O suporte das associações de interesse privado em canais de distribuição de produtos diferenciados: um estudo de caso no mercado de cafés especiais

Abstract

The deregulation of the coffee market promoted the creation of a new institutional scenario, with a pursuit for investments in differentiation strategies and the creation of private interest associations oriented toward implementing them. With the changes in the institutional and competitive environment, private interest associations are reformulating their strategies and beginning to address their members as customers. To that end, they are seeking to provide members with suitable institutional support for generation of new business deals, increased gains and maintenance of the existing business. It is thus appropriate to discuss the growing role of associations of Brazilian coffee growers, placing emphasis on the support that these organizations offer to their members so as to allow them to work in the distribution channels of differentiated products. The purpose of this research is to discuss the role of an association of Brazilian coffee growers in the support to its members as well as its influence on Brazilian specialty coffee growers. This theme is believed to have importance to the coffee sector, especially at a time when the coffee market is creating opportunities for differentiation. It is a case study about the role of a private interest association from the standpoint of New Institutional Economics, with the use of qualitative and quantitative data and an emphasis on the perception of its members. As a function of the positive perception of members as to the role of the association as a facilitating agent for these new types of business, the findings of the research study ratify the theory that this type of organization contributes to the buildup of trust among partners, lessens information asymmetry and reduces transaction costs. The discussion in this research demonstrates that, in order to understand the role of private interest associations in the support to specialty coffee growers, we need to put them into the institutional environment context. In deregulated markets, the case studied reveals that initiatives from private interest associations are essential to develop opportunities in distribution channels composed of customers willing to pay a premium for the product.