Network dynamics applied in the research of coffee

Abstract

The dynamics of a Brazilian collaborative research coffee network was studied making use of sociometric methods and the network and institutionalism theories. The relevance of this particular network (and so, of this paper) is the presence of the national consortium, an exclusive and unique interventional instrument that acts over the research system. This paper intends to point out the different strategies put into action by the central organizations of the consortium – its primary aim – as well as to look at the validity of some theoretical propositions in general accepted by the academics. While most part of them was found sustained by the evidences, others (the Coleman relationship density-cohesion indeed) failed at the test. This seems to call for a more depth study to explain the case. In parallel, we developed the indicator “Exogeny Degree” that has proved useful for this network analysis research, and we were able to provide a structural description of the network into account.