Barreiras ao desempenho das propriedades produtoras de flores de corte: uma análise nos municípios e Barbacena e Alfredo Vasconcelos – Minas Gerais

Abstract

Barbacena and Alfredo Vasconcelos are two municipalities of the Central region of Minas Gerais, Brazil, with tradition in the production of flowers in the state. Despite the tradition of more than a century, in recent years, the presence of barriers on the performance of the producing properties is noted. Considering the growth of the internal demand and the possibility of the municipalities resuming in exporting flowers and cuts, in the present research, we sought to identify which are these barriers. Guided by the View based on Resources, in the Organizational Capacity theory and the New Institutional Economy, the main barriers derived from the Enterprise Environment (internal) and Organizational/Institutional Environment (external) were surveyed. In order to do this, thirty-three producers were interviewed by means of a structured questionnaire. After the descriptive analysis, which aimed at characterizing the producing properties and discussing the factors that constitute barriers, a ranking of the means of the responses was calculated. Thus, we verified that the main barriers of the Enterprise Environment were found in its managerial dimension. Regarding the Organizational/Institutional Environment, the producers highlighted the availability of labor as the main barrier. The properties were divided into two heterogeneous groups, by means of a cluster analysis, separating those most and least sensitive to the barriers. In the discriminating analysis, we verified that the groups were discriminated by the barriers of tradition in consuming flowers in the region, technical information on the application of agrochemicals, access to intermediates, diversification and access to credit. The groups were discriminated by the contraction or not of professionals of the technical area and regarding the responsible for the management of the property. In this study were approached the organizational capacities such as allocation of the many resources capable of generating competitive advantages. Thus, we verified that the producers presenting a good performance, that is, that are satisfied with the activity, by the price received with the flowers as well as the disposition to increase production, despite the existence of barriers, meet the quality demands, follow technical orientation on the application of agrochemicals, have disposition in renovating and diversifying the production. Therefore, according to that defended by the theory, the firm is not completely passive in face of the restrictions imposed by the external environment, allowing the creation of exclusive organizational capacities capable of overcoming barriers. Finally, with the knowledge of the main barriers, individual and collective actions capable of confronting them are expected, in order to foster the production of flowers in Barbacena and Alfredo Vasconcelos and to increase the commercialization of the product.