Zealand Wine Research Articles

Qualitative evaluation of three ‘environmental management systems’ in the New Zealand wine industry

The wine growing industry is increasingly important to the New Zealand economy and increasingly its marketing is associated with the country's ‘clean and green’ image. Over 60% of New Zealand's wine companies have adopted at least one of three main environmental management systems: Sustainable Winegrowing New Zealand, ISO 14001 and Bio-Gro. We undertook a qualitative, survey based, comparative evaluation of these systems within 15 wine companies. The key findings are that while each system appears to have its own strengths, in general, no one environmental management system is better than the other. However, implementation of an industry specific system, for example SWNZ, in combination with a generic process-based system, for example ISO 14001, aids in the development of a more sustainable wine industry.

Relationship Marketing

Agricultural markets are undergoing fundamental change, which is driven by changing consumer tastes, retail buyer behavior, and trade policy. The wine market provides just one example of such a market, with industry and policy changes causing the industry to shift from a product-oriented craft-based industry to a market-oriented globalized business. As a result of these changes, practitioners have been urged to pay greater heed to marketing, including the formation of market relationships. Policy makers at a government and industry level have also increased their calls for more relationship marketing activity, often raising compulsory levies to fund further research into this area. Yet considerable confusion as to marketing practice in the wine market remains, with some firms having strong brand awareness with little or no marketing, while others that adopt relationship and traditional marketing strategies see mixed success. Building on longitudinal qualitative case studies from the Australian and New Zealand wine industry, our research demonstrates that the adoption of relationship marketing strategies is context dependent. Implications for policy makers and practitioners are explored.

Brand value, convictions, flexibility, and New Zealand wine

How can small firms compete successfully in today's complex and dynamic markets without selling out? Seemingly only highly resourced companies can develop global brands that afford some degree of protection from turbulent market forces. But Palliser Estate Wines of New Zealand is one small firm that has managed to develop a strong brand. Adhering to a core set of values, it has ensured the effective use of limited resources and built a competitive advantage through considered action. By blending four different types of marketing practices, Palliser has created a unique cultural outlook that other small business owners can adopt.

Relationship Use and Market Dynamism: A Model of Relationship Evolution

Evidence for the success of relationship marketing remains contradictory, with practitioners reporting that most relationship marketing efforts fail, and academic researchers suggesting that further exploration of the boundary conditions of relationship marketing are needed. A number of researchers have identified changes in the competitive environment as the basis for the adoption of relationship marketing, although recent research suggests a more complex, contingent view. Drawing upon longitudinal case studies from the New Zealand wine industry, this article names a number of contextual conditions that influence the development and evolution of relationship strategies. The findings identify changes in the form and intensity of relationships. The source of these changes is identified. Based on this analysis, four marketing 'gestalts' are identified. The evolution of each gestalt is then explained, with the approaches used by firms to navigate from one gestalt to another described.

Creating Value in the New Zealand Wine Industry

The wine industry of New Zealand has rapidly developed and matured in the last decade to produce an international product that is highly desired by key global markets, and has become a major contributor to the economy. However, limited productive capacity, and macroeconomic forces have contrived to constrain the global marketing opportunities, essentially forcing New Zealand wines into niche markets. These forces include: global market forces, technological forces, global cost forces, and socio‐political macro‐economic forces. The impact of these forces are analysed in this article. Several analytical tools borrowed from ‘lean manufacturing’ are used to construct a conceptual value chain map of the generic industry. A key concept for success that will be a challenge to industry participants is to create and deliver ‘value’ in the minds of the final consumer. This can be achieved by mapping/measuring the value generated in different parts of the supply chain while still allowing for the synergies generated by the whole system.

National Competitive Advantage as the Context for Marketing Strategy: An Empirical Study of the New Zealand Wine Industry

National competitive advantage is a model which is widely taught in business schools but there has been limited research into its usefulness for managers and policy makers in particular economies and industries. This research looks at New Zealand, and in particular its wine industry as a context for the national competitive advantage model. The literature discusses the influence that both organisational resources and national competitive advantage have on organisational performance and profitability, examining such factors as domestic demand, the factors of production, related and supporting industry, the nature of domestic rivalry and how organisations are developed and managed. The data was gathered from CEO's of wineries, plus industry and national reports on the performance of the wine industry and the New Zealand economy. The research found that New Zealand suffers from policy inconsistencies, poor performance of senior management and competitive disadvantage in research and development, licensing, value chain management, regional sales and international distribution. Also, new knowledge created in Universities and Research Centres is not being transferred adequately to new and growing firms. However, it performs well in terms of competition policy, taxation and trade liberalisation. The New Zealand wine industry has both extensive and intense competition, has limited access to venture capital and does not have effective cluster development. There is considerable work to be done by the wine industry in terms of developing human capital and innovation if it is to remain internationally competitive. Also, it is essential to work co‐operatively in international markets and to identify clearly defined target market segments.

A longitudinal study of customers' desired value change in business-to-business markets

Customer value is a dynamic interactive phenomenon. Based on a longitudinal, phenomenological study of buyers and sellers in the New Zealand wine industry, we shed light on the phenomena of customers' desired value change (CDVC), driving contextual conditions, and firms' strategic response. A four-stage model of market–CDVC evolution is proposed. Findings identified external and internal drivers of CDVC, such as increasing niche density, changing customer demands, changing competitor actions, and increased competitive rivalry. We were able to track changes in each driver, and identify the related changes in CDVC, including changes in CDVC form and intensity, and the scope of CDVC related actions.

Behavioural segmentation: a New Zealand wine market application

As a subject, market segmentation has a long, debated history in marketing literature. Its application to the wine industry seems to be in its infancy and needing careful assessment. This paper examines various approaches to market segmentation as applied in the wine industry. Also discussed is information on, and an assessment of, a behavioural segmentation study conducted on a sample of New Zealanders. The basis for this information is a mail survey of 1144 randomly selected potential respondents. Respondents were drawn from a national wine mailing list (n=640) and staff (n=304) and students (n=200) from a tertiary institute. No follow-up activity was undertaken and a 28% response rate was achieved. A range of behavioural and demographic information was collected. In particular, participants were asked to indicate on average how many bottles of wine they purchased per month. This information forms the basis of segmenting on volumes purchased and, together with other behavioural information, combines to form profiles of wine consumers. Significant differences were found between light, medium and heavy purchasers of wine for several characteristics. While the segmentation platform provides some useful information, its use highlights the absence of other pertinent information. It is concluded that underlying reasons or motivations contributing to group membership would enrich the behavioural segmentation platform.

What Price Quality? An Investigation into the Prediction of Wine-quality Ratings

The paper uses the wine-quality ratings devised by James Halliday in his book Australia and New Zealand Wine Companion 2000 as the dependent variable in a regression-based analysis. Equations are developed for eight different wine varieties in Australia: Chardonnay, Riesling, Semillon, Sauvignon Blanc, Cabernet, Shiraz, Merlot and Pinot Noir. The independent variables having the greatest correlation with the quality rating include price range, winery rating, vintage, size of winery and region. The importance of these independent variables varies with the variety and some traditional indicators of quality, such as region, do not seem to have as great a correlation with quality as might be expected.

Building Strong Brands Through the Management of Integrated Marketing Communications

Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is regarded as an important marketing management issue because of increasingly dynamic market conditions, and the impact that this dynamism is having on the effectiveness of traditional marketing communications tools and planning approaches. IMC relates to me strategic management of marketing communications to achieve superior brand performance. This paper uses that Integrated Marketing Audit (Duncan and Moriarty, 1997) as a mechanism to analyse the degree of integration of marketing communications management and link this to measures of brand performance. The research employs the Australian and New Zealand wine industries as a context to consider this relationship. Analysis suggests that a higher degree of integration in marketing communications management results in better brand performance. As a result, managers of wine brands should consider how to adopt IMC principles and review their management of marketing communications.

Reregulation and the Development of the New Zealand Wine Industry

New Zealand's wine industry has enjoyed a period of rapid growth since the mid-1980s. This period of growth coincides with the period of trade liberalisation and other neo-liberal reforms to the state that have dominated New Zealand's social economy in the last two decades. Political commentators and economists have cited the growth of the wine industry as an example of the efficacy of the reform programme. One account, prepared in the series Studies in APEC Liberalisation (the APEC report; Mikic, 1998), has proven to be particularly influential. It attributes the wine industry's recent growth to the free trade policies that guide contemporary economic policy in New Zealand. In this paper, I use a critique of the APEC report as a heuristic device to develop a more refined history of the New Zealand wine industry and its recent success, and the part played in these by regulatory change. The paper draws on an evolutionary perspective on industry development (Storper, 1997) and a real regulation conceptualisation of policy formation (Clark, 1992; Moran et al., 1996). It portrays the industry's development as occurring through enterprise choices that are embedded within a range of interconnected social and spatial contexts, of which the state forms an important part. I highlight the effects of technological change, the influence of enterprise evolution, the geography of production, the wider suite of legislative changes affecting the industry and its internal formation. New Zealand wine enterprises have responded to changing production, market and regulatory conditions, as well as their own developmental trajectories.

GENERAL INFORMATION AND STATISTICS

India to Cultivate Hybrid Maize. Sharp Increase of HIV Cases in Victoria. Current Trends in Australian Biotech Industry. WHO Certifies Australia Polio-free. Chinese Healthcare Industry Spends Heavily on Ads. China Takes Steps to Protect Nature Reserve. New Zealand Wine Exports Show Strong Growth. Chinese Experts Concerned about Drug Prices and Agriculture Modernization.

Growth Models in the New Zealand Wine Industry: Some Case Study Evidence

AbstractOne of the most dominant models for explaining organisational growth is that of organisational lifecycles. Drawing parallels with biology, life cycle theorists argue firms are born, grow, mature and decline. Despite a proliferation of models of organisational lifecycle, there is little empirical support for their general validity. The present study builds a four-stage model of organisational life cycle based on case study research in the New Zealand wine industry. Far from being driven by internal pressures, these cycles seem to be related to the demands of the global wine market, as well as the strategy chosen by each firm.

Growth Models in the New Zealand Wine Industry: Some Case Study Evidence

AbstractOne of the most dominant models for explaining organisational growth is that of organisational lifecycles. Drawing parallels with biology, life cycle theorists argue firms are born, grow, mature and decline. Despite a proliferation of models of organisational lifecycle, there is little empirical support for their general validity. The present study builds a four-stage model of organisational life cycle based on case study research in the New Zealand wine industry. Far from being driven by internal pressures, these cycles seem to be related to the demands of the global wine market, as well as the strategy chosen by each firm.

An Exploration of Contemporary Marketing Practices in the New Zealand Wine Sector: Evidence from Three Cases

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether or not transaction marketing is being employed together with various types of relationship marketing. A classification scheme of contemporary marketing practices (Coviello, Brodie and Munro, 1997) is reviewed, and the need to enrich earlier research findings is discussed. A case study methodology for conducting research into the New Zealand wine sector is then considered. The preliminary findings suggest that vineyards increasingly employ a pluralistic approach to marketing combining transaction marketing with relational types of marketing, and that the softer sides of marketing are becoming important, such as social bonding, networks and interactions. The findings also give insights into whether or not vineyards are driven by their product or market.

Integrated marketing communications in the Australian and New Zealand wine industry

Integrated marketing communications and the management of brands is a vital area for research in many industries. The global wine industry is facing significant changes including: retail concentration; proliferation of brands and labels; fragmenting consumer markets; and over-production. Improving the planning, implementation and integration of marketing communications activities is essential for the survival of brands and companies operating under these conditions. This research reports on findings into marketing communications integration in the context of the Australian and New Zealand wine industries. The research employs Duncan and Moriarty's (1997) abbreviated Integrated Marketing Audit to examine key communications issues and demonstrates that a higher level of integration is associated with better brand-related performance.

Crunch Time for Small Wineries Without Market Focus?

Many industry commentators in New Zealand are predicting a rationalisation in the industry. The New Zealand wine industry consists of 297 wineries, of which, 285 are competing for just 10% of the domestic market. Using a survey derived from a set of interviews with key industry players this research analyses whether small wineries are prepared to meet the challenges facing them in the domestic and world wine markets. The results point to the likelihood of some rationalisation among wineries without a market focus.

Elements Influencing Wine Purchasing: A New Zealand View

Consumers make numerous decisions about product purchases and these are influenced by internal and external factors. Manufacturer influence over some external elements can occur through packaging. In wine marketing, packaging and labels assume undeniable influence with packaging forming an integral part of any wine's promotion and consumption. This article reviews New Zealand's wine market against limited available consumer research. The retail environment, segmentation, motives and influences are also examined prior to an elaboration of wine packaging that focuses on labels. It is concluded that New Zealand's wine industry is currently attracted to lucrative export markets and may be limiting its efforts on the home front. The home market, capable of expansion, will require a concentrated consumer research effort aimed at identifying the impact of label perceptions on consumer purchases. Such research ultimately should assist both domestic and international marketing activities.

A Stage Model of Small Firm Development in New Zealand Wineries

One of the most dominant models for explaining organizational growth is that of organizational lifecycles. These models assert that firms go through a series of distinct stages or cycles as they develop over time. Despite the proliferation of a number of models of organizational lifecycle there is little empirical support for their general validity. Few studies have been conducted utilizing an inductive case based theory building methodology. This study builds a 4-stage model of organizational life cycle in the New Zealand wine industry. Wineries were found to go through a life cycle over their initial eight years, which included a pre-birth, start-up, expansion and growth stage.

Are Salespeople Relationship Oriented? (And Do They Need To Be?) A Study Based on the New Zealand Wine Industry

Despite the important role of salespeople in forming relationships with customers, little research has been carried out in this area. Based upon a series of interviews and a large‐scale survey of salespeople in the New Zealand wine industry this paper argues that the role of salespeople is vital in forming long‐term relationships with retailers and distributors. The paper examines, in detail, strategies used by salespeople to create and maintain relationships, avoid the loss of key accounts and the support that an organisation can provide to assist salespeople in this area. Results highlight the importance of constant calls, communication, product support and partnering in forming relationships with customers.