Traveling to the Basque Country
Diversity Distinguishes the Basque Autonomous Community in Spain
May 25, 2009
A trip to the northern coast of Spain would not be complete without spending time in the Basque Country, in particular the area made up of Álava, Guipúzcoa, and Vizcaya. In Basque culture, fine dining is a means of cementing relationships and building new ones. The northern coast offers sandy beaches and high bluffs overlooking the bay. As important, the Basque culture supports a tradition of self-sufficiency that has spawned a multinational business built around the notion of cooperation rather than competition that might serve as a model for others to follow.
Dining in the Basque Country
One might expect an abundance of seafood when dining in the Basque Country and that expectation is correct. However, Basque cuisine is far more diverse. Excellent dishes can be found in many restaurants throughout the region featuring ham, chicken, sheep or lamb, and fresh vegetables. No trip to the Basque Country would be complete without trying the Basque equivalent of tapas known as pintxos. The city of San Sebastian offers one of the highest concentrations of restaurants rated with multiple Michelin stars than any other place in the world.
Visiting Bilbao and the Guggenheim Museum
The port city of Bilbao is world renowned for the Guggenheim Museum found there. Originally, the museum was slated as a remodel of a wine storage warehouse keeping the building’s outer structure as a kind of skirt and building a huge glass box to be inserted inside this superstructure (van Bruggen, 2002) on the banks of the Nervión River. However, when the Guggenheim Foundation engaged Frank O. Gehry as architect, the design took a dramatic turn.
Building on the city’s sea-going and industrial heritage, the museum took shape as sculptural architecture resembling a ship. The museum is now home to modern and contemporary art made up of temporary and permanent exhibits.
A Cooperative Approach to Business
In the heart of the Basque Country, the Mondragón Corporación Cooperativa conducts its worldwide operations using a business model built on participation by employees and cooperation between and among the more than 260 businesses that make up the Mondragón group. The Mondragón group includes training and research arms as well as distribution and financial services groups that work together to provide financial security and generate new employment for the businesses in the cooperatives as well as the employees of each business. The democratic and cooperative nature of the business enterprise allows the group to focus on long-term goals rather than short term returns on investment and the vagaries of the stock market.
Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta conceived of the Mondragón cooperative model as a way of creating jobs and ensuring the economic viability of the community they served. He encouraged self-criticism as a way of building effective businesses and invited the participation of the entire community and all participants in the venture. “Cooperatives resolve some problems, not all problems. Let us evaluate cooperatives for the problems they resolve and for the potential they give to confront broader and deeper problems” wrote Arizmendiarrieta (n. d., p. 201). He felt that vitality was achieved, in part, through the ability to adapt (p. 99).
The vitality Arizmendiarrieta sought for the Mondragón enterprises is also characteristic of the entire Basque Country. Travelers on a business trip or visiting the area as a vacation destination will not be disappointed.
References:
Arizmendiarrieta, J. M. (n. d.). Reflections. C. Herrera, C. Herrera, D. Herrera, T. Lorenzo, & V. Lorenzo, Trans.). Mondragón, Spain: Otalora.
Van Bruggen, C. (2002). Frank O. Gehry Guggenheim Museum Bilbao. New York: Guggenheim Museum Publications.
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