Trabalho institucional de constituição de mercados: perspectivas de agentes influentes no estado de Minas Gerais sobre o segmento de cerveja artesanal.

Abstract

Beer is an ancient beverage that has traversed human history, establishing rituals, beliefs, symbolisms, crafts, organizations, and markets. In Brazil, records indicate its production since the mid-seventeenth century, although its market consolidation occurred from the 1830s onward. Initially, this market exhibited heterogeneous configurations, with a predominance of small producers adopting distinct production techniques and commercial strategies. With the advent of new production technologies from the twentieth century onward, the beer market was reconfigured through the expansion of large-capital firms. These companies acquired smaller breweries, expanded their operational reach, and standardized processes and products, leading to the domination of the sector by large conglomerates. However, by the late 1990s, agents interested in producing, consuming, and commercializing beer through recipes, production processes, and business models that challenged the hegemony of the established market began to emerge in the country. This movement resulted in the formation of the so-called “craft” segment, constituting a fraction of the sector characterized by its own activities, practices, and discourses. Within this context, this study sought to investigate the institutional work involved in the market constitution of the craft beer segment, focusing on the actions of influential agents in the state of Minas Gerais. The qualitative research takes this state as its locus of analysis due to its significant role in structuring the segment, despite the fact that little has been documented regarding the relevance of Minas Gerais in this field. Epistemologically constructionist, the research is grounded in Institutional Theory and, more specifically, in the Institutional Work perspective, with the aim of describing the processes of institutional creation, maintenance, and disruption that have formed and/or sustained the segment. Additionally, the study is anchored in the assumptions of the Sociology of Markets, also from an institutional perspective. Data were collected through nonparticipant observation in productive organizations and events, documentary research, and semistructured interviews with 51 agents located in or influential within the beer network of the state. Thematic Content Analysis was employed as the methodological tool. The results describe the historical-institutional construction of the segment in Minas Gerais. Subsequently, the main institutional works directed toward the constitution and continuity of the segment are presented, characterizing the practices and discourses embedded in the cognitive-cultural, normative, and regulatory dimensions of the institutions operating in the market. Finally, the effects of these activities are reported, such as new institutional works aimed at expanding the craft beer field in Brazil. The main contributions of the research lie in documenting the brewing history of Minas Gerais based on its institutions, presenting market constitution practices that can be replicated in other sectors, and offering an innovative analytical approach by applying Institutional Work theory to market constitution, thereby providing support for new analytical possibilities. Keywords: craft beer; institutional work; market formation.