What is a responsible business? To say that there are as many definitions of responsible business as there are businesses would be a bit of an exaggeration. But only a bit. Social responsibility, community investment, ethical trading, fair trade … the list goes on.

As businesses with a strong ethical heritage, co-operatives have tended to shy away from engagement with initiatives like Responsible Business Week. But it helps to have a prompt, sometimes, to remind ourselves why co-ops are leaders in responsible business.

To me, there are two sides to this. On the one hand, the fundamental and most distinctive feature of a co-operative is that it is owned and controlled by the people who are closest to the business. Sometimes it is the customers who use it.

Co-operatives: the ultimate responsible business?