Evaluating the economic performance of Spanish wineries

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to compare different approaches to the evaluation of the economic performance of wineries.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper simultaneously applies traditional profitability and productivity measures and a non‐parametric technique to estimate efficiency, and compares the results obtained. A cluster analysis has been applied to identify different groups of firms. The empirical application is carried out on a sample of 1,222 Spanish wineries in 2007.

Findings

The results reveal important differences depending on the methodology employed. Overall, none of the methodologies can be said to be better than the rest.

Research limitations/implications

This paper has only considered the economic performance of wineries and its findings are not substitutes for other subjective measures directed at the assessment of aspects such as the quality of the wines produced.

Practical implications

Managers should be aware of their own performance in order to guarantee the competitiveness and future investments of their wineries.

Originality/value

For the first time, this paper analyses the economic performance of Spanish wineries, simultaneously using different approaches widely employed in the management literature.

Citation

Sellers‐Rubio, R. (2010), "Evaluating the economic performance of Spanish wineries", International Journal of Wine Business Research, Vol. 22 No. 1, pp. 73-84. https://doi.org/10.1108/17511061011035215