thanks for the perspective! On Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 8:37 AM, Nicholas Roberts <[email protected]>wrote:

hi michel

havent read that piece, but I would guess that yes, strike action against mondragon would be justified in these globalized factories they own

when we where in arrasate it was discussed - michel lezamiz and fred freundlich - there was a cooperatization process underway in these overseas acquisitions, and research was being done on the problems of mondragon as a globalized neoliberal corporation... the cooperatization process had problems even before the Great Recession, and I think it basically stopped or went in reverse since...

we where told many of the worker-owners "didnt join mondragon so they could become capitalists" and so on... there is a PhD on the phenomena

-N

On Sun, Feb 6, 2011 at 4:05 PM, Michel Bauwens <[email protected]>wrote:

...

http://trustcurrency.blogspot.com/2011/01/mondragon-cooperative-built-on.htm...

Nicholas, Kevin, or others, a commentary for publication in the p2p blog would be appreciated,

Michel

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Improbable Connections is a community of collaborative and co-creative research initiatives aimed at innovation and social responsibility. It is based on the paradigms of open innovation and the principles of interrelated fields, disciplines and individuals. It therefore relates the arts, philosophy, science, business and governance in search of new questions and answers that respond to the needs of all manner of organisations. The connections are supposedly improbable, but possible. Improbable Connections fosters an environment that is able to promote transformation from the hybridisation of differences. Slow, deeper and more radical innovation backed by joint research and experimentation, as well as by values and people. http://www.conexionesimprobables.com/pagina.php?id_p=305&i=ing&temp=_temp Fagor Electrodomésticos Research requested To develop channels/devices to help involve users of the products or services of the Fagor Cooperative Group at an international level in order to convert them into active agents and be a part of the Cooperative. The aim is to investigate how to bring out the essence of cooperative values (generating a return in local environments through the creation of employment) from an industrial area (local) to a commercial area (global). In other words, how to transfer cooperative values to a network of international sales points within a globalised world, implementing the participation of communities in the creation and development of cooperatives. It is about extending the philosophy of people as strategic focus, now present in the field of production, towards the area of consumption. It is not about viewing users as utilitarian objects, due to the fact that they are consumers, but creating a natural space of interaction in which in turn the company listens intently, learns and acts honestly. The aim is also that the interactions between individual/Cooperative workers (within the local area) and individual users of the Cooperative’s products/services (at a global level) are no longer one-way (local -> global) and become bidirectional (local <-> global). 

To limit the field of research, the prototype(s) will be developed within the area of people in the home (both household appliances and services and solutions to new emerging needs in terms of people in the home), starting from the distribution network in Spain, France and/or Poland. Location: Arrasate – Mondragón (Gipuzkoa). Language: candidates with knowledge of Spanish and/or English will be accepted. Ownership of results: Option D<http://www.conexionesimprobables.com/docs/Improbables_%20Options%20exploitation%20of%20the%20results_january2011.pdf> (the exploitation rights fall to Fagor, without added remuneration for the artist/social scientist in the event that the result is marketed; however, the medium- to long-term plan is that the device generated is disseminated under a Creative Commons license, but currently the option is to maintain it as the property of the Cooperative without any added compensation for the artist/thinker until the final design is consistent with the origin