business

Model

Stage 5:

Agree on the

Structure of

the

Consortium

Stage 6:

Legal

Framework

&

Governance

Stage 7:

Start

Delivering

Stage 8:

Review

&

Evaluate



Key Strategic Questions to be

Considered• Does this fit within your own strategy – How much does

it matter – is the future of your organisation dependent

on this?

• Could this format get potential wins for you – Why are

you doing it?

• Could this approach address possible threats – What do

you need/want to get out of it?

• How do we do this successfully and what do we need to

think about?



Strategic Drivers for Forming a

Consortium

▪ Winning competitive tendering opportunities

▪ Diversification

▪ To sustain existing income streams

▪ Reduce expenditure

▪ New opportunities/new markets/geographical

▪ Survival



Identifying Partners• Who should you work with? – No hard and fast

rules

• How do you select future partners – linked to

your own strategy?

• Geographic coverage v breadth of experience

and service offering – or both?

• Size – do you need to partner with larger

organisations to give you access to new markets?



Conditions Necessary for

Successful Consortia

• Need to identify the right partners

• Clear understanding of partner’ capabilities and strengths –complementary skills

• Trust – keeping promises

• Similar values, ethos, style and quality standards

• Non-competitive environment

• Commitment to sharing

• Excellent communication between members

• Simple processes & clearly set boundaries

• Clarity on each role in the delivery work and in putting the bid together

• Shared workloads – fairness in the sharing of work

• Keeping momentum



Early Stage Planning

• This is KEY to ensuring you have done everything possible at the earliest point to iron out key issues at this stage

• Develop a Joint Vision

• Set out the basic boundaries for Engagement – cards on the table/no go areas

• Procurement Assessment – what is expected?

• The importance of Trust at this early stage





Allied Construction

Consortium (ACC Ltd)

Consortium of three SME’s

Already reaped the rewards of this collaborative

approach with an external refurbishments

contract in New Tredegar worth £1.2m being

delivered by the consortium.

Combined complimentary skills and resources in

order compete with much larger construction

companies

Stronger together through consortia

working





“Forward thinking by Caerphilly Borough Council and Social

Business Wales and a desire to embrace the Welsh Government’s

joint bidding guide, has created a valuable opportunity for three

local SMEs to grow their businesses as individual companies.”

Steve Jones, Allied Construction Consortium Ltd



SBW Consortia Support

Strategic

development and

visioning support

Advice on suitable

business models,

organisational and

legal structures

Advice and support

with governance

issues

Business and

financial planning

support

HR & Environmental

management

systems

Training &

mentoring

Dafydd Guto Carrod

Ymgynghorydd Tendro / Tendering Advisor

01267 233 749 [email protected]

M A N Y L I O N C Y S W L L T

A C C E S S P O I N T S



Get in touch…

By Phone: 0300 111 5050

Websites : https://wales.coop/

https://businesswales.gov.wales/socialbusinesswales

Email:[email protected]

https://wales.coop/

mailto:[email protected]

could collaboration and consortia work for you? · • inter-trading. busnes cymdeithasol cymru...

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