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Chapter 29
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-5225-3012-1.ch029
ABSTRACT
This chapter refects the result of the analysis of the importance of information management in orga-
nizational innovation and the generation of competitive advantages in a cooperative of aromatic and
medicinal plants production. Information is the main resource of management. It is important to assume
that information becomes useful only after it has been analyzed, treated, and shared. It is then that it
will be available to be disseminated and shared within the organization. Cooperatives in Portugal are
a form of organization through which the cooperators seek economic and commercial benefts through
the resources, information, and knowledge sharing. The analysis seeks to show how the information
management is carried out in this institution, in view of its relevance to competitiveness in the sector
where it is inserted, seeking to support the creation of instruments that facilitate its treatment by the
management and the respective availability to the various stakeholders.
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK
Information and Knowledge as Organizational Resource
Information has always been an important asset in the development of society and the economy. Al-
though the concept has gained more prominence in the now-designated information society, multiple
meanings and contexts for information have emerged which have also been following human evolution
itself and its needs.
Information Management and
the Competitive Advantages:
The “Ervas Lusas” Cooperative Case Study
Pedro Fernandes Anunciação
Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal, Portugal
Carla Sofa Cavaco
Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal, Portugal
Elis Shaida Raichande Mussa Ossmane
Instituto Politécnico de Setúbal, Portugal