Why did we choose this company?
There are a lot of organizations that talk about problems of disabled people. In an attempt to help they arrange charity events and raise funds to entertain and enhance care of handicapped. However, this is not enough: the paternalized need not only monetary help and recreation, they want to feel equal to other people. La Fageda is a company that first listened to the persons they wanted to help and then found a business model that allowed to efficiently involve disabled people in the production. The staff of La Fageda feels happy and satisfied. Finally the situation of handicapped people completely changed: they do not ask for help, now they do something useful for the society. While talk is cheap, work might be meaningful and profitable.
Main facts about the activities of the company
La Fageda is a non-lucrative Catalan cooperative with a social aim. It was started up by a group of psycotherapists in `La Fageda d’en Jordà ´ (Olot - Catalonia). The idea came from Cristobal Colón Palasí, when he realized that patients performing useless tasks during the work-therapy sessions at hospitals did not feel self-fulfilled. Palasí suggested to change “Let’s do as if we are at work” approach with a new one: “Let’s do something worthy for society”.
Although the productivity of La Fageda is below the average (due to the fact that half of the workers are handicapped), its turnover in 2006 amounted to €7.264.000 ($11.280.300). Apart from the milk production company’s profits also come from the contributions of different institutions. La Fageda employs all these earnings to cover workers’ assistance and to reinvest in improving company’s facilities.
The firm operates in a highly-competitive sector challenging market shares of Danone and Nestlé. La Fageda’s prices are substantially higher than average (a pack of 4 natural yogurts of La Fageda costs €1.48 while the same 4-yogurth pack for Danone is €1.09, so Fageda’s prices are more than a 20% higher than those of its rivals) but for the moment it is in the top-3 in terms of sales and invoicing for the area of Catalonia. This fact clearly demonstrates that consumers are not only willing to pay for the product itself, they are committed to contribute to the company’s social mission implementation.
Ethical challenges the company is addressing and reasons to trust in it
The mission of “La Fageda” is the social integration of handicapped people by employing them indefinitely at cooperative work and ensuring them a future. This idea is upheld by main company values: solidarity and comprehension. At La Fageda handicapped workers are perceived not as disabled, but instead as people with different capacities and competences who need a special learning program but are not inferior to the others. Company’s managers listen to all staff members and have a personalized approach towards each of them.
Milk diary production is the main, but not the only one activity performed by La Fageda. If employees are not psychologically prepared to stay all day long with machines they are offered many others working places in gardening, nursery and farming sections. Moreover, pursuing the goal of maximizing possible welfare for its staff the company takes account of the additional assistance to satisfy employees’ needs and provides workers with flats, special leisure activities, etc.
Challenges the company might face in the future and ways to improve
Part of the company’s success may also be attributed to the vertically integrated structure, privileged location of the farms and control over the product quality on each of the production stages. Although triumphant in Catalonia the firm does not want to commercialize its products abroad because the company’s value chain based on the close “family” relationship and mutual help between the members of society might not prove sustainable for a bigger scale.
Despite these constraints La Fageda sticks to its principles and keeps on evolving. It is difficult to extend the geographical boundaries being a small firm - that is why La Fageda is approaching the issue from other side. Recently the company set up `Clade´, the first Catalan group of cooperatives that has an important role in different sectors and hopefully will help La Fageda to further promote its mission.
Ideas for future business:
“Instead of doing as if we are at work let’s do something worthy for the society”
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