Performance of the cooperatives in the dairy industry of Brazil: an analysis by strategic groups

Abstract

The objective of this paper was to identify and to analyze the performance the strategic groups of cooperatives in the dairy industry in Brazil. The study was based in the approach of strategic groups and in the conceptual bases of efficiency. After the definition of the efficiency scores for the Data Envelopment Analysis, the cluster analysis was used to define the strategic groups. The results pointed out the limited efficiency of the cooperatives and they made possible to build four strategic groupings: scale and differentiation, bargain, niche and village. Considering the best performance of the scale and differentiation, and bargain cooperatives, it is possible to conclude that the efficiency is more strongly associated to the vectors of strategic positioning and to the production scale.