COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF THE COMPETITIVENESS OF NETWORKED AND ISOLATED FAMILY AGROINDUSTRIES: THE CASE OF THE MID-WEST OF SANTA CATARINA STATE

Abstract

The industrialisation of the family farm production, in the context of the farm, is one of the main alternatives to the insertion of the productive unit in the market. However, many studies point the low competitiveness of the family agroindustries in Brazil, while others demonstrate the existence of a great number of family agroindustries working in the rural institutional environment of the Southern region. This study aims to analyze, by comparation, the competitiveness of the family agroindustries organized as a network under the Unidade Central das Agroindústrias Familiares do Oeste Catarinense (Ucaf) and the isolated ones, in the circumscription of the Associação dos Municípios da Região Oeste de Santa Catarina (Amosc). A methodology using 'direcioners' for the analysis of performance of the competitiveness was applied. It is supported by New Institucional Economy, Transaction Costs Economy, "New Competition" and the approach of the Interorganizational Networks. The results indicate an improved performance of competitiveness in family agroindustries organized in networks as compared with the isolated individual producers.