Luciano Barin-Cruz

Internal and external pressures: How does an organic cotton production network learn to keep its hybrid nature?

Purpose – This study aims to investigate how an organic cotton production network learns to maintain its hybrid network and its sustainability in the face of internal and external pressures.Design/methodology/approach – A qualitative case study was conducted in Justa Trama, a Brazilian‐based organic cotton production network formed by six members with different roles and organisational logics.Findings – The study contributes to the literature on hybrid organisations by suggesting that in the case of networks, a compromise strategy is required at the internal level and a manipulation strategy is required at the external level. The network has to learn how to engineer a compromise among internal members and to enforce change among external institutions to maintain its sustainability.Social implications – The study was performed in Brazil, a country with serious social and environmental problems. The study thus informs managers of social economy organisations on how to deal with internal and external pressur...