>FROM MONDRAGON - TO AMERICA: >EXPERIMENTS IN COMMUNITY ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT > >DATA AND REFLECTIONS FROM FORTHCOMING BOOK by Greg MacLeod > tel 902-562-242 > Fax 567-0153 > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > >info contact >UCCB Press >Box 5300 Tel 902-539-5300 >Sydney, N.S. Fax 902-562-0119 >Canada B1P 6L2 > >DRAFT ONLY DRAFT ONLY > Contents > >1. Inside Mondragon > A: Background > B: Mondragon: The Parts > C: Structures and Governance > 1. Single Enterprise > 2. The Zone Group >3 The General Congress >2. The Strength of Mondragon > A: Mission Statement > B: Ten Principles > C: Enterprise Creation And Development > D: Providing For Continuance >3. New Vision > A: Sources > 1. The Church Tradition > 2. The Basque Social Tradition > 3. Socialism and Personalism > B: Don JosÈ Maria's Synthesis. >4. A Critique of Private, Social and State Enterprise > A: Capitalist Corporation > B: Traditional Cooperatives > C: Soviet Model > D: Towards a New Model >5. A New Model > A: The Cooperative Corporation > B: A New Role for Management > C: Role of Workers > D: Evaluation and Replicability > >6. The Valencia Experiment > A: Beginnings and Development > B: The Parts > C: Evolution to a New Phase > D: The Future > E: Basic Principles > >7. North American Glimmerings > A. Community Business Corporations > B. Alternative Financial Initiatives > C. Mexico: A Sustainable Development Project > >8. Practical Reflections for Community Economic Solutions > A: Community Economic Development > B: Getting Started > C: Person-Centered Economics > >Appendix I: Biographical Sketch of Don JosÈ Maria > >Appendix II: List of Mondragon Companies > >Appendix III: Useful Addresses > > >Abstract > >CHAPTER ONE describes the facts about Mondragon, what the visitor will see >on a visit there or what one will read in the annual business report of the >Caja Laboral Popular (Credit Union or Cooperative Bank) which for many yearÿ s >served as the glue to hold the complex together. The description includes >how the components function and relate to one another. Mondragon exists as ÿ a >concrete, functioning and profitable enterprise. > >CHAPTER TWO explains how the strength and success of Mondragon is rooted in >the founders' vision of society and their guiding value system. Aggressive >expansion in response to community needs is seen as a virtue. The complex >techniques of enterprise creation are described in detail. Also analyzed is >their freedom from bankruptcy. > >CHAPTER THREE responds to interest in the original intentions and innovativÿ e >ideas that gave rise to all this activity. The researcher will find that >none of the components is original but that each was proposed by some >earlier thinker. The genius of Don Jose Maria was to construct out of these >elements an original synthesis which proved to be applicable to the world iÿ n >which he lived. Syntheses are extremely important for the advancement of >knowledge. The synthesis of ideas behind Mondragon is important because it >triggered a collaboration among a variety of institutions that are normally >divided and in competition. > >CHAPTER FOUR contains a critique of different models for a business >enterprise: capitalist, communist or communitarian. With the fall of the >communist systems in Eastern Europe these questions are important. An >extremely simplistic attitude might assume that the capitalist model has >'won'. However, problems like chronic unemployment, pollution, and events >such as the Los Angeles riots, indicate that traditional capitalist systems >have not provided a formula for human wellbeing. >CHAPTER FIVE presents the new model as envisaged by Don Jose Maria, the >communitarian model which has yet to be widely tried in the Western world. >An examination of its success in the Mondragon complex reveals that it is >neither simply cooperative nor simply capitalist. The chapter shows how >Mondragon takes elements from several models and results in a community- >based business system which is very flexible and adaptable to changing >social needs and circumstances. > >CHAPTER SIX describes the Valencia experiment as an example of the >transferability of Don Jose Maria's model. Founded by a group describing >itself as followers of the Mondragon approach, the Valencian experiment >consists of a community bank, a string of cooperative retail stores, an >insurance company, employee-owned factories and a professional school. > >CHAPTER SEVEN examines how the original motivation which inspired the >Mondragon experiment is shared by many groups in North America, including >one in Mexico, who are struggling to fight unemployment and economic declinÿ e >in their own communities. Also discussed are examples of other community >businesses which contain, in various degrees, some of the values associated >with the Mondragon experiment. >CHAPTER EIGHT explains how technology is a way of thinking and a way of >organizing. Based on his involvement in community economic development in >Atlantic Canada during two decades, as well as his visits to the Spanish >projects, the author proposes that basic guiding values and good technology >are essential in making a new economy for a sustainable future. > > Appendix II is a useful list of the 96 member-enterprises of the >Mondragon >Cooperative Corporation, including product lines and addresses. > > MONDRAGON DATA: - >The Mondragon Cooperative Corporation now functions as four groups or >divisions: >1. Corporate, responsible for planning and development. This also includes >the university. 15 enterprises >2. Finance including the Caja Laboral or Credit Union, along with insurance >and social security. 6 enterprises >3. Industrial which includes the factories and agricultural units - 67 >enterprises (a sub-set of this group is subsidiary enterprises-13 total oÿ f >80 enterprises >4. Distribution which includes the Eroski retail chain. > 8 enterprises > These four divisions are united under the general coordinating role of THE >CONGRESS which is comprised of delegates from all the divisions. > MONDRAGON COOPERATIVE CORPORATION -Jan. 1997 >CONSOLIDATED FIGURES (Canadian Dollars) > > 1994 1995 19ÿ 96 >TOTAL ASSETS $10.8 bill $12.3 bill $13.8 bill > >I. PRODUCTION AND DISTRIBUTION >SALES - GOODS $4.9 bill $ 5.5 bill $ 6.0 bill > >EXPORTS $ .8 bill $ 1.0 bill $1.1 bill >WORKER-MEMBERS 26 thou 28 thou 29 thou > >II. CAJA LABORAL ( CREDIT UNION) > >ASSETS $ 4.6 bill $ 5.8 bill $ 6.06 bill >INVESTMENT $ 2.9 bill $ 3.2 bill $ 3.5 bill >Equity $ .6 bill $ .7 bill $ .8 bill >WORKER-ACCTS$ 1.5 bill $ 1.7 bill $1.9 bill >The Caja ( co-operative bank) is still the key resource and instrument of >growth. > > Internal Investments : 1995-96 > Industrial group $147 mill > Distribut. $ 240 mill >Finance 9 mill >Corporate 5 mill >total $ 401 million > Special Purpose Expenditures by the Caja: >Education and Co-operative Development - 6.7 mill >Research .3 mill >Support for Youth Entrepreneurship .3 mill >Promotion of Basque language .4 mill >Institutional grants .4 mill >Cultural Activities and other .7 mill > $8.8 mill >CAJA LABORAL POPULAR ANNUAL REPORT 1996 > >JOBS in Mondragon Cooperative Corporation: > 1995 1996 > >Industrial Group 15,000 15,839 52,% >Distribution group 10,974 12,377 40.7% >Finance 1,777 1,830 6.0% >Corporate activities 387 400 1.3% >Total 28,228 30,446 100.0% > 2, 218 added in 1996 Most of these were from retail system . Still froÿ m >non-retail we have a net gain of 905. > > > > STRATEGIC PLAN 1996 TO 2000 > (cf. Lankide, April 1997) >CREATE 8,800 NEW JOBS BY THE YEAR 2000 >( From present 28,250 to 37,050) > > 1996 2000 >Industrial 16,040 20,000 >Distribution 10,030 - 14,530 >Finance 2,180 2,520 >total 28,250 37,050 > > > > In this book we have looked at Mondragon, Valencia and a number of >smaller >examples of community initiative to set up businesses dedicated to the >common good. The ones that survive seem to be the ones that maintain a set >of ideals and values but who admit that they cannot be all achieved. Ratheÿ r >, they hold the ideals as a kind of horizon which we aim at. Progress is >judged not simply in attaining the ideal, but rather coming closer and >closer to the ideal. The danger is that the incomplete, compromise >situation will be accepted as the ideal and that no effort will be made to >change and improve what we have. > While almost every other corporation in the world is cutting back aÿ nd >reducing the number of employees, MCC has as part of its five year plan the >goal of creating at least 8,800 new jobs in Spain. This is accepted as a >duty to the general community which is suffering from unacceptably high >levels of employment. While for the Guiness Corporation, the priority is tÿ o >increase profits, the priority for Mondragon is to increase jobs and >preserve the community. This manifests the over-riding fidelity of >Mondragon to its most basic distinguishing characteristic: THE PRIORITY OF >PEOPLE OVER CAPITAL. > > >Merger.. Times of London, p. 31, May 13, 1997 > > >-- > Greg MacLeod > University College of Cape Breton > P.O. Box 5300 > Sydney, N.S.- B1P 6L2 > CANADA > > FAX 902-567-0153 > Univ. tel 902-539-5300 > Res. 902-562-2420 > > > > > >
