The Basque Country’s Mondragón Corporation is the largest industrial co-op
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Re: The Basque Country’s Mondragón Corporation is the largest industrial co-op
#2This seems to be fairly unique in its breadth of different enterprises. Most co-ops seem to stay in a single industry e.g John Lewis with 80,000 employees in UK retail or the many agricultural/distribution co-ops owned by farmers.
Wikipedia page is a clearer read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation
Re: The Basque Country’s Mondragón Corporation is the largest industrial co-op
#3Co-ops are fascinating to me as an alternate evolutionary branch of capitalism. Like the marsupials to the placentals. Also like the marsupials, in most cases where co-ops compete with regular capitalist businesses they go extinct.
Re: The Basque Country’s Mondragón Corporation is the largest industrial co-op
#4I'd love to see more details about the business model and corporate structure and how it works. Also, they mention that the workers are "liable for any losses." - How does that work? If I own a share of Acme stock, I'm not liable for their losses, though the value of my share may go to zero.
Pretty interesting idea. Are there other examples as well?
Re: The Basque Country’s Mondragón Corporation is the largest industrial co-op
#5Co-ops are fascinating to me as an alternate evolutionary branch of capitalism. Like the marsupials to the placentals. Also like the marsupials, in most cases where co-ops compete with regular capitalist businesses they go extinct.
Agreed but you could say the same thing about monopolies though right? Anti-trust legislation exists to prevent that sort of extinction.
Re: The Basque Country’s Mondragón Corporation is the largest industrial co-op
#6Co-ops are fascinating to me as an alternate evolutionary branch of capitalism. Like the marsupials to the placentals. Also like the marsupials, in most cases where co-ops compete with regular capitalist businesses they go extinct.
Important note: yes they go extinct in a market shaped by regular capitalist rules.
Re: The Basque Country’s Mondragón Corporation is the largest industrial co-op
#7Co-ops are fascinating to me as an alternate evolutionary branch of capitalism. Like the marsupials to the placentals. Also like the marsupials, in most cases where co-ops compete with regular capitalist businesses they go extinct.
In the short term dictatorships usually are superior to democracies because they can move fast and have less stakeholders to satisfy. So a capitalist business will usually beat out a co-op. That doesn't mean that society as a whole gains.
Re: The Basque Country’s Mondragón Corporation is the largest industrial co-op
#8> The salary differential between the highest and lowest paid workers in Mondragón, for example, remains about six to one; for the largest 500 listed companies in the US, the gap is closer to 272 to one. At the year end, members of Mondragón’s co-operatives also decide collectively on whether they should pay themselves bonuses and, if so, how much. This profit-sharing comes in addition to a base pay rate that, on average, is 40% above Spain’s minimum wage.
Workers are better off.
Re: The Basque Country’s Mondragón Corporation is the largest industrial co-op
#9I'd love to see more details about the business model and corporate structure and how it works. Also, they mention that the workers are "liable for any losses." - How does that work? If I own a share of Acme stock, I'm not liable for their losses, though the value of my share may go to zero. Pretty interesting idea. Are there other examples as well?
Wikipedia has a list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_worker_cooperatives?wp...
In the US, I'm most familiar with Equal Exchange (fair trade coffee), Nebula (creator owned YouTube for documentaries), TESA (educational board games), Alvarado St Bakery (the tiger-branded breads available in many stores).
Re: The Basque Country’s Mondragón Corporation is the largest industrial co-op
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