Basque Cooperativism

Cooperative companies form part of the social economy—a third economic sector beyond the private and public spheres that embraces community, voluntary, and nonprofit activities. While corporations distribute their surpluses in relation to the capital contributions of shareholders, cooperatives do so according to activity of their members; in short, in a cooperative, capital is subordinate to work. The cooperative spirit has been an important feature of Basque society, from the traditional auzolan (literally, "neighborhood work") to the development of major cooperative companies like Alfa, Fagor and ultimately Mondragon, the largest cooperative in the world and a major supplier of products and services nationally and internationally. This book focuses on the changes and challenges faced by the social economy in general and Basque cooperatives in particular in light of the crisis of the welfare state, the growth of neoliberal doctrines and greater privatization, and most recently of all, the global financial crisis. The book is divided into three parts: Part 1 analyzes the origins, values, and culture of Basque cooperativism. Part 2 focuses on innovation in and the management system of Basque cooperatives as a source of competitive advantage vis-à-vis traditional corporations. Finally, part 3 addresses the response of Basque cooperatives to globalization in general and the current global financial crisis in particular.This book was published with generous financial support from the Basque Government.Introduction: Baleren Bakaikoa Azurmendi and Eneka Albizu ? 1. The Spirituality of Economics: Historical Roots of Mondragon, 1940-1974 by Fernando Molina ? 2. Culture and Social Representations of Work among Basques: Implications for Organizational Commitment and Cooperative Attitudes by Javier Cerrato Allende ? 3. Developing Intercooperation in the Social Economy: An Analysis of Grant Recipients in the Basque Country by Jon Morandeira Arca, Baleren Bakaikoa Azurmendi, and Victoria de Elizagarate Gutierrez ? 4. Accounting Reform: The Case of Workers' Self-Managed Cooperatives by Miguel Ángel Zubiaurre Artola ? 5. Is Innovation Better Managed by Corporations than Social Economy Companies? A Comparative Study of Innovative Basque Companies by Sara Fernández de Bobadilla Güemez and Eva Velasco Balmaseda ? 6. Innovation in the Basque Country: An Examination of the Cooperative Situation by Antón Borja Alvarez ? 7. Sources of Competitive Advantage in the Mondragon Cooperative Group by Imanol Basterretxea Markaida ? 8. Basque Cooperatives and the Crisis: The Case of Mondragon by Itziar Villafañez Pérez ? 9. Characteristics of Human Resource Management in Basque Cooperatives and Their Response to New International Contexts by Aitziber Lertxundi ? 10. Globalization and Knowledge Management in the Industrial Cooperatives of the Mondragon Corporation by Antxon Mendizábal ? Index ? List of Contributor