Cooperation as a key factor to increase local companies’ competitiveness: a descriptive analysis

Abstract

This study intends to present a characterization of the entrepreneurial group of a rural area of Portugal and focuses on the difficulties they face and expectations they have in current economy. We focus on one district that reunites nine municipalities. We aimed at understanding how in this small, isolated and deprived region a company can succeed competing in global markets. Such possibility as our object of analysis concerns companies of rural housing and production of endogenous products that have gourmet potential. Thus a study was conducted in the local enterprises. A qualitative approach followed and by means of in-depth interviews it was possible to understand the companies, their main difficulties, their current commercialization paths and the possibility of having both an online presence and a reality where they work together. It was possible to understand that the majority of the enterprises feel that it is very hard to work in the regions, that they face difficulties to increase their commercialization geographic and they all feel that a partnership, a cooperation between companies could help them reach further the public. The possibility was to create a common platform to commercialize both areas.