The importance of a port complex for the agribusiness cooperatives in the state of Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

The sustainability of businesses has become a frequent concern in the organizational and academic environment. The same applies to the agribusiness area. In the state of Rio Grande do Sul, there is an intense relationship between its economic performance and the success of the agricultural industry. This paper focuses on the cooperatives’ perspective. In this context, the pressure for survival on the cooperative systems is intensified by economic, social and political factors. There is a growing movement of profissionalization in order to improve management practices. Therefore, there is a new posture in the cooperatives, maintaining the doctrinal philosophy, but including professional management and focus on the market. This paper presents an exploratory case study, based on a qualitative approach. It intends to identify the advantages and possible disadvantages of exporting/importing products through the Grain Port Grain Complex (CPTT) on the basis of the perception of the cooperatives’ managers. It also intends to identify whether there is a difference in the perception of managers of cooperatives that belong to the State Central Milk Cooperative (CCGL) and those of cooperatives that do not belong to it in terms of the use of the port’s facilities. The main results point to CPTT as a fundamental resource for the growth and strengthening of a cooperative system. Besides, the article identifies characteristics of a new generation of cooperatives proposed by Bialoskorki Neto (1994, 2000 e 2001), such as: i) establishment of strategic alliances between the cooperatives; (ii) sharing of resources; (iii) search for internationalization; and (iv) shared control of capital companies.

Key words: cooperatives, resources, logistic advantages.