Abstract

Environmental issues play an important role as regard the direction of the economy and public policy. Even though fragmented scientific knowledge does not interact in dialogue and appropriate continuous flow to sustain economic development, it is placed to ensure the need to seek knowledge capable of capturing the multi-causalities and interdependence in the natural order of processes (production) and social (environmental) which determine and delineate technical, economic indicators (competitiveness). This study analyzed the environmental and technical indicators and their degree of influence on the competitive advantage of forming the value chain of aquaculture enterprises in Capitólio/ MG, Brazil. Two economic streams on business strategies guided the study evidence to a competitive advantage. The first was positioning as a performance attribute inside and outside of organizations and the second recognized the collective capabilities as components of a dynamic value chain inter-related to inclusion and recognition of these components by the market. The methods used in this research included the analysis of biophysical, political, cultural and economic dimensions, with a multidisciplinary view of the indicators in the value chain in order to determine how they can generate competitiveness. This approach used the analysis of strengths and weaknesses as an essential step in defining the interventions needed in the value chain.  These interventions are defined according to the potential of creating competitive advantage in the production cycle as cost control drivers and or product differentiation drivers in the market. The results showed that strengths and weaknesses were directly related to productive activities such as the amount of administered food, stress diminishing and fish mortality, in addition to nutritional deficiencies that impair the final quality of the fish. These results express the possibility of using market share opportunities through the recognition and improvement of analyzed and defined indicators.

Key words: Value chain, core competencies, competitive, competitive intelligence, strategic planning.