After Two Decades of Change: Strategic Choices Facing South African Wine Co-operatives Wine Co-operatives in Europe at the Cross Roads: Strategies, Recilience and Metamorphosis

PAPER TOPIC 25-STAGE 5 - MACRO Emerging from decades of regulation and international isolation in the early 1990s, investment flowed into the South African wine industry, new vineyards were established, cooperatives modernised... [ view full abstract ]

PAPER
TOPIC 25-STAGE 5 - MACRO
Emerging from decades of regulation and international isolation in the early 1990s, investment flowed into the South African wine industry, new vineyards were established, cooperatives modernised themselves, process and product ’upgrading’ took place, wine quality improved, and export volumes increased dramatically, much of it sold in bulk. While this has inevitably stimulated innovation, the financial rewards for ’basic’ quality are limited. Thus after two decades of upgrading, where do South African wine co-operatives, who produce most of the exports, go from here? Conventional global value chain theory suggest that adding further value and improving quality is the way forward. However, given the classical constraints of cooperatives, is the higher quality trajectory a realistic option? Drawing on detailed case studies the paper argues that it is not only the remnants of traditional principles that stand in the way of South Africa’s ’new generation co-operatives moving up the value chain, but also the high costs involved.