The objective of this study was to evaluate the diversification in the agricultural cooperatives, and to relate this strategy to the improvement of the organization's competitive position. As a theoretical referential, the theory of the growth of the Firm was adopted. It supports the resource-based as perspective. The econometric model Logit was used to determine the impact of the variables associated to the decision for diversification. For data collection, it was used a survey on a representative sample of cooperatives distributed in the States of Minas Gerais and São Paulo. The results showed that among the conditioners that are negatively related to diversification are the operational result by cooperative member, the total patrimony and the cooperative type. On the other hand, the increases in age, in employee numbers and in the operational leftovers also positively influenced the diversification in the cooperatives. Also, a positive correlation occurred between diversification and the measures of result and performance.
diversification; agricultural cooperatives; competitive strategy
