Re: [TheThinkTank] Competitive analysis?

I can see what you're saying about breaking it down. It is a very
simple, non-timeconsuming setup as is.

Non-capital: Maybe separate it into tools and parts?

K

On Feb 9, 2011, at 12:28 PM, Godwin! wrote:

Thanks Kelly! I would love to know specific spending habits like you
listed but at the same time I think there are probably collectives
out there that don't keep good enough records plus the more
questions there are, the less likely people will be to complete it.
I'll look into the possibility of giving users the option to break
down spending costs if they have that data and are comfortable
giving it.

I think I'm going to go with LimeSurvey which is a tool I will have
to host on our collective's site but will allow for some more
advanced logic like this.

Definitely my wording needs some work, I did this in a rush and late
in the evening but what I was looking for by "How much did you pay
for all non-capital repair products?" was only costs that are
regular expenditures, like lube and tubes. Otherwise there could be
some inconsistencies in spending habits if some shops are new and
needed to purchase all new workstations vs a shop that has been
around for many years and only needs a few new tools. I'll put some
thought into how to make that question clearer or break it down to
make more sense.

As for confidentiality issues I think that all I will be able to do
is give people my word that I will not be releasing data like that
that you suggested, I think I'll also see if I can separate contact
info from the rest of the survey results and just make everyone a
number in order to make it easier for me to not see stuff like that
easily but in the end, I could (but won't) decide to query
information on say all bike shops in Fargo, ND which would only give
me FMCBW's information (assuming they do the survey). People will
just have to trust me or not answer those questions.

Thanks! .g

From: kelly@bicyclekitchen.com To: thethinktank@lists.bikecollectives.org Date: Wed, 9 Feb 2011 12:04:33 -0800 CC: thethinktank@bikecollectives.org Subject: Re: [TheThinkTank] Competitive analysis?

Godwin,

What a great looking survey!

What's this: "How much did you pay for all non-capital repair
products?" (tools, parts?)

I think it's nonprofit, without the dash.

I think that the costs could be broken down even more, so that the
"other operating costs" is more distinct. For example, trash/ recycling, insurance (liability, directors, worker's comp,) rag
service, collateral merchandise, meetings, staff. It would make
easier to compare how co-ops spend money.

Personally, I don't feel proprietary about it all, but I bet there's
confidentiality fear in exposing maybe your co-op is NOT paying
insurance? ; )

totally NOT a waste of time

THANK YOU!!!!

Kelly

On Feb 7, 2011, at 11:31 PM, Godwin! wrote:

So, I have been tasked to perform a competitive analysis of similar
organizations by an economist in our group. I'm realizing now that a
genuine competitive analysis is probably not exactly what we need
but a general survey on many of our shops may be useful to all of
us. Since we are gearing up to lobby our university to support a DIY
bike shop on campus again, our goal is to see what other similar
organizations offer and what it takes to run them so that we can
bargain reasonably. This data might also be useful for a number of
other reasons to any bike collective.

I have put up a draft of a survey, please take a look. (I put this
together pretty quickly, the ordering is probably not the best)

I am by no means an economist, so some of the terminology could
probably be improved, same goes for US specific information. I would
eventually like to offer up the data in such a way that any
sensitive information could be untied from the organization
information to keep information confidential, but I'm not sure of
any other way than to simply query me after it is complete, I can
also provide a relevant breakdown afterwards. I'm not sure if people
would find giving information about income and expenditures too
confidential even in that scenario.

If it interests you, I would like to hear back about a few things: If you think I'm wasting my time If you have any suggested amendments, improvements or additions of
any questions or extraction of irrelevant or far too confidential
questions Suggestions for a host other than google forms

Thanks everyone, .godwin of the Bike Root

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