The role of internal resources in the competitive positioning of Sicilian wine cooperatives

The paper is an original article that uses accounting frameworks to determine what creates a competitive advantage in a cooperative business model. In particular, it investigates the influence of tangible, intangible and financial resources on the business performance of cooperatives operating in the Sicilian wine industry, with the RBV of the firms as a theoretical background. Using a linear regression model, our results show that tangible and financial resources are a source of a sustained competitive advantage. This study fills the gap existing in the strategic management literature related to the role of resources, tangible and intangible, in the cooperative system, providing both theoretical and practical implications

How Organizational Resources and Managerial Features Affect Business Performance: An Analysis in the Greek Wine Industry

Despite the growing interest of the wine industry in quality and environmental certifications and the influence of these standards on positioning in international markets, scholarly research has paid proportionally limited attention to the link between winery export intensity and the adoption of internationally recognized standards. This study aims to analyze which factors make an organizational model performant, and to verify the impact of the adoption of third-party certifications on the export performance by using the resource-based view (RBV) theory as a theoretical lens. Findings show that younger wineries are more oriented towards the adoption of voluntary quality and environmental certifications, and they achieve the best economic performance, expressed in terms of overall turnover on the market. On the contrary, the better export performance is achieved by the largest group of wineries, which make the greatest effort in promotion and advertising activities and sell their products through intermediaries, while showing a low adoption of certifications. Our results have a number of theoretical and practical implications

Social media as a strategic marketing tool in the Sicilian wine industry: Evidence from Facebook

Over the last few years, many companies have integrated social media, and social networking sites in particular, into their communication and media plan, leading to a deep transformation of the organizational models and changing the companies\u5f3 marketing dynamics. This study has dual aims: first, to recognize and validate the firm\u5f3s social media (SM) efforts in its use of the Facebook platform; second, to examine the relationships among the firm\u5f3s SM efforts and some firm and managerial characteristics. In order to achieve these research aims, data on 45 wineries were collected and analysed, using a model that considers three different dimensions of the firms\u5f3 activity on the social platform. The results show that mainly small firms, in physical and economic terms, led by managers with a higher educational level, have become more involved in SM as shown by high values of intensity, richness, and responsiveness. On the contrary, large companies\u5f3 social-media efforts have been more modest. The results of this study need to be interpreted within the context for which our research was designed. Findings have some theoretical and practical implications

THE PREMIUM PRICE FOR ITALIAN RED WINE QUALITY ATTRIBUTES IN THE JAPANESE MARKET

In this paper we apply the hedonic price model in order to estimate implicit price for the main objective characteristics appearing on the label of Italian wines sold in Japan, easier to identify than sensory attributes by consumers. In this paper, the wine searcher dataset has been used in order to select the retailer price and the research score for 829 wines, for each of which we have observed information about their geographical origin, vintage, grape varieties, vintage, and the alcohol degree. Our results indicate that international grape varieties, alcohol content and the year of production explain the major part of price difference. On the other hand, the origin appellations linked to specific Italian territories negatively affect the medium price of wine

Italian red wine in the Japanese market: a hedonic price analysis

This study applies the hedonic pricing model to examine important objective attributes appearing on the label of Italian wines influencing average customer wine prices in Japan. Data on 829 red Italian wines sold in the Japanese market were collected through the wine searcher dataset, and the information included on the wine labels, useful for assisting in the selection and appreciation of wines, has been included. A log-linear model was esteemed and the proposed hedonic equation accounted for 43.5% of the variation in wine prices. The results indicate that international grape varieties, alcohol content and the year of production explain most of the price difference. On the other hand, the appellations of origin linked to specific Italian territories negatively affect the medium price of wine. The proposed model will provide useful information for export-oriented Italian wineries in order to establish effective marketing strategies

Drivers affecting the adoption and effectiveness of social media investments: The Italian wine industry case

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to identify distinct organisational models in a sample of firms operating in the wine industry; and second, to identify the main internal resources that characterise those firms most motivated towards the adoption of social media (SM) tools and those that perceive SM investment as more effective. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical investigation was carried out by administering an online questionnaire to a sample of 82 Sicilian wineries. The principal component analysis was used to identify latent factors that drive managers to invest in SM technologies and to measure the impact perceived by managers. Subsequently, a cluster analysis was performed to identify similar organisational models. Findings: The findings show that large wineries with a high number of employees possessing knowledge and skills in regard to SM tools and social network (SN) management are highly motivated towards the adoption of SM and perceive their SM investment as more effective. Research limitations/implications: The main limitation of the paper lies in the limited sample size, which does not allow the results to be generalised. Practical implications: The findings provide support for managers, who could use these results to better focus their investment on infrastructure that facilitates the development of specific skills needed to manage SM tools and SNs, as well as customer relations. Originality/value: To date, very few empirical studies have focussed on providing evidence on the role and impact of SM integration into the marketing communication plan of a strategic industry, such as the wine industry

SOCIAL MEDIA TECHNOLOGY USE AND MANAGERS PERCEPTION. A PRELIMINARY STUDY IN THE ITALIAN WINE INDUSTRY

This preliminary study contributes to enrich the empirical eviendences on the role and impact of SM technology adoption in the Italian wine sector. In particular, the aims are to (i) understand the reasons that guide entrepreneurs to adopt SMs, (ii) identify the usefulness of SMs in the various business activities and (iii) examine the perception that the implementation of these tools has on the company's economic and organizational performance. In order to collect these ifnromation an electronic survey has been conducted among Sicilian wineries. Our findings show that the main raisons driving entrepreneurs to adopt SMs technology are the need to promote corporate image and to exploit a new communication channel. These tools are used to monitoring comments in order to understand both the attitudes towards purchasing and buying preferences and how messages are perceived by customers. Results confirm a positive effect of SM adoption in terms of corporate image and customer relationship management. This research has some theretical and practical implications. If appropriately used our results can support the entrepreneurial choices taking into consideration that these tools allow to improve the customer relationship management and in particular the corporate image of the firm into the market

Adoption of practices of environmental sustainability in viticulture: first suggestions from Canton of Ticino

The paper investigates the practices of environmental sustainability implemented in viticulture to minimize the negative impact of agricultural operations on the environment. Through the use of an electronic questionnaire, developed on a theoretical approach based on the Stakeholders Theory and the Theory of Planned Behaviour, and sent to a sample of wineries of the Canton of Ticino, the research pursues a triple aim: (i) to understand which are the main practices and initiatives of environmental sustainability adopted at firm level; (ii) to identify the main stakeholders that affect the choices of managers and owners to orient the firms towards the adoption of practices aimed at greater environmental sustainability; and (iii) to identify the personal drivers that most influence the managers' orientation towards a lower impact on the environment. The results show that the most common practices are the reduction of chemical inputs and the minimization of soil working. In this sense, a significant weight is exerted by the pressures coming from regulatory, societal, and value chain stakeholders, that, together with the manager's perception on the environmental practices, influence the orientation of the firm towards strategies that have a lower impact on the environment. The small size of the sample does not allow generalizing the results, but it provides some suggestions from a managerial and political point of view and it gives new ideas for future research

INTERNATIONALISATION OF SMALL AND MEDIUM SICILIAN WINERIES: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY BASED ON THE RBV APPROACH

Strategies of internationalization, such as export, have a central role as well to safeguard the market position and survival for many enterprises, including small and medium ones. The aim of this study is to investigate, through a resource-based view (RBV) approach, the main firms' internal factors that affect the export propensity of sparkling wines producers in Sicily and their ability to insert into foreign market. Based on review of extant literature we have identified the main factors, related both to the firms and to the managers characteristics, that affect the firm performance in the export market. Using survey data of 94 Sicilian small and medium wineries export oriented, this paper shows that some firms and managers' characteristics affect the export activity of Sicilian wineries. In particular, our findings show that a lower perception of export barriers, experience in the sales in foreign market and the educational level, are the most important factors influencing the propensity to export. Results, although not generalizable, may help managers to be aware of the importance that some features have on the involvement of their company in the foreign market

Website quality and internal business factors: An empirical investigation in the Italian wine industry

The purpose of this paper is dual. The first is to assess the quality of websites of Italian wineries, using the Web Assessment Index (WAI), and compare e-commerce and e-marketing websites. The second is to verify the existence of a relationship between the website quality and business revenue, on one hand, and the characteristics of managers, on the other. A two-step survey was carried out to respond to the aims of the study. First, a sample of wineries was contacted to capture information on both the wineries and managerial characteristics. On the basis of the observed data, a second step of the analysis was performed taking into consideration 84 wineries having a website. The website quality has been evaluated by WAI, and afterwards, it has been related to the internal business factors previously identified. Findings show that the website quality is higher in e-commerce websites than in e-marketing websites, and that business revenue and the education level of managers have a positive influence on the websites\u2019 quality. The results of the study need to be interpreted within the context for which this research was designed and cannot be applied generally to all businesses. Findings have some theoretical and practical implications. From a theoretical point of view, this study validates the WAI model in the wine sector. From a managerial perspective, results are useful both for wineries creating an online presence for the first time, and for those already existing which, and for system designers of websites. Very few empirical studies have been conducted on the relationship between website quality, business performance and managerial characteristics