Several SME“s of the Serra Gaścha, a prosperous region in the Northeast of the state of Rio Grande do Sul (Brazil),
have noted lately that they were becoming less competitive. The solution they found to increase competitiveness was
to establish a conducive environment for cooperation among them, a process fostered by the Collaborative Networks
Program of the state government. Eight out of 25 networks were investigated under the perspective of strategies for
change, the learning process, and competitive positioning. Despite some weaknesses, several benefits have been
obtained by the networks investigated, including increase in negotiation bargaining, cooperation, leadership
development, experience sharing, logistics improvement, management development, packaging standardization, and
paradigms changing. |