A intercooperação como princípio para criação de uma plataforma digital no sistema cooperativo agropecuário do Rio Grande do Sul

Abstract

The context of the development of the thesis is linked with the competitive environment of agribusinesses in Brazil and the world, the actions of companies operating in this industry, and the role of digital platforms. An existing gap was noticed in terms of consistent initiatives on the part of the Cooperatives that operate in this industry. This work used the principle of cooperation among cooperatives to create a digital platform with cooperatives associated with the Federation of Agricultural Cooperatives of Rio Grande do Sul – FecoAgro/RS. The research adopted the action research method. The operationalisation of the method led to the creation of four specific, consecutive, and interrelated cycles. The first cycle aimed to generate a strategic alignment of thirty cooperatives towards the realisation of an inter-cooperation project, adhering to an environment characterised by the need to generate digital innovations. In this cycle, the collective prioritisation of the strategic objectives was made, considering the possible relational rents resulting from intercooperation. In cycle two, the project's governance structure was conceived and built. Additionally, three projects were elaborated adopting the notion of Minimum Viable Product (MVP). In cycle three, the digital platform was built by a specialised software house, bringing together the three MVPs. Finally, the fourth cycle dealt with the instantiation of the platform through its diffusion and its use in a real environment. The construction of the platform considered the possibility of relational rents and the adoption of concepts used by platform cooperativism. One year after the launch of the platform, it had more than 5,000 active users, including technicians and associated producers, and an area corresponding to 800,000 hectares already inserted and mapped onto the platform. Furthermore, the platform created, exchanging and combining scarce and complementary knowledge from various actors, became a unique product, difficult to imitate, and can be considered a sustainable competitive advantage for cooperatives linked to FecoAgro/RS.