Search results

This paper aims to investigate the brand identity drivers used online by wineries and to assess cluster identity from the analysis of firms’ specific branding strategies.

Chianti, Chianti Classico and Brunello di Montalcino wine clusters (located in Tuscany, Italy) were selected as the set for this study. A total of 452 wineries websites were analyzed using a text frequency query, and the results were further examined through a discriminant analysis.

The theoretical framework was modeled after a careful analysis of the literature and is composed of three macro-areas of identity drivers: locational, product/process and social attributes. The analysis of winery websites shows the presence of all the drivers examined, which explain not only the wineries’ specific strategies but also the drivers of a particular cluster’s brand identity. A discriminant analysis highlighted that some drivers are able to explain the unique characteristics of the three clusters.

This research seeks to build a holistic investigation of all the identity drivers used by firms online. The specific brand identity focus and the holistic approach can enrich both academics and practitioners with a framework of current branding strategies.

The aim of this paper is to emphasize the role of the place of origin in overcoming the information asymmetries that characterize in particular “experience” and “credence” goods.

After having summarized the role of the country‐of‐origin (COO) in facilitating producers to effectively communicate to consumers the quality of their products, the article presents two case studies: the Chianti Classico wine from Tuscany (Italy) and the tea industry in Guangdong (China).

Both wine and tea have strong links with their place of origin. The two case studies show that business excellence depends not only on firms' strategy, but also on the territory where firms are located. In the case of Chianti Classico, the territorial brand plays a strategy role for product promotion, while Guangdong seems to be less effective in allowing consumers to perceive, and therefore to appreciate, the tea quality at the international level. This makes it possible to draw from the Italian case some indications that could be applied to the Chinese case but also to other productions in the world where the link with the territory is not sufficiently valorized.

Despite the impossibility of drawing general conclusions from case studies, the two selected ones can be considered as emblematic of two different territorial strategies that over time led to two different results. This could be the starting point for policy makers aimed at valorizing the importance of territory for increasing business excellence.

The analysis suggests that connecting the products to their territory of origin can help firms communicate to consumers the quality of their items. The country of origin can be a powerful tool to reinforce a corporate brand, but of course it means admitting that the competitive advantage of a firm is also the result of collective public or private actions devoted to create and communicate a positive image of a specific locality. This implies a joint effort of firms and policy makers.

The paper underlines the similarities between two apparently very distant products, wine and tea. To appreciate such a similarity makes it possible to identify success factors of one sector that can be used to overcome the weaknesses of the other. The indications that arise from the analysis can also be the basis to re‐define the strategy of several other “credence” goods that require the provision to consumers of tools facilitating their process of quality appreciation of products.

Drawing on family-business and business model (BM) literature the purpose of this paper is to explore whether a relationship exists between the family involvement in the management (i.e. closed or mixed management) and BM choice.

A multiple case study analysis of family-owned wineries in Chianti (Italy) and Côtes du Rhône (France) has been conducted.

The analysis surprisingly reveals that no relationship exists between the BM ideal type chosen and the type of management composition. Rather, it seems that the choice of hiring non-family managers is dictated by the willingness to reinforce the BM chosen by the owner and that the role played by non-family managers is not revolutionary but reinforces the owner’s BM choice. The authors propose that the stewardship theory can contribute in explaining the findings.

A twofold contribution is offered by this study: first, it links the strategic management research on BMs to family business (FB) research on corporate governance and specifically on the composition of management teams; second, it provides an empirical example of a cross-national comparative analysis on FBs using multiple case studies.

This paper aims to illustrate the mechanisms for the economic regulation of quantity and quality in the Chianti Classico appellation of origin, focusing on the role of the sectorial organization in regulating the intermediary market, reinforcing the product's identity and the reliability of the quality signal.

Starting from some background elements (literature review and legislation framework) and given the supply chain organization and the main market mechanisms, the quantity and quality regulatory tools are illustrated and it is suggested how to improve the role of the sectorial organization in achieving the effectiveness of the system.

Reinforcing the quantity constraint established by the production code, controlling and certifying the compliance process to the minimum quality standard from upstream grape production to downstream commercialization, reinforcing the link with the terroir and improving the promotional activity are some of the main strategies identified to improve the effectiveness of the system. In addition, a more operational role should be recognized to the sectorial organization, in order to stabilize and regulate the transactions on the intermediary market and attract a more market‐oriented approach.

Using a case study and not a quantitative approach represents the limit of this paper.

The paper provides an original contribution in the sense that some empirical evidences are highlighted, which both support the theoretical arguments for an economic regulation of supply by the sectorial organizations and provide some suggestions, which might be useful outside the Chianti Classico to improve the effectiveness and reliability of the appellation of origin.

The purpose of this paper is to provide an empirical investigation of the idea that imperfectly informed consumers use simple signals to identify the characteristics of wine, for example, the geographical denomination. The reputation of a denomination will thus be an important guide for consumers when assessing individual wines.

The price–quality relationship is studied in a fairly homogenous geographical area where a large number of wine types is present. This is done by using a simple ordinary least squares (OLS) analysis on a database of more than 2,000 different red wines produced in a period of just four years in only one Italian region.

The results show that some denominations have a lower average quality score and that price differentials between denominations are linked to differences in average quality, although consumers tend to exaggerate the quality gap between prestigious denominations and others.

A producer in a prestigious denomination benefits from a substantial mark-up relative to an equally good producer from another denomination. Furthermore, denomination neutral wines have a stronger price–quality relationship than denomination specific wines.

Consumers should not be misled by what is on the bottle, but should rather consult wine guides to become better informed before purchasing.

The fact that quality and sensory characteristics often play a minor role in determining the price of a commodity is not immediately compatible with the postulate that consumers are well informed.

Unlike previous work, this paper investigates a limited area (Tuscany) and only red wines, thus making it possible implicitly to control for many other factors which might otherwise confound the price–quality relationship.

The purpose of this paper is to develop and illustrate a conceptual tool for the planning of rural sport events.

The proposed model is elaborated based on theoretical contributions from the tourism and event literature, and illustrated with an empirical case concerning a sport and cultural event arranged in the Chianti countryside in Italy.

The results suggest that a form of professionalization of the event design process, understood as the search of high-quality experience for the local population and the tourists, is feasible within the socialization style of model typical of small events.

This study is based on selected theoretical contributions, and on a limited empirical investigation. Further research is needed in order to better understand the event design process, and in particular the processes of communication and involvement among the different community members.

The practical implications are related to the possible use of the developed model.

The theoretical contribution of this study is relative to the use of the concept of tourism experience, and more specifically of the embodied tourism experience, within the context of event design.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the effects of the product-specific region-of-origin (ROO) and product-specific country-of-origin (COO) on the willingness to pay a premium price for a wine label designated as a superbrand by the Italian Government: the Chianti Classico.

The paper introduces the concept of “ROO-COO distance”, defined as the importance attributed to a product-specific ROO as compared to its COO. In order to better understand whether the construct “ROO-COO distance” influences the willingness to pay a premium price, the paper considers consumers’ cross-national differences and their knowledge, distinguishing among three types of knowledge: consumers’ subjective general product knowledge, consumers’ subjective country product knowledge and consumers’ regional product experience (PE). Four hypotheses were tested focussing on Chianti Classico – a premium wine – as related to its ROO and COO (Tuscany, Italy). The authors employed a sample of 4,254 consumers originating from New World countries (Australia, USA and Canada) and Old World countries (Germany, UK, Sweden and Belgium).

The findings confirm that a place-of-origin influence on price-related product evaluations is country specific. Furthermore, the moderating role of consumers’ subjective product knowledge and consumers’ region-related PEs differ across countries. The ROO-COO distance was found to positively affect only Old World consumers. It was established that respondents’ subjective country/product knowledge and consumers’ regional knowledge or PEs positively moderate this relationship.

The paper links the COO and ROO effects in a single framework and analyses it at the cross-national level, while also considering the moderating effect of consumer’s knowledge.

Wealthy rural areas, or rural areas in wealthy regions, have a specificity that should be taken into consideration both in empirical and theoretical research. In most of the cases, rural development in these areas depends not only on the capacity of rural communities to mobilise endogenous resources, but also to be able to link endogenous resources with outside networks. In Italy this approach has widely been put into practice through strategies centred on the link between local food and its place of production. To explore the implications of this link, the paper will explore the implication of an adoption of the concept of ‘terroir’. Terroir can be seen as a mix of a set of localised invariants in the space related to natural, cultural, and social spheres. It is highly specific of a place, as it is produced and reproduced through localised processes. The peculiarity of the ‘terroir’ is that it is embodied into the product, which means that it is the source of local products’ identity and specificity. Local products are then a component of a broader socio-technical system, and product and terroir co-evolve. What are the mechanisms that make local products keys to rural development in a neo-endogenous perspective? In a neo-endogenous perspective, valorisation of local products is mainly related to its capacity to be recognised and evaluated by outside observers as different (and possibly better) from others. This capacity is embodied into what Bourdieu calls symbolic capital. Symbolic capital becomes a thread linking ‘terroir’ and the product to external observers, and convey to them meanings like notoriety, reputation, and trust. In order to be able to create, maintain, and increase symbolic capital, rural communities activate communication practices within and outside themselves. This may generate conflicts as well as strengthen identities and alliances. Three case studies will show the network building processes related to the creation of symbolic capital and its mobilisation into food production and marketing. The Cutigliano case shows how a small community borrows symbolic capital from the outside to enhance its capacity to sell a local cheese outside the area. The Colonnata case shows the risk that neo-endogenous strategies generate interlocal conflicts, hampering its competitiveness as a whole. The Chianti case shows an internal conflict over the use of the symbolic capital with both positive effects on the public debate and potential negative effects on the cohesion of the area. All the three cases make possible a reflection on governance, and especially on the role of the state (or the regional administration) in the governance of these processes.

The purpose of this paper is twofold: first, to investigate whether consumer preferences differ for wines with diverse price points and second, to analyze the effect of denominations of origin information on preferences.

In, total 150 regular wine buyers expressed their willingness-to-pay (WTP) for 12 red wines of 3 denominations (Chianti Classico DOCG, Morellino di Scansano DOCG and Toscana IGT) with three price points (basic=€5, medium=€10 and high=€20) in an incentive-compatible experiment, involving two consecutive rounds: a blind tasting and an informed tasting.

The findings reveal that price points are not statistically related to consumer preferences measured in the blind round, while information on the denomination of origin leads to a statistically significant increase in WTP for wines of all price points for all denominations.

This paper investigates whether Sangiovese-based wines at varying levels of price points (basic, medium and high) receive different WTP by consumers in non-hypothetical experimental auctions. Furthermore, the effect of denominations of origin information on preferences is explored, comparing evaluations without and with this specific information.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the experiential dimension of certain Italian agrofood products’ websites, which are seen as exemplifying best practices in the terms of the representation of the brand-land relationship, including their link with the territory of origin in the sense of terroir.

The study was conducted after the conception and experimentation of a model (called SObER), the fruit of detailed studies of experiential marketing (Schmitt, 1999a, b). The model was tested using the user-based focus group technique (Mich, 2007) and verified with reference to certain consortia brands considered to reflect best practices in communication of the brand-land connection.

The analysis made it possible to identify the key elements for expressing both the experiential dimension and the brand-land relationship of traditional agrofood products, ensuring their effective online communication.

Although the research uses a benchmarking technique, it focuses on specific case studies; thus, the outcomes can be generalised by means of an extension of the analysis.

The value of the analysis carried out lies in the creation of a model aimed at the assessment of agrofood products and, more generally, their link with the territory of origin in the online context. In addition, the marketing literature on the experiential dimension applied to website tools is still limited. For this reason, this work may stimulate future in-depth analysis with reference to the proposed model.