SPECIAL SESSION Wine Cooperatives in Europe at the Cross-Roads: Strategies, Resilience, and Metamorphosis

Wine cooperatives faced considerable changes over the last 15 years: the impact of the Australian wine lake (2004-2006), the credit crunch and other constraints derived from the international economic and financial crisis, and... [ view full abstract ]

Wine cooperatives faced considerable changes over the last 15 years: the impact of the Australian wine lake (2004-2006), the credit crunch and other constraints derived from the international economic and financial crisis, and changes in agricultural regulations (e.g. the wine 2008 Common Market Organization). These three major changes impacted significantly the institutional and competitive environment and therefore the organizational structures, strategies (branding, prices, distribution…), and performances of wine cooperatives.
Many cooperatives disappeared (e.g. Languedoc-Roussillon, Castilla La Mancha, Germany) while others merged assets or set up alliances to foster the internationalization process. Only a limited number of studies addressed the economic and managerial challenges of wine cooperatives in an international perspective (Touzard et al., 2007 ; Couderc et al., 2008). As cooperatives are member-owned and member-benefiting enterprises managerial decisions have always to benefit the businesses of their member. As member benefits/interest could conflict with the interests of the cooperative, managerial practices and strategies known from IOFs have to be modified. For instance, simple principal agent problems have to be treated as double principal agent settings in coops with severe effects on wine quality and financial performance indicators. Further, as cooperatives are often covered by domestic laws (e.g. in Germany by the Genossenschaftsrecht) international comparison of their institutional setting and governance structures is difficult; however, more research has to be conducted in this strand.
In the ‘Old World’ wine cooperatives play an important part in the overall sector. In Italy roughly 60 percent of the wine produced is sold by cooperatives. Similar importance have cooperatives in France and Spain. In Germany roughly a third of the wine produced is marketed via cooperatives. Whereas in other sectors of agriculture cooperatives are more open to institutional changes in the wine sector cooperatives are very traditional and adhere (at least in Germany) to the principles of Raiffeisen. Thus, the described changes could have a dramatic impact on the importance of European wine cooperatives.
This session discusses the impacts of those changes at firm, regional and/or national levels. Contributors from France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. The session includes quantitative, qualitative, and case studies.
Topics include: i) Strategy and resilience in wine cooperatives; ii)Performance and sustainability in wine cooperatives; iii) Comparisons between wine cooperatives and IOF; vi) New organizational forms in wine cooperatives; v)Investments/divestments in wine cooperatives; vi)Mergers, acquisitions and strategic alliances; vii)Financing/credit constraints in wine cooperatives; and viii)The role of institutional factors.