Fatores internos associados à decisão de diversificação nas cooperativas agropecuárias

Abstract

The incorporation of competitive strategies has been one of the several alternatives of the agricultural cooperatives in the search for gains in efficiency and competitiveness before the globalization ofthe markets. In this context, the central question of this paper is whether diversification is or is not a competitive strategy for a agricultural cooperative. So, the objectives of this study Were to evaluate the factors associated to the diversification decision in the agricultural cooperatives, and to relate this strategy to the improvement of the organization's competitive position. The high number ofthe diversified cooperatives and the wider relation of the new businesses and products with the main activity of the cooperative were revealed as an important tool to be used by formulators of the fomentation policies in the sector, because the higher frequency of the concentric diversification does represent a competitive advantage as generally allows to the cooperatives to have a higher efficiency in using the common resources.