Abstract:The competitive agribusiness environment has been pressing organizational actors of dairy cooperatives to implement new structures. In this sense, many scholars advocate the existence of isomorphic practices that are not suitable for cooperative enterprises. This theoretical paper assumes that there are strategic actions related to the institutional demands, implemented by cooperative decision makers in relation to environmental pressures. Thus, we aimed to analyze how can be structured such strategic actions in relation to the institutional pressures of two organizational subfields related to cooperative business, in order to maintain the legitimacy of the business. For this, we drafted the projection of five analytical frameworks. As conclusions, it is inferred that a cooperative business restructuring not always tends to express an atomism of decision makers in relation to institutional demands of the organizational field, given that the demands are ambivalent and need to be met in order to obtain minimum level of legitimacy necessary for the organization survival.Key-words: cooperativism, institutional ambivalence, strategy action.
Resumo: O ambiente competitivo do agronegócio tem pressionado os atores organizacionais das cooperativas lácteas para implementar novas estruturações. Nesse sentido, diversos pesquisadores têm percebido a existência de práticas isomórficas que não são adequadas para empreendimentos cooperativos. Este artigo teórico assume que existem ações estratégicas relacionadas as demandas institucionais implementadas pelos tomadores