Press release University-Business Talent Transfer Plan EROSKI PROMOTES A TALENT AND INTRA/ENTREPRENEURSHIP DEVELOPMENT ECOSYSTEM TOGETHER WITH MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY and EROSKI enter into an agreement to attract and develop talent It establishes a collaboration framework for the implementation of new business management methodologies, technical knowledge transfer and continuous training EROSKI starts a new strategic cycle focused on competitiveness and one of the cornerstones is enhancing the skills of its teams MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY supports the training and development of professionals in companies Oñati, 14 July 2017.- EROSKI and MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY (MU) have entered into a collaboration agreement aimed at the incorporation of new professionals into EROSKI and the transfer of talent between both organizations through continuous training programmes, methodological innovation in business management, technical knowledge transfer and the creation of a new ecosystem for new intra/entrepreneurship projects at EROSKI. This collaboration framework agreement was signed this morning by the Rector of MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY, Vicente Atxa, and the Chairman of EROSKI, Agustín Markaide. With this agreement, EROSKI seeks to promote an internal entrepreneurship programme for innovation projects which leverage its competitiveness strategy defined for the next years. To this end, EROSKI and MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY will embark on a University-Business talent transfer plan in areas such as innovation project management, design thinking methodologies, open innovation platforms… In keeping with their cooperative culture, EROSKI and MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY will work together in the design of new participation channels for Customer Members aimed at the continuous improvement of the service provided at the “with you” new generation stores. Moreover, through University-Business dual teams they will tackle different projects in the next few months such as those defined in the areas of E-Commerce, Recommendation and Suggestion Systems for related products, utmost freshness in the Fruits and Vegetables section and operational improvements at the check-out line of the stores. Moreover, through this agreement, MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY becomes a partner of the “summa” training programme for new managers which EROSKI is currently carrying out as an innovation driver. “It is a natural alliance between two organizations of the cooperative type which establishes a new framework for inter-cooperation so as to construct new competitive advantages based on the comprehensive training and development of the people in both organizations”, the Chairman of EROSKI, Agustín Markaide, pointed out. Promoting the professional and personal development of EROSKI’s teams is one of the three pillars of the Strategic Plan for 2020, placing the training of people as one of the key elements of the competitive improvement. Last year, EROSKI already increased the number of internal training hours by 20%, which resulted in more than 210,000 hours. “The new technologies are transforming some aspects of the distribution value chain and the construction of new competitive advantages poses a challenge for companies which usually goes beyond their own limits and makes it necessary to combine internal and external knowledge”, Markaide explained. The rector of MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY, Vicente Atxa, pointed out during his intervention that “the professional profiles required by companies are now changing due to the technological acceleration which all sectors are going through. Our University wants to become a strategic collaborator of EROSKI’s through this agreement, in order to implement talent attraction and development strategies which will enable this organization to fulfil its strategic objectives. In addition to this, and based on the experience accrued by MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY in the development of Entrepreneurship, Innovation and Leadership programmes, we want to help turn EROSKI into a intra/entrepreneurial ecosystem”. About MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY MONDRAGON UNIVERSITY is a non-profit cooperative university of social vocation and public interest within the MONDRAGON Corporation. It comprises four Faculties: Business Studies, Engineering, Humanities and Education and Gastronomic Sciences (Basque Culinary Center). The activities it carries out include university training, continuous training for professionals as well as research, development and transfer. Its mission is “the transformation of society through the comprehensive training of people and the generation and transfer of knowledge”. About EROSKI EROSKI is the first distribution group of the cooperative type in Spain and a leading operator in the regions of Galicia, Basque Country, Navarre, Catalonia and the Balearic Islands. It has a network of 1,837 shops, including supermarkets, hypermarkets and other stores involved in various businesses. It has more than 7 million customer members and 33,162 cooperative members and workers. It is currently developing a new strategic plan for the next four years in which the top priorities are to compete in each of the markets where it is present, place the Customer Member in the centre of its strategy and enhance the skills of its teams. Information: EROSKI Mondragon University Corporate Communication Manager Xusane de Miguel Ortiz Xurdana Fernández, Phone: 946 211 214 VK Comunicación [email protected] Phone: 944 015 306 / Mobile: 629 753 336 Press Office – Consejeros del Norte [email protected] Joana G. Landazabal / Edurne Izquierdo Phone: 944 158 642 .