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The MONDRAGON Congress approves its Business Policy for the coming years
On 28 September, the town of Arrasate (Mondragón) in Gipuzkoa has hosted the MONDRAGON Corporation’s 2011 Congress. This annual corporate event is attended by a total of 650 delegates representing all the Group’s member cooperatives. The Congress debates the guidelines and general criteria that will govern MONDRAGON, such as the definition of basic policies regarding key issues of common interest. This year has seen the unanimous approval of a major document that looks to the future, namely, the “2013-2016 Corporate Business Policy” that sets out the Corporation’s vision, the challenge that lies ahead and the basic lines of its business operations.
Transforming the business fabric
The “2013-2016 Corporate Business Policy” is a document that lays the foundations for the subsequent drafting of our cooperatives’ strategic plans, and throws down a challenge that can be succinctly described as “transforming our business fabric” in order to create value added employment.
In short, MONDRAGON’s remit for the coming years is to improve the competitive positioning of its businesses, reinforce people’s cooperative identity and commitment and continue to be a business group with viable and sustainable businesses with a view to generating value added employment.
Lines of action
Successfully overcoming this stern challenge will involve five key lines of action:
- Dimensioning and internationalisation, for appropriate and competitive sizing in a global market.
- Innovation, which together with Development and Knowledge should pave the way for the permanent review of our business models and the promotion of operations in the sectors of the future.
- Intercooperation, between cooperatives and with outside partners in order to maximise market opportunities and provide comprehensive solutions and value added services.
- Cooperative Identity and Commitment, reinforcing the hallmarks of cooperativism, as expressed through attitudes and conduct that are consistent with our Values and Principles and our Management Model.
What changes/adjustments will this challenge involve? Tailoring the sizing of the businesses to the global market, focusing on emerging markets, considering new strategic alliances, re-aligning those businesses with less growth potential, and firmly committing to the development of integral cooperative projects, amongst others.
From now on, once this policy has been approved it will provide a strategic template. Looking ahead, the established calendar indicates that the Management Plan for 2012 will need to consider these management markers and also that next year our cooperatives will be required to reflect upon the definition of their strategic plans and draft the corresponding Management Plans for the 2013-2016 period.