Management training as a source of perceived competitive advantage: The Mondragon Cooperative Group case

Abstract

The academic literature argues that managers, with their resources and capabilities, constitute a source of competitive advantage for companies, but that cooperatives generally have difficulties attracting and retaining competent managers. The present study examines the special efforts made in the creation and development of cooperative managers via corporate training centres in the Mondragon Cooperative Group. The fieldwork that supports this research is a qualitative study based on a series of in-depth interviews with 12 people in charge of Mondragon’s training structure. This study confirms that Mondragon’s cooperatives have overcome the difficulties common to other cooperatives in attracting and retaining valuable managers. The study also confirmed that Mondragon’s management training policy, based on its corporate training centres, is internally perceived as a source of competitive advantages to the cooperatives in the attraction, development and retention of managers.