CORE COMPETENCIES IN THE PRODUCTION OF SPECIALTY COFFEES: A CASE STUDY IN A FARM IN THE CERRADO MINEIRO

Abstract

The specialty coffee market has undergone significant changes in its value chain. Thus, the new
determinants of the competitive advantage of this sector have become technological innovation
and product differentiation. In this way, specific competencies are required of the companies
operating in this segment. Aiming at this, we sought to identify the essential competences in a
farm producing specialty coffees in the Cerrado Mineiro region. For that, a qualitative approach
was used and the case study strategy was chosen. As a research technique, the semi-structured
interview was used. The corpus of the study comprises five interviews with employees who
hold leadership positions in the management of the company. The model proposed by Hafeez,
Zhang and Malak (2002) was used to identify the essential competences, which starts from the
identification of the following aspects: (i) resources; (ii) capabilities and; (iii) organizational
skills. It was observed that Fazenda São Luiz has a legacy in the specialty coffee market, with
all its culture and strategies being supported by family learning. These characteristics
corroborated to identify three essential organizational competencies of the organization, which
are: Image, Innovation and Quality. It can be seen that the three competencies identified present
themselves dynamically and overlap one another, reinforcing the interdependence between
them. In addition, they are present in different ways, in organizational practices and in decision
making.