Piracema: a metaphor for associative micro-entrepreneurship in Brazil

Abstract

The article examines some of the prerequisites for the emergence of associative entrepreneurial ways and some factors that have focused on their effectiveness in terms of solidarity and efficiency. The field research was conducted through visits to cooperative ventures in rural and urban areas: three from the segment of collection and sorting of recyclable waste, three rural and two microenterprises, besides visits to organizations that provide support of microentrepreneurship. It is concluded that the improvement of living conditions of the entrepreneurs involved and the activation of organizational, relational and troubleshooting capabilities are important elements. In the context researched, the organization in groups has been a factor that enables entrepreneurs to cease being easy prey for a system of uneven and predatory economic growth, to transform themselves into leading actors of a more caring and sustainable way of producing and living, swimming against the tide of globalized capitalism.