The knowledge-based agricultural cooperative: a validation from the Trentino case

The new agri-food market scenario is considered a detrimental factor for the competitiveness and financial equilibria of the agricultural cooperatives. According to this vision, as a result of the saturation and globalization process, the shift of the specific investment at the forward level of the supply chain (i.e., for the brand development, or for R&D activities) would be a serious threat for the cooperative model. On the contrary, this contribution will attempt to explain and demonstrate that this institutional design continues to play a strategic role also in the new competitive environment. In particular, the adoption of the knowledge-based theory of the firm combined with the ‘open innovation’ approach permits to update the role of modern agricultural cooperatives. This theoretical approach will be tested studying a sample of agricultural cooperatives operating in the province of Trento, in Northern-East Italy.