Competitive gains in the constitution of a cooperative in a village in the rural area of the municipality of Tracuateua, PA

Abstract Faced with an increasingly globalized and competitive economic market, the formation of solidarity economies and cooperation practices are plausible opportunities for small companies’ development to maintain competitiveness and survival, becoming a path not only to economic but also to human and social development. Therefore, this research aimed to study what competitive gains can be provided to small producers of cassava flour in the village of Manoel dos Santos, a rural area of the municipality of Tracuateua, PA, if they constituted a worker cooperative. The profile of cooperation between producers and the economic environment in case the cooperation takes place was studied, characterizing this research as exploratory with a qualitative methodology. For data collection, the observer researcher and the participant researcher were used as means to carry out interviews, guided by a semi-structured questionnaire and adopting discourse analysis to formulate the results. It was concluded that the constitution of the work cooperative becomes viable, as it can provide the four competitive gains studied (access to solutions, learning and innovation, risk and cost reduction, and social relations). In addition to the results presenting a positive projection of future economic gains with the installed cooperative, most producers are characterized as engaged and committed to the project. This study becomes relevant as it demonstrates that academic knowledge can transform a group of small individual farmers, providing possible alternatives for income generation and social development.