The strategy of forming networks in the Brazilian supermarket sector has become an important alternative for Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) which are searching for better positions to face competition from large companies in the industry. In this sense, the purpose of the study is to analyze the competitive benefits and perceived conflicts of interest in the participation of the supermarket sector in horizontal networks in the southern region of Minas Gerais. Thus, a multicase, qualitative study was conducted, using secondary data (mainly by industry associations) and primary data collected through interviews with 8 participants of the horizontal network (Unissul). These network were chosen because of its strong presence in the southern region of Minas Gerais. The interviews were handled by Content Analysis, with the help of the software Sphinx lexica 5.0. The results proves that main competitive benefits can be appointed as a social capital and relationship learning among members, the joint work in promotional newspapers production, training programs and own brands. On the other hand, the conflicts arised owing to individuals incompatibilities, supplier's problem and decisions about promotional newspapers. This conflicts are seen as barriers to the complete use of these benefits, to the extent that the associativism undermine the culture of the satisfaction of partial goals, which sometimes evolve to opportunistic practices.
horizontal networks; Competitive benefits; Conflicts; Supermarket sector; Sphinx 5.0
