From growers to wineries to public houses and consumers: collaboration, competition, and performance

From growers to wineries to public houses and consumers: collaboration, competition, and performance

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Wine Business Research, Volume 22, Issue 1.

True to its international nature, IJWBR starts this year with an issue holding a diverse set of qualitative and quantitative articles originating in Australia, the USA, the UK, and Spain.

The first article, by American contributor Ian M. Taplin, introduces an interesting and innovative piece of qualitative research. Assuming an ethnographic perspective, the author deduces how initial knowledge sharing between pioneers and newcomers was crucial in the formation of a high reputation in California's Napa region. As improvements in the region's wine quality and consistency became recognized new entrants got attracted. As a result, the co-operative nature of business relationships in the early phase gradually assumed a more competitive note as firms strived to differentiate themselves.

The second paper, authored by Australian researchers Simon Somogyi, Amos Gyau, Elton Li and Johan Bruwer, examines the links between grape growers and wineries in a buyer-seller framework. Using structured in-depth interviews with grape growers in South Australia, the paper outlines drivers of relationship quality including trust, commitment, and satisfaction. The findings emphasize the role of communication, shared goals, and power symmetry and provide a basis for follow-on (quantitative) research. Grape buyers may find the results useful for establishing long-term profitable relationships with their suppliers.

Origin effects are an extensively researched topic, especially in wine marketing where many studies have examined consumers' reliance on country, region, or place of origin. In this issue's third article, Californian researchers Thomas Atkin and Ray Johnson extend on the topic by focusing on the importance of appellation vs region, and by investigating what consumer characteristics enhance or mute their use of place-of-origin cues on wine bottles. Based on a sample of US wine consumers, the findings suggest that appellation – a geographical indicator heavily favored by wine industries – may be less relevant than regions. In terms of individual differences, consumption frequency, spending per bottle, male gender, and wine expertise enhance the importance of appellation employed as a quality indicator.

John D. Pratten and Jean-Baptiste Carlier's article on wine sales in British public houses, the fourth article in the issue, sheds light on the interesting issue of at-home vs out-of-home wine consumption. Examining the British institution of public houses as an example category, the author reviews how the customer composition has changed over time, and what measures pubs and other establishments take to retain and regain customers. Offering wine is one of those measures and a relatively new offer in public houses traditionally known for beer and spirits. A case study explores the quality of wine services. The findings indicate that – at least in the public houses surveyed – staff generally lacks a more detailed knowledge about wine itself and does not properly service wine. In conjunction with the additional finding that customers seek to develop their appreciation of wine pubs receive guidance on how to better position themselves in this process.

The fifth article, by Spanish author Ricardo Sellers-Rubio, provides two unique contributions to both scholars and managers. Interesting from an academic perspective, the article contrasts data envelopment analysis with more traditional approaches of evaluating business performance. Appealing to managers, the paper provides a series of benchmarks by assessing the performance of more than 1,200 Spanish wineries in terms of profitability, productivity, and efficiency of resource use. Particularly useful for that purpose may be the classification of wineries according to those parameters through cluster analysis. Given that no approach emerges as superior to the other, a blend of analytical procedures appears to generate most useful results.

A few weeks ago, the 5th International Conference of the Academy of Wine Business Research was held at the University of Auckland New Zealand. Expect a special IJWBR issue on case studies later this year.

Ulrich R. OrthChristian-Albrechts-Universität Kiel, Kiel, Germany