Resumo: O objetivo deste estudo foi analisar as influências do ambiente institucional e sociocultural na gestão cooperativista da C. Vale - Cooperativa Agroindustrial comparativamente às unidades brasileiras paranaenses mais representativas e as unidades sediadas no Paraguai. As análises do ambiente institucional tomaram como base a Nova Economia Institucional com ênfase na teoria de Douglass North (1990) sobre as instituições e ocorreram com entrevistas in loco a cada unidade cooperativa contemplada pela amostra. As análises do ambiente cultural pautaram-se na caracterização da cultura organizacional de cada unidade cooperativa, conforme o Competing Value Model desenvolvido por Cameron e Quinn (1998). As análises do ambiente social se embasaram no conceito teórico de capital social e nas respectivas características identificadas nas unidades, por meio da adaptação do modelo proposto pelo grupo de estudos do Banco Mundial (BM), elaborado por Grootaert et al. (2003), via análises de conteúdo e das entrevistas realizadas. Como resultado à problemática estabelecida, concluiu-se que, mesmo a C. Vale sendo uma única cooperativa, há influências do ambiente institucional e sociocultural no processo de gestão nas unidades cooperativas paranaenses e paraguaias. Por fim, conforme a proposta de agrupamento das unidades cooperativas com base nos dados coletados, foram identificados quatro clusters específicos.
Abstract: The purpose of this paper was to analyze the influence of institutional and socio-cultural environment in the cooperative management of the C.Vale - Agroindustrial Cooperative, compared to the most representative units located in Parana, Brazil, and the ones located in Paraguay. The analyses of the institutional environment were based on the New Institutional Economics, with emphasis on the Douglass North’s theory (1990) about the institutions and occurred with in loco interviews in each cooperative unit that was covered by the sample. The analysis of the cultural environment was based on the characterization of the organizational culture of each cooperative unit, according to the Competing Value Model, developed by Cameron and Quinn (1998), that typifies it in group culture, innovative, market and hierarchical, applied to the same managers, through online electronic questionnaire . The analysis of the social environment was based on the theoretical concept of social capital and the respective characteristics identified in the units by adapting the model proposed by the World Bank study group (BM), prepared by Grootaert et al. (2003), through the content analysis of the interviews. As a result to the established problem it was concluded that, even C.Vale being a single cooperative, there are influences of the institutional and the socio-cultural environment in the process of management of the cooperative units in Paraná and Paraguay. Finally, according to the grouping proposal of the cooperative units based on the collected data, four specific clusters were identified.