|
This paper aims at integrating diversification strategies (horizontal, lateral and vertical integration) and expansion strategies (operation area and membership) to financial models in Brazilian agro-industrial cooperatives, as current literature suggests that both are important to cooperative financial results. Several studies have tried to assess the importance of diversification in the agricultural cooperative financial outcomes, but not entirely successfully. To attempt this, we used Structural Equation Modelling to combine these three concepts in a working model. The findings suggest that while expansion is directly responsible for both the financial output and the diversification strategy appearance, no hard evidence was found to support that diversification of production in an agro-industrial cooperative leads to positive financial results. A few adaptations in measurement variables for diversification were done since they are treated as business sensitive, and slight distortions could be present. Nonetheless this paper contributes both theoretically and practically to the development of the agro-industrial production studies.
|
