COOPETIÇÃO ENTRE CAFEICULTORES, COOPERATIVAS E ASSOCIAÇÕES: EVIDÊNCIAS NO MERCADO BRASILEIRO DE CAFÉS ESPECIAIS

The purpose of this study is to describe how simultaneous competition and collaboration, a phenomenon known as coopetition, are presented at different levels of interaction sustained by specialty coffee producers. In a context of dynamics, intense and heterogeneous interaction between various players, such as the Geographical Indications (GIs) for coffee, coffee growers engage in interorganizational relationships with each other, and through cooperatives and associations, allowing coopetition to manifest itself at different levels. distinct. Given the incipient coopetitive approach in the primary sector, exploratory qualitative research was adopted to identify and better understand this relationship dynamics. Data for the research were collected from semi-structured interviews with 20 actors that make up the GIs of Alta Mogiana and the Cerrado Mineiro Region: coffee growers, cooperatives, supporting institutions and association managers. The results were separated into relationships that promote competition and cooperation, in order to reveal the complexity of their practices, in a context that requires product and process innovation. The description involved the levels of coffee grower-coffee grower, cooperative-cooperative and association-association, and the need for cooperation was omnipresent in the commercial sphere, and competition was manifested in products, processes, services and finance. In coffee GIs, coopetition coexists within the individual, the company, the association, the cooperative, from the intra-organizational level to the inter-network level, opening paths for future contributions.