Mondragón Cooperative Corporation
Encyclopedia
The MONDRAGON Corporation is a corporation
and federation
of worker cooperative
s based in the Basque region of Spain
. Founded in the town of Mondragón
in 1956, its origin is linked to the activity of a modest technical college and a small workshop producing paraffin heaters
. Currently it is the seventh largest Spanish company in terms of asset turnover and the leading business group in the Basque Country
. At the end of 2010 it was providing employment for 83,859 people working in 256 companies in four areas of activity: Finance, Industry, Retail and Knowledge.
The MONDRAGON Co-operatives operate in accordance with a business model based on People and the Sovereignty of Labour, which has made it possible to develop highly participative companies rooted in solidarity, with a strong social dimension but without neglecting business excellence. The Co-operatives are owned by their worker-members and power is based on the principle of one person, one vote.
in Mondragón, a town with a population of 7,000 that was suffering the painful consequences of the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War
: poverty, hunger, exile and tension. He decided to do all he could to promote coexistence and come up with formulas to create employment based on solidarity. In 1943 he set up a Technical College that was open to anyone, and which would become, with the passing of time, a seedbed for managers, engineers and skilled labour for local companies and, above all, for the co-operatives.
Before setting up the first co-operative, Arizmendiarrieta spent a number of years educating young people about a form of humanism
based on solidarity and participation, in harmony with Catholic Social Teaching
, and the importance of acquiring the necessary technical knowledge. In 1955, he selected five of these young people who were working at the Unión Cerrajera company (Usatorre, Larrañaga, Gorroñogoitia, Ormaechea and Ortubay) to set up Talleres Ulgor (an acrostic from their surnames), known today as Fagor Electrodomésticos, the pioneering company of the Experience and industrial embryo of the Corporation.
}}
The first fifteen years were characterised by an enormous dynamism. It was a time when, taking advantage of the autarky
of the market and the awakening of the Spanish economy
, many co-operatives were set up. During those years, also with the encouragement of Don José María, two bodies were set up that were to play a key role in the development of MONDRAGON -Caja Laboral
(1959) and the Social Welfare Body Lagun Aro (1966)- and the first local group was created, Ularco, the embryo of the industrial co-operative associativism which has been so important in the Corporation’s history. In 1969 Eroski
was set up, as a result of the merger of ten small local consumer co-operatives.
Over the period from 1970 to 1990 the dynamism of previous years continued, with a strong increase in turnover, the launch of new Co-operatives promoted by Caja Laboral’s Business Division, the promotion of co-operative associativism with the forming of local groups, and the setting up of the Ikerlan Research Centre
in 1974.
With big changes on the horizon like Spain joining the European Economic Community
, scheduled for 1986, it was decided to take an important step in the organisational area, by setting up the Mondragon Co-operative Group in 1984, the forerunner to the current Corporation. In-service training for managers was also strengthened with the creation of Otalora, which was to dedicate itself to training and co-operative dissemination. The Group had 23,130 workers at the end of 1990.
On the international stage, the aim was to respond to the growing globalisation process, strongly promoting expansion abroad by setting up production plants in a number of countries. The first, the Copreci plant in Mexico in 1990 was followed by many others taking the total to 73 by the end of 2008. This was part of a strategy aimed at: increasing competitiveness and market share, bringing component supply closer to important customers’ plants, especially in the automotive
and domestic appliance
sectors; and strengthening employment in the Basque Country, by promoting the export of products manufactured by the Co-operatives by means of the new platforms.
In October 2009, the United Steelworkers
announced an agreement with Mondragon to create worker cooperative
s in the United States.
Over the years these links have been embodied in a series of operating rules approved on a majority basis by the Co-operative Congresses, which regulate the activity of the Governing Bodies of the Corporation (Standing Committee, General Council), the Grassroots Co-operatives and the Divisions they belong to, from the organisational, institutional and economic points of view as well as in terms of assets.
This entire framework of business culture has been structured on the basis of a common culture derived from the 10 Basic Co-operative Principles, in which MONDRAGON is deeply rooted: Open Admission, Democratic Organisation, the Sovereignty of Labour, Instrumental and Subordinate Nature of Capital, Participatory Management, Payment Solidarity, Inter-cooperation, Social Transformation, Universality and Education.
This inspirational philosophy is complemented by the establishment of four Corporate Values: Co-operation, acting as owners and protagonists; Participation, which takes shape as a commitment to management; Social Responsibility, by means of the distribution of wealth based on solidarity; and Innovation, focusing on constant renewal in all areas.
This business culture translates into compliance with a number of Basic Objectives (Customer Focus, Development, Innovation, Profitability, People in Co-operation and Involvement in the Community) and General Policies approved by the Co-operative Congress, which are taken on board at all the Corporation’s organisational levels and incorporated into the four-year strategic plans and the annual business plans of the individual co-operatives, the Divisions, and the Corporation as a whole.
Although the ratio for each cooperative varies, it is worker-owners within that cooperative who decide through a democratic vote what these ratios should be. Thus, if a general manager of a cooperative has a ratio of 9:1, it is because its worker-owners decided it was a fair ratio to maintain.
In general, wages at Mondragon, as compared to similar jobs in local industries, are 30% or less at the management levels and equivalent at the middle management, technical and professional levels. As a result, Mondragon worker-owners at the lower wage levels earn an average of 13% higher wages than workers in similar businesses. In addition, the ratios are further diminished because Spain uses a progressive tax
rate, so those with higher wages pay higher taxes.
roughly 20 billion USD, and employed 100,000 workers, making it Spain's fourth largest industrial and seventh largest financial group.
, the insurance company Seguros Lagun Aro, and the Voluntary Social Welfare Body Lagun Aro, which had an asset fund totaling 4.2 billion euros at the end of 2009. The yield obtained from this fund is used to cover long-term retirement, widowhood, and invalidity benefits, complementary to those offered by the Spanish social security
system.
Caja Laboral, for its part, ended 2009 with 18.6 million euros of deposits in a year in which it granted loans worth 16.4 billion, mainly to household economies and small and medium-sized enterprises. Its extensive experience with the Corporation’s Co-operatives enables it to offer SMEs services typical of large companies.
In the consumer goods sector, with sales totaling 1.5 billion euros, MONDRAGON produces white goods: refrigerators, washing machines, ovens, dishwashers, and boilers, under the brands Fagor
, Brandt, and Mastercook, and maintains a leadership position in Spain and France and co-leadership in Poland and Morocco. It also produces office furniture and home furniture. In the leisure and sports area, it manufactures Orbea bicycles, exercise equipment and items for camping, the garden and the beach.
In capital goods, MONDRAGON posted a turnover of 976 million euros in 2009, and is the leading Spanish manufacturer of chip removing (Danobat Group) and sheet metal forming (Fagor Arrasate Group) machine tools. These machines are complemented by automation and control products for machine tools, packaging machinery, machinery for automating assembly processes and processing wood, forklift trucks, electric transformers, integrated equipment for the catering industry, cold stores, and refrigeration equipment. Specifically focusing on the automotive sector, the Corporation also manufactures a wide variety of dies, molds
and tooling for casting iron and aluminium, and occupies a leading position in machinery for the casting sector.
In Industrial Components, MONDRAGON posted a turnover of 1.5 billion euros in 2009, a sector in which it operates as an integrated supplier for the leading car manufacturers, offering from the design and development of a part to the industrialisation and supply of components and assemblies. It has different business units such as brakes, axles, suspension, transmission, engines, aluminium wheel rims, fluid conduction, and other internal and external vehicle components. It also produces components for the main domestic appliance manufacturers in three business areas: white goods, home comfort, and electronics. And it manufactures flange
s and pipe accessories for processing oil-gas, petrochemical plants and power generation, copper and aluminium electrical conductors, and components for conveyors.
In construction, sales totalled 974 million euros in 2009. This is a sector in which MONDRAGON has constructed emblematic buildings and important infrastructure projects. It designs and builds large metallic (URSSA), laminated wood and prefabricated concrete structures; supplies prefabricated parts in polymer concrete
; offers solutions for formwork and structures (ULMA Group) as well as public works machinery and the industrialisation of the construction process, including engineering and assembly services. It also produces elevator
s (ORONA Group).
In services to business, sales totalled 248 million euros in 2008, including business consultancy services, architecture
and engineering
, property consulting, design and innovation (LKS Group), systems engineering
for electromechanical installations, and integrated logistics engineering. It also offers a modern language service, manufactures educational equipment, and provides graphic arts services (MccGraphics).
In 2009 59.4% of total turnover came from international sales. Sales resulting from the export of products abroad and production generated in the 75 subsidiaries located in 17 different countries: China (13), France (9), Poland (8), Czech Republic (7), Mexico (7), Brazil (5), Germany (4), Italy (4), United Kingdom (3), Romania
(3), United States (2), Turkey (2), Portugal (2), Slovakia (2), India (2), Thailand (1) and Morocco (1). Overall, in 2009 these 75 plants produced goods worth 3.1 billion euros and provided work for 14,506 people. The corporate industrial park in Kunshan
, close to Shanghai
currently houses seven subsidiaries.
, Mondragon runs one of the leading retail groups in Spain, posting a turnover of 8.3 billion euros in 2010. It operates all over Spain and in the south of France, and maintains close contacts with the French group Les Mousquetaires
and the leading German retailer Edeka
, with whom it set up the Alidis international partnership in 2002. The worker-owners and consumer-members are involved in the management of Eroski, with both groups participating in the Co-operative’s decision-making bodies.
At the end of 2009, Eroski was operating an extensive chain of almost 2,400 stores made up of 113 EROSKI hypermarkets, 1,063 EROSKI/center, Caprabo
and EROSKI/city supermarkets, 224 branches of the EROSKI/viajes travel agency, 58 petrol stations, 40 Forum Sport stores, 289 IF perfume stores, 7 Abac leisure and culture outlets and 40 goods depots. In addition to this chain, there are 481 self-service franchise outlets. Moreover, in the south of France it has 4 hypermarkets, 16 supermarkets and 17 petrol stations, and it has 4 perfume stores in Andorra.
At an Assembly held In 2008, its worker-members approved by a majority vote the process to expand the transformation into co-operatively run businesses to the Group as a whole. So work started on turning the Group’s subsidiaries into co-operatives, as well as on making their salaried workers worker-members. This process will be carried out gradually over the next few years.
The retail area is also home to the food group Erkop, which operates in the catering, cleaning, stock-breeding, and horticulture sectors and has as its leading name Auzo Lagun, a co-operative engaged in group catering and the cleaning of buildings and premises, and also offers an integrated service in the health sector.
The University of Mondragon is a university of a co-operative nature, which combines the development of knowledge, skills, and values, and maintains close relations with business, especially the Co-operatives. Technological innovation is generated by through the Co-operatives’ own R&D departments, the Corporate Science and Technology Plan, the work of the Corporation’s 12 technology centres and the Garaia Innovation Park.
For their part, the 12 technology centres, with a workforce totalling 742 people and an overall budget of 53.7 million euros in 2009, continue to play a fundamental role in the development of the sectors in which they focus their activity.
Corporation
A corporation is created under the laws of a state as a separate legal entity that has privileges and liabilities that are distinct from those of its members. There are many different forms of corporations, most of which are used to conduct business. Early corporations were established by charter...
and federation
Cooperative federation
A co-operative federation or secondary co-operative is a co-operative in which all members are, in turn, co-operatives.Historically, co-operative federations have predominantly come in the form of co-operative wholesale societies and co-operative unions...
of worker cooperative
Worker cooperative
A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and democratically managed by its worker-owners. This control may be exercised in a number of ways. A cooperative enterprise may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which...
s based in the Basque region of Spain
Spain
Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...
. Founded in the town of Mondragón
Mondragón
Arrasate or Mondragón - is a town and municipality in Gipuzkoa province, Basque Country, Spain...
in 1956, its origin is linked to the activity of a modest technical college and a small workshop producing paraffin heaters
Kerosene heater
A kerosene heater, also known as a paraffin heater, is a portable, unvented, kerosene-fueled, space-heating device. In the United States they are used mainly for supplemental heat or as a source of emergency heat during a power outage. In some countries, particularly in Japan, they are used as...
. Currently it is the seventh largest Spanish company in terms of asset turnover and the leading business group in the Basque Country
Basque Country (autonomous community)
The Basque Country is an autonomous community of northern Spain. It includes the Basque provinces of Álava, Biscay and Gipuzkoa, also called Historical Territories....
. At the end of 2010 it was providing employment for 83,859 people working in 256 companies in four areas of activity: Finance, Industry, Retail and Knowledge.
The MONDRAGON Co-operatives operate in accordance with a business model based on People and the Sovereignty of Labour, which has made it possible to develop highly participative companies rooted in solidarity, with a strong social dimension but without neglecting business excellence. The Co-operatives are owned by their worker-members and power is based on the principle of one person, one vote.
History
The determining factor in the creation of the Co-operatives that today make up the MONDRAGON Corporation, was the arrival in 1941 of a young Catholic priest José Mª ArizmendiarrietaJosé María Arizmendiarrieta
Father José María Arizmendiarrieta Madariaga was a Catholic priest and founder of the Mondragón cooperative movement in the Basque Country....
in Mondragón, a town with a population of 7,000 that was suffering the painful consequences of the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War
Spanish Civil War
The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...
: poverty, hunger, exile and tension. He decided to do all he could to promote coexistence and come up with formulas to create employment based on solidarity. In 1943 he set up a Technical College that was open to anyone, and which would become, with the passing of time, a seedbed for managers, engineers and skilled labour for local companies and, above all, for the co-operatives.
Before setting up the first co-operative, Arizmendiarrieta spent a number of years educating young people about a form of humanism
Humanism
Humanism is an approach in study, philosophy, world view or practice that focuses on human values and concerns. In philosophy and social science, humanism is a perspective which affirms some notion of human nature, and is contrasted with anti-humanism....
based on solidarity and participation, in harmony with Catholic Social Teaching
Catholic social teaching
Catholic social teaching is a body of doctrine developed by the Catholic Church on matters of poverty and wealth, economics, social organization and the role of the state...
, and the importance of acquiring the necessary technical knowledge. In 1955, he selected five of these young people who were working at the Unión Cerrajera company (Usatorre, Larrañaga, Gorroñogoitia, Ormaechea and Ortubay) to set up Talleres Ulgor (an acrostic from their surnames), known today as Fagor Electrodomésticos, the pioneering company of the Experience and industrial embryo of the Corporation.
}}
The first fifteen years were characterised by an enormous dynamism. It was a time when, taking advantage of the autarky
Autarky
Autarky is the quality of being self-sufficient. Usually the term is applied to political states or their economic policies. Autarky exists whenever an entity can survive or continue its activities without external assistance. Autarky is not necessarily economic. For example, a military autarky...
of the market and the awakening of the Spanish economy
Economy of Spain
The economy of Spain is the twelfth-largest economy in the world, based on nominal GDP comparisons, and the fifth-largest in Europe. It is regarded as the world's 20th most developed country....
, many co-operatives were set up. During those years, also with the encouragement of Don José María, two bodies were set up that were to play a key role in the development of MONDRAGON -Caja Laboral
Caja Laboral
Caja Laboral Popular Sociedad Cooperativa de Credito or Caja Laboral is a Spanish credit union established in 1959 as part of the Mondragon Corporation and headquartered in Mondragón, in the Basque Country of Spain...
(1959) and the Social Welfare Body Lagun Aro (1966)- and the first local group was created, Ularco, the embryo of the industrial co-operative associativism which has been so important in the Corporation’s history. In 1969 Eroski
Eroski
Eroski is a Spanish supermarket chain with nearly 1,000 outlets spread across Spain .It is run as a worker-consumer hybrid co-operative within the Mondragón Corporation group....
was set up, as a result of the merger of ten small local consumer co-operatives.
Over the period from 1970 to 1990 the dynamism of previous years continued, with a strong increase in turnover, the launch of new Co-operatives promoted by Caja Laboral’s Business Division, the promotion of co-operative associativism with the forming of local groups, and the setting up of the Ikerlan Research Centre
Ikerlan
IKERLAN is an applied research centre that belongs to the Basque network of research centres. It also belongs to the IK4 group.The centre was founded in 1974 by a group of lecturers from Mondragon University to provide R&D services to the Mondragon Corporation.The main activities of the centre are...
in 1974.
With big changes on the horizon like Spain joining the European Economic Community
European Economic Community
The European Economic Community The European Economic Community (EEC) The European Economic Community (EEC) (also known as the Common Market in the English-speaking world, renamed the European Community (EC) in 1993The information in this article primarily covers the EEC's time as an independent...
, scheduled for 1986, it was decided to take an important step in the organisational area, by setting up the Mondragon Co-operative Group in 1984, the forerunner to the current Corporation. In-service training for managers was also strengthened with the creation of Otalora, which was to dedicate itself to training and co-operative dissemination. The Group had 23,130 workers at the end of 1990.
On the international stage, the aim was to respond to the growing globalisation process, strongly promoting expansion abroad by setting up production plants in a number of countries. The first, the Copreci plant in Mexico in 1990 was followed by many others taking the total to 73 by the end of 2008. This was part of a strategy aimed at: increasing competitiveness and market share, bringing component supply closer to important customers’ plants, especially in the automotive
Automotive industry
The automotive industry designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and sells motor vehicles, and is one of the world's most important economic sectors by revenue....
and domestic appliance
Major appliance
A major appliance, or domestic appliance, is usually defined as a large machine which accomplishes some routine housekeeping task, which includes purposes such as cooking, or food preservation, whether in a household, institutional, commercial or industrial setting...
sectors; and strengthening employment in the Basque Country, by promoting the export of products manufactured by the Co-operatives by means of the new platforms.
In October 2009, the United Steelworkers
United Steelworkers
The United Steel, Paper and Forestry, Rubber, Manufacturing, Energy, Allied Industrial and Service Workers International Union is the largest industrial labor union in North America, with 705,000 members. Headquartered in Pittsburgh, U.S., the United Steelworkers represents workers in the United...
announced an agreement with Mondragon to create worker cooperative
Worker cooperative
A worker cooperative is a cooperative owned and democratically managed by its worker-owners. This control may be exercised in a number of ways. A cooperative enterprise may mean a firm where every worker-owner participates in decision making in a democratic fashion, or it may refer to one in which...
s in the United States.
Business Culture
The ties that link the MONDRAGON Co-operatives are strong, as these bonds emanate from a humanist concept of business, interrelated by a philosophy of participation and solidarity and a shared business culture rooted in a number of Basic Principles, a shared Mission and the acceptance of a set of Corporate Values and General Policies of a business nature.Over the years these links have been embodied in a series of operating rules approved on a majority basis by the Co-operative Congresses, which regulate the activity of the Governing Bodies of the Corporation (Standing Committee, General Council), the Grassroots Co-operatives and the Divisions they belong to, from the organisational, institutional and economic points of view as well as in terms of assets.
This entire framework of business culture has been structured on the basis of a common culture derived from the 10 Basic Co-operative Principles, in which MONDRAGON is deeply rooted: Open Admission, Democratic Organisation, the Sovereignty of Labour, Instrumental and Subordinate Nature of Capital, Participatory Management, Payment Solidarity, Inter-cooperation, Social Transformation, Universality and Education.
This inspirational philosophy is complemented by the establishment of four Corporate Values: Co-operation, acting as owners and protagonists; Participation, which takes shape as a commitment to management; Social Responsibility, by means of the distribution of wealth based on solidarity; and Innovation, focusing on constant renewal in all areas.
This business culture translates into compliance with a number of Basic Objectives (Customer Focus, Development, Innovation, Profitability, People in Co-operation and Involvement in the Community) and General Policies approved by the Co-operative Congress, which are taken on board at all the Corporation’s organisational levels and incorporated into the four-year strategic plans and the annual business plans of the individual co-operatives, the Divisions, and the Corporation as a whole.
Wage Regulation
At Mondragon, there are agreed-upon wage ratios between the worker-owners who do executive work and those who work in the field or factory and earn a minimum wage. These ratios range from 3:1 to 9:1 in different cooperatives and average 5:1. That is, the general manager of an average Mondragon cooperative earns 5 times as much as the theoretical minimum wage paid in his/her cooperative. This ratio is in reality smaller because there are few Mondragon worker-owners that earn minimum wages, their jobs being somewhat specialized and classified at higher wage levels.Although the ratio for each cooperative varies, it is worker-owners within that cooperative who decide through a democratic vote what these ratios should be. Thus, if a general manager of a cooperative has a ratio of 9:1, it is because its worker-owners decided it was a fair ratio to maintain.
In general, wages at Mondragon, as compared to similar jobs in local industries, are 30% or less at the management levels and equivalent at the middle management, technical and professional levels. As a result, Mondragon worker-owners at the lower wage levels earn an average of 13% higher wages than workers in similar businesses. In addition, the ratios are further diminished because Spain uses a progressive tax
Progressive tax
A progressive tax is a tax by which the tax rate increases as the taxable base amount increases. "Progressive" describes a distribution effect on income or expenditure, referring to the way the rate progresses from low to high, where the average tax rate is less than the marginal tax rate...
rate, so those with higher wages pay higher taxes.
Areas of Activity
The Corporation’s companies operate in four different areas: Finance, Industry, Retail, and Knowledge, with the latter something that characteristically makes Mondragon stand out as a business group. In terms of figures, in 2010 the Corporation posted a Total Turnover (total revenues) of 14,8 billion euros,roughly 20 billion USD, and employed 100,000 workers, making it Spain's fourth largest industrial and seventh largest financial group.
Finance
This area includes the banking business of Caja LaboralCaja Laboral
Caja Laboral Popular Sociedad Cooperativa de Credito or Caja Laboral is a Spanish credit union established in 1959 as part of the Mondragon Corporation and headquartered in Mondragón, in the Basque Country of Spain...
, the insurance company Seguros Lagun Aro, and the Voluntary Social Welfare Body Lagun Aro, which had an asset fund totaling 4.2 billion euros at the end of 2009. The yield obtained from this fund is used to cover long-term retirement, widowhood, and invalidity benefits, complementary to those offered by the Spanish social security
Social security
Social security is primarily a social insurance program providing social protection or protection against socially recognized conditions, including poverty, old age, disability, unemployment and others. Social security may refer to:...
system.
Caja Laboral, for its part, ended 2009 with 18.6 million euros of deposits in a year in which it granted loans worth 16.4 billion, mainly to household economies and small and medium-sized enterprises. Its extensive experience with the Corporation’s Co-operatives enables it to offer SMEs services typical of large companies.
Industry
The Corporation’s companies manufacture consumer goods, capital goods, industrial components, products and systems for construction, and services to business.In the consumer goods sector, with sales totaling 1.5 billion euros, MONDRAGON produces white goods: refrigerators, washing machines, ovens, dishwashers, and boilers, under the brands Fagor
Fagor
Fagor is a large domestic and commercial appliance manufacturer based in the Basque Country, Spain. It is run by the Mondragon Corporation and is one of the fastest growing businesses in European Union...
, Brandt, and Mastercook, and maintains a leadership position in Spain and France and co-leadership in Poland and Morocco. It also produces office furniture and home furniture. In the leisure and sports area, it manufactures Orbea bicycles, exercise equipment and items for camping, the garden and the beach.
In capital goods, MONDRAGON posted a turnover of 976 million euros in 2009, and is the leading Spanish manufacturer of chip removing (Danobat Group) and sheet metal forming (Fagor Arrasate Group) machine tools. These machines are complemented by automation and control products for machine tools, packaging machinery, machinery for automating assembly processes and processing wood, forklift trucks, electric transformers, integrated equipment for the catering industry, cold stores, and refrigeration equipment. Specifically focusing on the automotive sector, the Corporation also manufactures a wide variety of dies, molds
Molding (process)
Molding or moulding is the process of manufacturing by shaping pliable raw material using a rigid frame or model called a pattern....
and tooling for casting iron and aluminium, and occupies a leading position in machinery for the casting sector.
In Industrial Components, MONDRAGON posted a turnover of 1.5 billion euros in 2009, a sector in which it operates as an integrated supplier for the leading car manufacturers, offering from the design and development of a part to the industrialisation and supply of components and assemblies. It has different business units such as brakes, axles, suspension, transmission, engines, aluminium wheel rims, fluid conduction, and other internal and external vehicle components. It also produces components for the main domestic appliance manufacturers in three business areas: white goods, home comfort, and electronics. And it manufactures flange
Flange
A flange is an external or internal ridge, or rim , for strength, as the flange of an iron beam such as an I-beam or a T-beam; or for attachment to another object, as the flange on the end of a pipe, steam cylinder, etc., or on the lens mount of a camera; or for a flange of a rail car or tram wheel...
s and pipe accessories for processing oil-gas, petrochemical plants and power generation, copper and aluminium electrical conductors, and components for conveyors.
In construction, sales totalled 974 million euros in 2009. This is a sector in which MONDRAGON has constructed emblematic buildings and important infrastructure projects. It designs and builds large metallic (URSSA), laminated wood and prefabricated concrete structures; supplies prefabricated parts in polymer concrete
Polymer concrete
Polymer concrete is part of group of concretes that use polymers to supplement or replace cement as a binder. The types include polymer-impregnated concrete, polymer concrete, and polymer-Portland-cement concrete...
; offers solutions for formwork and structures (ULMA Group) as well as public works machinery and the industrialisation of the construction process, including engineering and assembly services. It also produces elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
s (ORONA Group).
In services to business, sales totalled 248 million euros in 2008, including business consultancy services, architecture
Architecture
Architecture is both the process and product of planning, designing and construction. Architectural works, in the material form of buildings, are often perceived as cultural and political symbols and as works of art...
and engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
, property consulting, design and innovation (LKS Group), systems engineering
Systems engineering
Systems engineering is an interdisciplinary field of engineering that focuses on how complex engineering projects should be designed and managed over the life cycle of the project. Issues such as logistics, the coordination of different teams, and automatic control of machinery become more...
for electromechanical installations, and integrated logistics engineering. It also offers a modern language service, manufactures educational equipment, and provides graphic arts services (MccGraphics).
In 2009 59.4% of total turnover came from international sales. Sales resulting from the export of products abroad and production generated in the 75 subsidiaries located in 17 different countries: China (13), France (9), Poland (8), Czech Republic (7), Mexico (7), Brazil (5), Germany (4), Italy (4), United Kingdom (3), Romania
Romania
Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeastern Europe, on the Lower Danube, within and outside the Carpathian arch, bordering on the Black Sea...
(3), United States (2), Turkey (2), Portugal (2), Slovakia (2), India (2), Thailand (1) and Morocco (1). Overall, in 2009 these 75 plants produced goods worth 3.1 billion euros and provided work for 14,506 people. The corporate industrial park in Kunshan
Kunshan
Kunshan is a satellite city in the greater Suzhou region. Administratively, it is a county-level city within the prefecture-level city of Suzhou. It is located in southeastearn part of Jiangsu Province, China, adjacent to Jiangsu's border with the Shanghai Municipality.The total area of Kunshan...
, close to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
currently houses seven subsidiaries.
Retail
Led by EroskiEroski
Eroski is a Spanish supermarket chain with nearly 1,000 outlets spread across Spain .It is run as a worker-consumer hybrid co-operative within the Mondragón Corporation group....
, Mondragon runs one of the leading retail groups in Spain, posting a turnover of 8.3 billion euros in 2010. It operates all over Spain and in the south of France, and maintains close contacts with the French group Les Mousquetaires
Les Mousquetaires
Les Mousquetaires is a privately owned retailing symbol group based in France and operating internationally. Its head office is in Bondoufle, France....
and the leading German retailer Edeka
EDEKA
The Edeka Group is the largest German supermarket corporation, currently holding a market share of 26%. Founded in 1898, it consists today of several cooperatives of independent supermarkets all operating under the umbrella organisation Edeka Zentrale AG & Co KG, with headquarters in Hamburg...
, with whom it set up the Alidis international partnership in 2002. The worker-owners and consumer-members are involved in the management of Eroski, with both groups participating in the Co-operative’s decision-making bodies.
At the end of 2009, Eroski was operating an extensive chain of almost 2,400 stores made up of 113 EROSKI hypermarkets, 1,063 EROSKI/center, Caprabo
Caprabo
Caprabo is a leading supermarket company in Spain,with supermarkets and hypermarkets in Mainland Spain, the Balearic Islands and the Canary Islands. It operates an online shopping and delivery service in Spain....
and EROSKI/city supermarkets, 224 branches of the EROSKI/viajes travel agency, 58 petrol stations, 40 Forum Sport stores, 289 IF perfume stores, 7 Abac leisure and culture outlets and 40 goods depots. In addition to this chain, there are 481 self-service franchise outlets. Moreover, in the south of France it has 4 hypermarkets, 16 supermarkets and 17 petrol stations, and it has 4 perfume stores in Andorra.
At an Assembly held In 2008, its worker-members approved by a majority vote the process to expand the transformation into co-operatively run businesses to the Group as a whole. So work started on turning the Group’s subsidiaries into co-operatives, as well as on making their salaried workers worker-members. This process will be carried out gradually over the next few years.
The retail area is also home to the food group Erkop, which operates in the catering, cleaning, stock-breeding, and horticulture sectors and has as its leading name Auzo Lagun, a co-operative engaged in group catering and the cleaning of buildings and premises, and also offers an integrated service in the health sector.
Knowledge
This area has a dual focus: education-training and innovation, which have both been key elements in the development of the Corporation. Training-education is mainly linked to the dynamism of the University of Mondragón, the significant role that Politeknika Ikastegia Txorierri, Arizmendi Ikastola and Lea Artibai Ikastetxea play in their respective areas and the activity of the Management and Co-operative Development Centre Otalora.The University of Mondragon is a university of a co-operative nature, which combines the development of knowledge, skills, and values, and maintains close relations with business, especially the Co-operatives. Technological innovation is generated by through the Co-operatives’ own R&D departments, the Corporate Science and Technology Plan, the work of the Corporation’s 12 technology centres and the Garaia Innovation Park.
For their part, the 12 technology centres, with a workforce totalling 742 people and an overall budget of 53.7 million euros in 2009, continue to play a fundamental role in the development of the sectors in which they focus their activity.
See also
- Autogestion
- DistributismDistributismDistributism is a third-way economic philosophy formulated by such Catholic thinkers as G. K...
- HorizontalidadHorizontalidadHorizontality or horizontalism is a social relationship that advocates the creation, development and maintenance of social structures for the equitable distribution of management power...
- José María ArizmendiarrietaJosé María ArizmendiarrietaFather José María Arizmendiarrieta Madariaga was a Catholic priest and founder of the Mondragón cooperative movement in the Basque Country....
- John Lewis (department store)John Lewis (department store)-Recent developments:In June 2004, John Lewis announced plans to open its first store in Northern Ireland at the Sprucefield Park development, the province's largest out of town shopping centre, located outside Lisburn and from Belfast. The application was approved in June 2005 and the opening of...
- List of worker cooperatives
Further reading
- Cooperation for Economic Success. The Mondragon Case (2011) in Analyse & Kritik, 33 (1), 157-170 . Ramon Flecha & Iñaqui Santa Cruz.http://www.analyse-und-kritik.net/en/abstracts_current.php#562
- Making Mondragon: The Growth and Dynamics of the Worker Cooperative Complex (1991), William Whyte. ISBN 0875461814
- We Build the Road as We Travel: Mondragon, A Cooperative Social System, Roy Morrison. ISBN 0-86571-173-9
- The Mondragon Cooperative Experience (1993), J. Ormachea.
- Cooperation at Work: The Mondragon Experience (1983), K. Bradely & A. Gelb.
- Values at Work: Employees participation meets market pressure at Mondragon (1999), G. Cheney.
- Mondragon: An economic analysis (1982), C. Logan & H. Thomas.
- The Myth of Mondragon: Cooperatives, Politics, and Working-Class Life in a Basque Town (1996), by Sharryn Kasmir, State University of New York Press.
- From Mondragon to America: Experiments in Community Economic Development (1997), by G. MacLeod, University College of Cape Breton Press. ISBN 0-920336-53-1
- "Jobs of Our Own: Building a Stakeholder Society" (1999), by Race Mathews, Pluto Press (Australia) and Comerford & Miller (London). ISBN 1 86403 064 X. US reprint 2009, The Distributist Review Press. ISBN 978-0-9679707-9-0. ISBN 0-9679707-9-2.
External links
- MONDRAGON Corporation - Google Maps
- MONDRAGON Corporation homepage (multi-lingual—English, French, German, Spanish, and Basque (Euskara))(uses Macromedia Flash, but it's not required)
- CEPES MCC is member of the Spanish National Confederation of social economySocial economySocial economy refers to a third sector in economies between the private sector and business or, the public sector and government. It includes organisations such as cooperatives, non-governmental organisations and charities....
Enterprises. - Mondragón: The Remarkable Achievement article from In Context magazine, 1983
Multimedia
- "Workers divided: the Fagor-Brandt merger" a film by Anne Argouse and Hugues Peyret, English version available www.antoinemartinprod.com/
- Mondragon Corporation 2009 "A visual documentary of the successful Mondragon Cooperative"
- The Mondragon Experiment BBC Horizon (1980)