So some thing that are a bit less glamorous than described on the article is that one reason this works so well is because of the conditions of the place it runs in. This coop comes from the basque country, a northern autonomous region of Spain. It is a fairly rich area, with a huge port and industrial past and a pretty tight knit community.
This generates an environment that allows for certain things to happen. One is an area less prone to economic recessions, with higher wage equality and a more egalitarian and humanistic approach to business. On the negative side though there is an insidious xenophobia that permeates the area. Essentially a lot of the ads they run (for example for their supermarket brand Eroski) do so on a platform of "its better because its basque". Like basque cows, basque cheese etc. Many of our companies brag about "we only hire local people", so music festivals for example have all the staff hired locally rather than having an open hiring process or allowing bands to bring their staff.
This is a bit of a double edged sword where we are creating a bit of a local maximum for the basque country economy at the expense of a worse average for everyone else (assuming market conditions can create Nash equilibriums). Now I do believe Mondragon has done some fantastic stuff, but they are not without a fault and they also exist thanks to an environment that allows such conditions to exist and do the work they do.
To advertise something as "it's better because it's basque/$COUNTRY" is not xenophobic at all. First, because by that definition then almost everyone would be (e.g. french). Second, because there are actual objective benefits of sourcing local products (e.g. environmental).
I also really doubt what you explain is universally applicable as it looks to be a very large corporation anyway.
Its better because its local is not xenophobic, its better because its from within some made up geographical boundries is.
There are tons of objective reasons to promote local products, we have incredible soil and weather, we have a historical tradition of shepherding and sea faring. But none of that is promoted, its the "its from here" with vague connotations.
It is a large corporation that has had a huge trouble expanding outside the local area of influence. Eroski has been a huge supermarket in the basque country for decades and has never hold more than a minimun influence in spain (despite other supermaket chains like Mercadona appearing much later and now dominating the country). Fagor grew steadily to 5,600 employees and then went bankrupt leaving all but 700 unemployed when a company from elsewhere bought the remains. The university has 4 thousand students and most are basque.
They are massive but they are massive because they have a huge influence on a very rich part of spain
Everyone knows that "buying local" is about supporting local jobs/industry. There's nothing xenophobic about caring more about your neighbors than some people you'll never meet thousands of miles away.
If it is to be a meaningful term, xenophobia has to be about fear or hatred. It can't mean "favoring local over non-local".
Sure, but in this region it’s more like buy my local good for you product, sure it’s a little more expensive but.... “OR ELSE”... Many have been driven out of their town or even killed (yes that is what I said) if you go against the status quo in the Basque region. Mondragón would not exist for not for the Basque cause... and most likely (it’s been their financial arm) the Basque cause would not have existed with out Mondragón.
Every definition of "localness" is also a "made up geographical boundary" so I fail to see the distinction. It is precisely "it's from here" that my argument applied to.
I.e. a supermarket advertising "it's from here" produce is not xenophobic. From my experience, Spain is actually one of the countries in Europe where it is extremely hard to find local produce. Almost everywhere else I can find specific aisle for "it's from here stuff" and again I fail to see why that would be xenophobic. At least I always prefer to buy from there since it's usually more reasonable ecologically-wise.
I don't get the ecological argument. Small batch local produce has to be quite a bit less efficient than large-scale production. Transportation has to be a small fraction of the total impact?
Someone linked an article below pointing this is an oversimplification, but yes, importing produce from another continent (e.g. California when Spain has better climate for that) tends to be bad.
That's curious... ocean shipping is so massive and scaled so large, I'd guess its cheaper per item than, for instance, your drive to the grocery store to pick up that item.
> To advertise something as "it's better because it's basque/$COUNTRY" is not xenophobic at all. First, because by that definition then almost everyone would be (e.g. french). Second, because there are actual objective benefits of sourcing local products (e.g. environmental).
Perhaps it is not xenophobic, but it definitely is populist nationalistic retoric based on in-group/out-group dichotomy.
The fact that nationalists of every country do that is no excuse.
You forget the influence of the church. Much of the origins of the coop businesses come from church oriented communities serving their needs in some way.
I'd also argue that lots of relatively limited local maxima where everyone is happy and materially comfortable is a million times better than centralised hell of capitalism as it stands. Limited maybe, but most people won't approach the ceiling in more dynamic places. It's the greatest good for the greatest number.
Local maxima is explicitly not the greatest good for the greatest number. In many ways, it's the greatest good for the greatest visible number, and only for a relatively short period of time. I'm not the biggest fan of raw unbridled capitalism, but there are aspects to innovation and competition that you're absolutely passing on if you default to local maxima solutions. Long term, you're going to get outcompeted/outteched if you remain in the status quo.
Hi, I'm a big fan of distributism and co-ops, and I'm also a Catholic. But I have to quibble with you.
Distributism is not Catholic doctrine. It's a third-way economic system that is compatible with Catholic social teaching, and several influential Catholic figures, such as G.K. Chesterton, helped promulgate it. But you don't have to be Catholic to be a distributist, and you can be a Catholic without being a distributist.
It sounds like the strategy is working. I wonder how many of the current successes would be possible if it operated the same as any other region of Spain. I'm not sure how far the xenophobic attitude you mention extends but it sounds more like the 'buy local' movement the way you describe it here.
In regards to game theory, the outcomes of this particular game may even be more optimal given that the set of actions is more constrained and the strategies are better known.
This generates an environment that allows for certain things to happen. One is an area less prone to economic recessions, with higher wage equality and a more egalitarian and humanistic approach to business. On the negative side though there is an insidious xenophobia that permeates the area. Essentially a lot of the ads they run (for example for their supermarket brand Eroski) do so on a platform of "its better because its basque". Like basque cows, basque cheese etc. Many of our companies brag about "we only hire local people", so music festivals for example have all the staff hired locally rather than having an open hiring process or allowing bands to bring their staff.
This is a bit of a double edged sword where we are creating a bit of a local maximum for the basque country economy at the expense of a worse average for everyone else (assuming market conditions can create Nash equilibriums). Now I do believe Mondragon has done some fantastic stuff, but they are not without a fault and they also exist thanks to an environment that allows such conditions to exist and do the work they do.