Abstract
Competitiveness results from factors beyond the structural conditions and organizational boundaries, such as interorganizational cooperation. Evidence gathered in Brazilian credit unions suggests there is a social process in the firm for generating organizational capabilities and economic goods to satisfy needs defined by social structures in charge of solving market failures and structural deficiencies in the productive system. An exploratory and descriptive multiple case study with longitudinal qualitative data implemented using a systematic, computer-supported Process Tracing technique can refine a mathematical model of social phenomenon relying on a sequence of decision-making events of deterministic nature. Two case studies revealed that firms maintain relationships of cooperation and contribution with partners and structures in their organizational and environmental surroundings whenever their economic performance is constrained by competitive problems of systemic nature, for which there is no solution based on the mechanisms of market price and state intervention.
Highlights
Competitiveness may be defined as the level of capabilities and performance of firms, industries, and political-administrative regions for the efficient exploitation of factors of production and the adequate supply of goods and services to the market in contrast with their competitors over time (OECD, 1994).Trying to explain the phenomenon of competitiveness, several theoretical frameworks recognise both exogenous and endogenous factors such as structural and conjunctural conditions of the economy and non-inherited productive resources
We present the results of each within-case analysis, that is, the systemic competence development processes discovered in each credit union as sequences of capabilities and economic goods generated by the firm in the search for solutions to a systemic problem
São Roque de Minas is a Brazilian municipality located in the Canastra Mountains, in the midwest of the state of Minas Gerais (MG), with 2,108 km2 and a population that has remained steady for at least twenty years at about seven thousand inhabitants
Summary
Competitiveness may be defined as the level of capabilities and performance of firms, industries, and political-administrative regions for the efficient exploitation of factors of production and the adequate supply of goods and services to the market in contrast with their competitors over time (OECD, 1994).Trying to explain the phenomenon of competitiveness, several theoretical frameworks recognise both exogenous and endogenous factors such as structural and conjunctural conditions of the economy and non-inherited productive resources. All models of competitiveness – as the Diamond model (Porter, 1990), the Structural model (OECD, 1992) and the Systemic model (Esser, Hillebrand, Messner, & Meyer-Stamer, 1996) – assume this phenomenon is a result of the resource productivity and innovative capacity of firms. These competitive factors contribute to the expansion and diversification of the supply with reduction of market prices, fostering economic growth. These models diverge from each other regarding the type of process by which the phenomenon of competitiveness takes place
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