Technological and competitive strategy of agribusiness enterprises of the north of Paraná

Abstract

The study identifies and analys es technological and competitive strategies of agribusiness companies of the north of Paraná in the period of 1997/99. METHODOLOGY: After analyzing the determinants of strategies in agribusiness companies in economic literature, a questionnaire was developed in order to verify the conduct of firms during 1997/99. A random selection was made and questionnaires were used in four companies in 1997 and in nine companies companies of the north of Paraná in 1999. RESULTS: The companies claim to look for new technologies due to survival. The lack of financial resources is a great obstacle to accomplish expenses with technology. The main sources of technological training are the internal expenses in research and development and the technology transfer. The changes involve release of new products and acquisition of more modern equipments, due to the competition. The adopted changes intend to reduce costs, to improve quality of the products, to assist customers’ demands and to face competitive. CONCLUSION: The companies plan and invest in technology, acquiring cumulative advantages of cost, quality and differentiation. The impacts of the exchange depreciation were not significant in the technological strategies; the costs were middling affected and final prices incorporated partially the increasing of costs in 1999. The exchange shock affected the strategic behavior and altered the technological behavior of the companies.