Being competitive without ceasing to be cooperative: a sistemic analysis proposal for the dilemma cooperatives face

Abstract

Adversities, generally, have the capacity to generate behaviors that aggregate people. The objective of this work is to propose an analytical structure, using approaches such as social entrepreneurship, culture, knowledge and cooperation, to treat systematically the competitiveness dilemma that agricultural cooperatives face. The premise of this structure is that the social entrepreneurship that supports organizations such as agricultural cooperatives brings together culture, knowledge and a cooperative stance, which tend to influence the performance of the organization through their presence in its other internal factors. The basic concept of a cooperative organization is its most important differentiating factor because it presupposes that the purpose of the system is not merely financial. While organizations in general need to build value systems that incorporate social-environmental concerns in their structure, cooperative or ganizations are built on this kind of value system.