TENSIONS IN COOPETITION BETWEEN GYPSY AND NON-GYPSY BREWERIES IN THE LIGHT OF ACTOR-NETWORK THEORY
Description
The search for market expansion challenges Brazilian craft breweries. Based on coopetition strategies, many join in seeking to overcome these challenges. For gypsy breweries, the challenge is even greater, as they must produce beer in a non-gypsy brewery. Some tensions emerge from this relationship, such as space availability and costs. From the Actor-Network Theory, we analyze the relationship between gypsy and non-gypsy breweries, deepening the analysis of their tensions. Based on a case study with craft breweries in Rio de Janeiro State, it was highlighted that the tension between them starts at a level not mentioned in the literature on coopetition. As a nonhuman actor, the factory is also a generator of tension in the relationship between the breweries. This extension expands the existing literature on coopetition by highlighting the influence of nonhuman elements (e.g., resources, equipment, and operations) in shaping interorganizational relationships. The study offers insights into how actors (human and nonhuman) navigate, interact, and negotiate tensions to achieve mutual goals. By applying Actor-Network Theory to analyze coopetition dynamics, the study contributes to the theoretical framework by demonstrating how this approach can enhance understanding of complex mechanisms, processes, and relationships through which coopetition dynamics unfold in practice.