The Mondragon Corporation and its Member Company Soraluce: Accomplishments and Challenges of Broad, Networked Employee Ownership Over Six Decades

Frederick M. Freundlich; Ion Leceta Ruiz de Alegría; Aitzol Loyola Idiaquez; Maite Legarra Eizagirre

doi:10.31391/JDTD1733

The Mondragon Corporation and its Member Company Soraluce: Accomplishments and Challenges of Broad, Networked Employee Ownership Over Six Decades

Authors

Frederick M. Freundlich

Doctor

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2697-5095 (unauthenticated)

Ion Leceta Ruiz de Alegría

Maestro

https://orcid.org/0009-0005-5264-1787 (unauthenticated)

Aitzol Loyola Idiaquez

Doctor

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4835-9840 (unauthenticated)

Maite Legarra Eizagirre

Doctora

https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7361-1273 (unauthenticated)

DOI: https://doi.org/10.31391/JDTD1733.9

Synopsis

This chapter examines an important employee ownership experience outside the
Americas, but one that could usefully inform experiences in the Americas. It presents
a summary of the Mondragon Corporation, its history, current structure, and ongoing
challenges and dilemmas, as well as an introduction to one of its member companies,
Soraluce, a worker cooperative in the machine tool sector. We review Soraluce’s business
trajectory, organizational changes, recent educational efforts directed at fortifying both
the business and its shared ownership identity, along with preliminary empirical data
on the outcomes of these efforts.

Author Biographies

Frederick M. Freundlich, Doctor

holds a doctorate in Education from Harvard University, Cambridge, United States. He is a researcher at the lanki Institute of Cooperative Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Education Science, and a professor at the Faculty of Business, Mondragon Unibertsitatea.

Ion Leceta Ruiz de Alegría, Maestro

earned his master in Psychology from the National Distance-Learning University in Spain. He is a professor/researcher at the lanki Institute of Cooperative Studies, Faculty of Humanities and Education Science, Mondragon Unibertsitatea.

Aitzol Loyola Idiaquez, Doctor

PhD, did his doctoral work in Sociology at the University of the Basque Country in Leioa, The Basque Country, Spain. He is a professor/researcher at the lanki Institute of Cooperative Studies, Faculty of
Humanities and Education Science, Mondragon Unibertsitatea.

Maite Legarra Eizagirre, Doctora

PhD, earned her doctorate at the Faculty of Business, Mondragon Unibertsitatea in Oñati, the Basque Country, Spain. She is a professor/researcher at the Faculty of Business and coordinates and teaches in
its Masters in Strategic Talent Management,