The Mondragon Case: Companies Addressing Social Impact and Dialogic Methodologies

Abstract

Mondragon Cooperative (MC) is one of the most outstanding examples of worker cooperatives in history. It has maintained its cooperative values along its trajectory, being competitive in the international market since 1956, under the motto: ‘Humanity at work’. Recently, scientific research has focused on impact, which has led to the emergence of the Successful Cooperative Actions (SCAs). Based on the case of MC, the scientific literature has identified key actions of this business model that can be transferred to other corporate contexts. Using a methodological approach, it is key to identify the SCAs that MC implements, which could apply to other cooperatives with similar principles but not the same success. This study aims to analyse the methodological innovation in qualitative research when the aim is focused on the transferability of the social impact of MC to other contexts. This paper shows that research focussing on the identification of SCAs modifies qualitative methodology by focussing on the transferability of actions to obtain social impact.