International Best Practices

The CMRC's work and vision is informed by a number of community and economic development models from around the world. Below, Executive Director Dan Swinney briefly introduces each model and its impact on our work

Mondragon, Spain

Early in the learning curve of CLCR, we learned about the history and accomplishments of a region in northern Spain that includes the town of Mondragon. Mondragon was a town that was devastated during World War II and the Spanish Civil War. In the 1940s, a priest name Father Arizmendi founded a polytechnical school that taught students engineering and manufacturing skills as well as standard education. It also taught the students values that gave priority to building community as the built business. Father Arizmendi took five of his best students from the school, and in the 1950s purchased a manufacturing company that made gas stoves. It was organized as a cooperative with a ceiling and floor to wages of three to one—leaving a lot of the margins to pour back into the company. This company was very successful. Father Arizmendi and his supporters started another company with the same model, and then another, and so on.

Today, the Mondragon network—now legally titled the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation—is the leading edge of the Spanish industrial economy. It has over 100 companies, employing 130,000 people in mostly manufacturing companies but also in retail and in services. A few things have adjusted—now the ratio between the highest and lowest paid is 7 to 1 and the many of the companies are now global leaders in their sector. This network introduced robotics into the Spanish industrial economy. Not only are they committed to manufacturing but also to being at the highest level of advanced technology. And they remain committed to what are clearly High Road values. This fall, a few of our students from Austin Polytech are going to Mondragon as part of their education in learning the variety of options that are available in advanced manufacturing. And our CMRC Assistant Director, Dan Bianchi, got his MBA from the University of Mondragon.

Emilia Romagna, Italy

This is a regional government (similar to a state government) in northern Italy including the city of Bologna. With a population of around 7-8 million people (similar in size to Cook County), this area has over 60,000 (compared to 8,000 in Cook County) manufacturing firms. Obviously many of these are very small companies with only a handful of employees. A significant percentage of these firms are cooperatives, but most are privately held; and there are a number of large international companies. This is also one of the most advanced regions—economically and socially—in Europe—typically having a high standard of living and per capita income, low unemployment, and a very strong civil society. There are several key features that have inspired us about Emilia Romagna:

• The number of small, privately-held companies;


• The aggressive role of the public sector in supporting these companies over the last 30 years through supporting service center that help these companies compete in the global economy;


• The evolution of networks of these small companies that are created to assist them in working as a group in successfully competing for large global contracts, doing the work; then reassembling in a different network of small companies and going after other contracts. These networks are often called “flexible manufacturing networks.” Our plans to develop a network of companies that could constitute the supply chain for the wind turbine industry is an example of how we have applied this “italian” approach to Chicago.


• The existence of schools like Aldini-Valeriani high school that emphasizes the goal of students becoming owners of companies. 15% of their graduates become owners of local companies—a theme we emphasize in our work with Austin Polytech and Chicago Academy for Advanced Technology.

This is a manufacturing region that is rich in lessons for us in Chicago. Luckily, Cook County has a Sister-County/Region relationship with what we call ER and the CMRC ought to take advantage of this. And our own Matt Hancock—now the Executive Director of the Center for Polytechnical Education—got his Masters in Economics at the University of Bologna.

Germany and Denmark

These two countries loom large in their influence on the CMRC’s approach to education at all levels. In 2000, with the support of the German Marshall Fund, I took a delegation of 7 people to study the education systems in these countries related to manufacturing. This deeply influenced our thinking and what we proposed in the 2001 report, Creating a Manufacturing Career Path System in Cook County—a report that really was the springboard for the creation of the CMRC. From these countries, we learned about:

• The value and necessity of linking education to actual work in manufacturing;


• The necessity of a national system of skill standards and credentials—ala NIMS;


• The necessity of a social partnership of labor, business, government, educators, and community in the design of new approach as well as the implementation. This concept lies at the heart of the CMRC represents; and
  The power of creating advanced educational institutions as a way to attract companies as well as essential to retaining companies.

A couple of months ago, I was asked to come back to Dortmund Germany (the home base for our Chicago delegation in 2000) to speak about the CMRC, our ideas and projects like APA. They are very interested in our development—I think because of the fact that we are a real private/public partnership that is very competitive and entrepreneurial about advanced manufacturing. In coming months, a delegation from Germany will probably visit us in Chicago and we’ll host a forum for more of our network to learn about this exchange.

South Africa—Ubuntu

In this last trip, I was introduced to the concept of “ubuntu” which means: “I am because you are.” This is a philosophical notion that simply acknowledges what we all know is the case—we each are not only stronger because of our relations to each other but we are in fact defined in our interconnection with each other. This is more powerful than the notion of a “stakeholder” or “social/solidarity” economy. It is embodied in the deliberate social partnership of the CMRC and needs to be more frequently acknowledged and explored. Sometimes we think our partnership is just for short-term convenience—but it’s actually much more than that. We know that none of us will survive in a “dog-eat-dog” world, but it will be useful to more fully explore what our partnership really represents.

In South Africa, I’d say that most of my audience came from the private sector and a large number of members of the audience were owners of manufacturing companies. They were intrigued by our ability to forge a real partnership with labor and business. I described the work it took and the power of its influence and impact. This is part of recognizing “ubuntu.”