| dc.description.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. | en |
