Mondragon is a small town set in the beautiful and hilly Basque country of Spain. In 1956 it was suffering in the aftermath of the Spanish Civil War. Father Jose Ma Arizmendiarrieta founded a small workshop for the manufacture of paraffin heaters. It was a mutual, a co-operative – the people who worked in it owned it. Remarkably, Mondragon grew to be one of the world’s largest co-operatives. It has 256 companies ranging from specialist niche operations to major international players, operating in everything from retailing – Erozki – to white goods – Fagor. The companies are bound together by a system of employee participation that is unusual and highly successful. They have consistently demonstrated commitment to humanity and democracy at work.
Mondragon has been successful beyond the wildest dreams of its founders but success brings big issues. As Mondragon grows, both in Spain and globally, it faces huge pressures on the co-operative ownership and management system. Globalization, social responsibility, sustainability and so on are all fashionable 21st century concepts which Mondragon has practiced over decades but they are continually being challenged.
Saffron was asked to help demonstrate Mondragon’s commitment. We led member companies in a programme to simplify Mondragon’s complex brand architecture and to introduce a bolder and more distinctive visual expression to symbolize what Mondragon stands for. ‘Humanity at Work’ is the core idea which we developed.
Linked with the new visual expression, this makes Mondragon’s alternative structure to traditional capitalism visible.
