Understanding Mondragon Globalization Process: Local Job Creation Through Multi-Localization

Summary

The stability of local communities is threatened by globalization and the international industrial migration process. This article explores Mondragon’s international multilocalization strategy as an effective strategy to avoid de-localization and defend parent cooperatives employment while creating new jobs in developing countries. At the end of 2006, the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation (here after MCC) located in the North of Spain, had 25 Globalized Cooperatives with 65 production plants abroad employing 14.601 people. Based on the Mondragon cooperatives activity between 1996-2006, this paper:

– Measures the relationship of creating employment abroad and defending employment at home.

– Analyses the impact that having production plants abroad has on the number of members vs. non members’ evolution in the parent cooperative and in the company as a whole. This research includes analysis from 40 production plants in China, India, Mexico, Brazil and Eastern Europe.