As a result of the Ag-Bio Cluster Leadership Council (ABCLC) meeting on October 14th, a series of three articles about business models and business cases were posted to the ABCLC group on the Local Food Systems (LFS) site: Start with a Business Model to Build a Business Case, Business Case Framework, and Building Business Cases.  The methodology described in these posts has been given a "test drive" by several members of the ABCLC as it relates to their business ideas or the ideas of those throughout their Northeast Ohio networks.  This experience has better prepared them for next month's roll-out of "business case" meetings in Northeast Ohio.  In these sessions, ABCLC members will encourage participants who have ideas for businesses in the agriculture and bioscience arena to use the template and tools to develop business cases and submit them to the ABCLC for consideration.

The ABCLC understands that business cases have different requirements depending on where they fall on the global to local continuum.  With a play in the global market, investment is large; it takes time to execute; the intellectual property that is often the foundation for the business case needs legal protection; and the risk of something going awry is high.  Examples include industrial scale alternative energy facilities, a PATS food processing operation, or a commercial plant genetic research and development lab.

However, by targeting local / neighborhood markets the business case profile is quite different: investments are small, widespread, and often made with non-monetary resources like volunteerism; time horizons are short and foster a Ready, Fire, Aim approach; open source product development is advantageous; and risks are low because participants in the value chain have a vested interest in seeing the business succeed.  Examples include community gardens supplying mobile food carts, neighborhood-sized anaerobic digesters, and waste reclassification, repurposing, and reuse.

Given the wide variation in business circumstances and conditions along the global-local continuum, the ABCLC offers two avenues for advancing prospective business cases:

1. Email to the ABCLC chair, Stu Cordell or the vice-chair, Rod Crider.  This alternative is for those business cases dependent on guarding unique market niches against competitive intrusion thereby warranting confidentiality.  Stu and Rod will assure non-disclosure agreements are signed by ABCLC members before review.
2. Post to the Advance NorthEast Ohio Partners (ANEOP) group on the LFS site.  This alternative is for those business cases that are undeterred by competitive threat and benefit by the input from and collaboration with others who are pursuing similar paths elsewhere.  ABCLC members, LFS participants, and contributors from global networks with similar interests are available to help advance these business cases.

You are encouraged to experiment with the business case template and post your business case on ANEOP or email to Stu and Rod.  Submissions are accepted through March 2010 and there is no limit to the number of business cases you may submit.  In fact, the more the merrier!  If you have any questions about the process or suggestions for improvements, please comment on this posting or by email to Stu, Rod, Casey Hoy, Leah Miller, or Steve Bosserman.

As further impetus, the next ABCLC meeting is Monday, November 30th.  If you could submit cases by then, that would give the ABCLC members great information to process during their session and help them finalize their plans for the launch of "business case" meetings in December. 

Thanks in advance for your consideration.  Looking forward to your participation!