This essay discusses the nature of the co-operative agricultural enterprise, from the point of view of contractual relationships, based on the approach of the New Institutional Economics and particularly the Transactions Costs Economics. The intention of this study was to analyze enterprise growth and adaptation capacity, in terms of survival in the marketplace, and the problems due to this growth. It was verified that the co-operative enterprise, given the cost of timing the total capital, and the costs of financial management, shows greater viability while the co-operative is a small enterprise. The necessary growth process imposes greater organizational support for transactions costs and the agency on the co-operative enterprise, when compared with other forms of enterprise organization. It is also possible to indicate the need to change the capital structure co-operatives of the throughout the process of making capital available so the enterprise can sustain the growth and adaptation process, allowing survival in the marketplace.
transactions costs economics; agency; co-operatives; agribusiness
