CAN COOPETITION BE A WINNING STRATEGY FOR SMALL FRUITS PRODUCTION COMPANIES IN SICILY?

In the last few years the agriculture sector has shown a significant slowdown due to economic crisis. On the one hand, the reduction in the purchasing power of households has determined a decrease in the demand for food and agricultural products, on the other hand, there has been a reduction in the income of the farmers. This has inevitably led to implement business strategies to counter the exponential reduction in profitability required to survive in an increasingly competitive environment. The literature on corporate strategies is particularly large, however, the majority of authors identify competition and cooperation as "the driving forces" for economic and social progress (Hurta and Hilda, 2007). The aim of this paper is to verify if a co-opetition can represent a strategy for the success of small fruits companies operating in Sicily. The study carried out through a two step framework showed, on the one hand, that the co-opetition is an opportunity for the entrepreneurs in the start-up and in the distribution phases, and on the other hand, that the low propensity to invest in the small fruits sector by horticultural producers in the region, leads consequeltly to a non-profitable market.