Impactos da qualidade do relacionamento e dos investimentos específicos no desempenho dos suinocultores brasileiros

Abstract

The research evaluates the impact of the Relationship Quality and the Investments in Specific Assets on the Business Performance of Brazilian pig farmers. Pig meat production in Brazil, as in other countries, has grown based on vertical coordination and production contracts. The increasing need for stable supply of pigs and the environmental uncertainty faced by the companies make them invest in long terms relationships instead of single transactions. On the other hand, pig farmers face the decision of maintain long term contracts or transact with several slaughterhouses. The relationship between firms has been extensively studied, both in Brazil and abroad, especially from approaches of the Transaction Costs Economy and Relationship Quality. The first one has the transaction as the unit of analysis and the second one focuses on long term relationship. While ECT is based on the assumptions of bounded rationality and opportunism QR believes in a relationship based on trust, commitment and satisfaction between partners, and that the assumptions from ECT can be superseded by clear information sharing and higher contact frequency. If there is good Relationship Quality, it is possible that the pig farmer makes more investments in specific assets, increases production scale and improve the quality of his pigs. In the end, these investments will reflect in better Performance, both financial and not. Based on this argument, we measure the Relationship Quality from the dimensions: Satisfaction; Commitment and Trust. A scale for measuring Specific Assets Investments was developed. The Business Performance was measured both by Financial and non Financial Performance variables. Data were collected in different States in Brazil with a questionnaire using likert scales and included the constructs Opportunism, Uncertainty and Frequency. The sample size is 100 pig farmers. The Partial Least Squares Path Modeling (PLS-PM) technique was used to test the hypotheses. As a result, the descriptive statistics show that Relationship Quality is good for pig farmers, as well as their Business Performance, but Investments in Specific Assets are present and important. Interviewees do not perceive existence of Opportunism of the partner, but as Uncertainties exist. The structural model shows that Relationship Quality and Specific Assets Investments have significant impact on interviewed pig farmers Business Performance. Both impacts confirm the main hypotheses. Also, Relationship Quality has positive impact on the Specific Assets Investments. Secondary Uncertainty and Opportunism have negative impact on Relationship Quality. In this sample, Primary and Secondary Uncertainties have no impact on Specific Assets Investments. The Frequency of the Transaction does not show impact on the Specific Assets Investments, in the same way, Contact Frequency does not impact on Relationship Quality.