摘要：The present article aimed at analyzing some characteristics of the milk cooperatives from Brazil, as well as to show the competitive difficulties faced by this part of the milk chain. Therefore, it was necessary to investigate the bases that contributed to the formation of the current competitive environment in which such milk chain is inserted. Thus, it is observed that the market has become dynamic, complex and challenging, demanding quick responses from the companies in what concerns the new tendencies. Based on such new tendencies a conceptual theoretical discussion of several authors found in the literature was carried out in this study in order to incorporate key-elements that could configure an appropriate analysis of the mentioned issue. By admitting such analysis, it was possible to verify the difficulties faced by the milk cooperatives in the sense of meeting certain minimum requirements of competitiveness. The adoption of strategic associations among milk cooperatives in order to assure a better competitive performance was a solution suggested for such problem.
