Innovation and Internationalization in Wine Sector

Dear Colleagues,

As a growing number of wineries increase their involvement in cross-border operations, the impact of internationalization on survival and innovation performance has generated significant interest and controversy among researchers (e.g., Fernández-Olmos and Díez-Vial, 2015; Fernández-Olmos et al., 2016). The involvement of wineries in export processes to transfer their goods and services across national boundaries has been broadly considered as an indicator of their overall competitiveness. As a consequence, wineries that dedicate part of their effort to selling abroad need to intensify the search for their source of competitive advantage in both national and international markets. An example is ecological viticulture. As wine consumers have become increasingly interested in sustainability issues and are concerned, in particular, about the effects of conventional viticulture practices on both human and environmental health, many wineries have responded to these concerns with the application of both organic and biodynamic viticulture techniques, which are based on natural principles of production, reducing the use of synthetic chemical inputs, and thus meet all requirements for quality and healthiness (Laureati and Pagliarini, 2016). However, wineries that are able to penetrate foreign markets are exposed to more intensive competition, while they also incur the sunken costs associated with doing this (Malmberg, Malmberg, and Lundequist, 2000; Greenaway and Kneller, 2008). That is, on the one hand, wineries expanding across countries into different geographical locations can obtain economies of scale in production and other activities such as R&D (Tallman et al., 2004); seek less price sensitive markets (Kogut, 1985); increase their market power over suppliers and distributors (Kogut, 1985); and also improve their learning capacity and knowledge capabilities (Barkema and Vermeulen, 2001). Nevertheless, on the other hand, international business researchers have also highlighted a number of drawbacks, mainly related to a lack of experience and knowledge about each specific destination, called the “liability of foreignness” (Pangarkar, 2008). Moreover, when wineries expand their activities into many dissimilar markets, they increase the coordination and transaction costs incurred in successfully integrating these, which may also weaken their performance (Hitt et al., 1997; Aulakh et al., 2000).

This Special Issue is designed to contribute to the debate by analyzing the internationalization process among small and medium-sized wineries.

Dr. Marta Fernández-Olmos
Guest Editor

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• wine industry
• innovation
• internationalization