Subject: Re: [permaculture] Good Reading and Reference
Date: Tue, 7 Oct 2014 10:09:59 -0400
ATTN: Bob Waldrop & others interested in coops.
On Tue, Oct 7, 2014 at 2:13 AM, Steve Hart <stevenlawrencehart@gmail.com>
wrote:
> If you have not already come across it.
>
>http://unexpectedgardens.com/
>
> --
> Kia ora
>
> [image: Picture]
> *Steve Hart*
> Ecology Architect
> Designer, Teacher, Builder of Ecologically Sustainable Resilient
> Environments
> skype: stevenlawrencehart
> Permaculture Global Design:
> www.permacultureglobaldesign.org
> The Permaculture College of Europe.
> www.permaculturecollege.eu
> GAPPS The Global Alliance for Permaculture Partnerships and Solutions.
> www.permaculturepartnerships.com
>
- MONDRAGON <http://www.youtube.com/user/mondragoncorporation>
- Mondragon Corporation
- The MONDRAGON Corporation is a corporation and federation of worker
cooperatives based in the Basque region of Spain. It was founded in the
town of Mondragón in 1956 by graduates of a local technical college. Its
first product was paraffin heaters. Wikipedia
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation>
-
- Headquarters
Before creating the first co-operative, Arizmendiarrieta spent a number of
years educating young people about a form of humanism
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism> based on solidarity and
participation, in harmony with Catholic social teaching
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_social_teaching>, and the importance
of acquiring the necessary technical knowledge. In 1955, he selected five
of these young people to set up the first company of the co-operative and
industrial beginning of the Mondragon Corporation.[4]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation#cite_note-4> The people
were Usatorre, Larrañaga, Gorroñogoitia, Ormaechea and Ortubay, and the
company was called Talleres Ulgor, an acronym derived from their surnames,
known today as Fagor Electrodomésticos.
During the next 20 years, from 1970 to 1990, the dynamism 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 <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ikerlan> in 1974.[6]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation#cite_note-6>
With big changes on the horizon like Spain joining the European Economic
Community <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/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.[7]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation#cite_note-7>
On the international stage, the aim was to respond to the growing
globalisation <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Globalisation> process,
strongly promoting expansion abroad by setting up production plants in a
number of countries. The first, the Copreci plant in Mexico
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico> in 1990 was followed by many others
taking the total to 73 by the end of 2008 and 122 at the end of 2013. 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
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automotive_industry> and domestic appliance
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Major_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.[8]
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mondragon_Corporation#cite_note-8>