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This paper examines the late 20th Century emergence of wineries in North Carolina, using the concepts of clusters and industrial policy to explain the dynamics of entrepreneurship in an embryonic industry. Specific attention is paid to how changing resource conditions (available agricultural land and financial capital) interact with an entrepreneurial climate that has fostered individual interest in winemaking to precipitate institutional changes that consolidate cluster formation. Using a model of small business growth in which firms gain credibility through identification with a cluster we trace the success of key wineries in this geographic region.

Many firms, wine producers among them, have successfully communicated the quality of their products to the market by emphasizing the geographic origin, or location of production of critical ingredient(s) found in the product. The purpose of this article is to: introduce the concept of a “place‐based” marketing strategy, i.e. a marketing strategy that identifies a consumer product with a specific geographic area; explain why it is essential to the wine business; and, why it may be superior to other types of marketing strategies for certain types of agricultural products. Additionally, traditional valuation techniques applied to agricultural land typically assume that agricultural goods are undifferentiable commodities. With the growing trend toward the production of “place‐based” agricultural products, the traditional valuation methods omit an important variable – the potential for the geographical source to help develop a product‘s brand equity. This paper also discusses land valuation techniques and applies the concept of products of place to the trend among Californian wine growers to produce wines with vineyard designations.

Muscadines grapes, the fruit of a vine native to the South East of the USA have been studied extensively, including their alleged beneficial health properties. To date, however, very little is known about the business side of muscadine growing. For instance, very limited information exists on whether wineries growing muscadines are currently processing their grapes into other value‐added products. The present study seeks to explore these aspects from winery operators' points‐of‐view.

Telephone interviews, coupled with two face‐to‐face on‐site interviews were conducted among 31 winery owners located in different states in the South East of the USA.

Overall, winery operators acknowledge the potential for the diversification and development of muscadine value‐added products, including juice, jellies, fortified wines or those for pharmaceutical purposes. However, the limited supply of muscadine grapes or muscadine juice to satisfy demand for value‐added products is an area of concern that several muscadine growers acknowledged. Also of concern are laws and regulations that are preventing winery operators from capitalizing on some muscadine products with alcohol content.

The low number of participants in comparison with the much larger number of existing muscadine wineries limits the generalisability of the findings.

With potentially greater demand for muscadine‐related products in the future, industry support and the development of new initiatives are needed to facilitate the process of value‐added muscadine product development for the benefit of operators, the industry and consumers.

The study focuses on the business‐side of muscadine production, an area that to a great extent has been neglected in contemporary research.

This paper aims to discuss a study that investigated the relationship between grape growers and wineries in Australia. The results of the study led to the formulation of market segments which provided a better understanding of the relationship.

Quantitative data were collected through an online survey, distributed to grape growers in all states of Australia. A total of 396 valid responses were obtained.

Cluster analysis highlighted three segments based on relational variables such as relationship quality and power and details of the grape growers' business and trading relationships. The paper showed that grape growers attained higher levels of relationship quality and power if they resided in cool climate wine regions, had short-term relationships with wineries and were in relationships with small and medium enterprise (SME) wineries. The paper also highlighted the interaction of relational variables and the price that a grower received for their grapes.

The research was limited in terms of its geographic context. Future research could involve a wider geographic study based on the constructs used in this research and also focus on the winery perspective of the relationship in order to gain a dyadic perspective.

The Australian wine industry is experiencing difficult economic conditions. The paper has highlighted relationships that may not be sustainable and certain growers that may require assistance from government and wine industry peak bodies.

This paper presents a quantitative exposition of Australian grape grower and winery relationships that takes into account relational variables and trading and business details.

Grape types grown in Australia have changed as a reflection of changes in consumers' tastes. Theres have been major changes in the Australian wine market in recent decades. The proportion of fortified wines has fallen from 81 per cent to ten percent of production and the popularity of different types of wine has varied. This has led to rapid changes in the types of grapes planted. The pattern of grape type use from 1972–91 at a small, long‐established winery gives a perspective on the general market trends. This winery adapted its use of particular grape types more quickly than the national average and has now established a pattern reflecting its expertise with fortified and red wines and regional characteristics.

In this paper, we seek to highlight how adherence to a dominant logic is an effortful activity. Using rhetorical analysis, we show that the use of rhetorical history provides a key mechanism by which organizations may convince audiences of adherence to a dominant logic, while also subverting or obscuring past adherence to a (currently) subordinate logic. We illustrate such use of rhetorical history by drawing on the case study of Ontario wine industry, where wineries use rhetorical history to demonstrate adherence to the logic of fine winemaking, while obscuring the industry’s past adherence to the now-subordinate and stigmatized logic of alcohol making. Implications for future research on institutional logics are discussed.

In this paper, we seek to highlight how adherence to a dominant logic is an effortful activity. Using rhetorical analysis, we show that the use of rhetorical history provides a key mechanism by which organizations may convince audiences of adherence to a dominant logic, while also subverting or obscuring past adherence to a (currently) subordinate logic. We illustrate such use of rhetorical history by drawing on the case study of Ontario wine industry, where wineries use rhetorical history to demonstrate adherence to the logic of fine winemaking, while obscuring the industry’s past adherence to the now-subordinate and stigmatized logic of alcohol making. Implications for future research on institutional logics are discussed.

MBA/MS/Executive Training.

Business and society; sustainability; women business leaders.

This case is about the development of sustainable viticulture in Israel. Michal Akerman, a viticulturist and agronomist, implemented out-of-the box ideas at Tabor Winery, Israel, and was successful in developing organic and sustainable vineyard. However, she faced challenges in terms of improving the quality of grapes as she looked forward to growing some of the best quality French grapes in Israel in the challenging conditions of the Negev desert region.

The expected learning outcomes are: to analyze the environmental impact of viticulture and sustainable viticulture through Tabor’s example, to examine how leaders can drive businesses to be involved in sustainable practices and challenges involved in implementing sustainable practices and to develop a framework for female leaders working in male-dominated business environments.

This case captures Michal Akerman’s (Michal) endeavours to develop organic and sustainable viticulture at Israel-based Tabor Winery. The traditional practices followed to grow the vineyards were proving adverse to the biodiversity. Unsustainable practices wiped out rare plants, and micro-organisms, which were essential for cultivation of grapes. The imbalance and unnatural ecosystem ultimately posed a threat to the very sustenance of the vineyards. As a seasoned viticulturist, Michal was of the view that a stable, diverse and balanced ecosystem prevented diseases among plants, and improved the quality of grapes.

Teaching Notes are available for educators only.

CSS 4: Environmental Management.

We define diffusion as the spread of something within a social system. Diffusion is the most general and abstract term, and it embraces such processes as contagion, mimicry, social learning, organized dissemination, etc. (Strang & Soule, 1998). While the home territory of diffusion is innovation (see Rogers, 2003 for an authoritative review), more recent macro-diffusion research has developed, based on social movement and institutionalization arguments (Ansari, Fiss, & Zajac, 2010; Wejnert, 2002).

Australian agriculture is facing increasingly uncertain weather patterns which is impacting financial performance, exacerbated by worsening terms of trade and a decline in commodity prices. Increasing the resilience and adaptive capacity of the primary production sector is of key importance. Governments and farmer groups often depict technology adoption as the salvation of farming, frequently ignoring the importance of decision-making processes and soft information skills and needs. The purpose of this study is to explore farmer decision-making and resilience and, in doing so, address ongoing challenges with soft information, including the inaccessibility of accounting data and a lack of awareness of its formal role in strategic decisions.

Drawing on a strategic choice perspective, we explore the links between farmer characteristics, attitudes, technology orientation, decision-making and financial performance to investigate how accounting data and tools could better support growers’ adaptive capacity. Detailed on-farm interviews were conducted with 25 grape growers across the Riverland in South Australia, with information thematically and descriptively analysed.

Results show that farmers with low operating profit margins spend double the time making decisions and struggle with minimising variable costs, especially water costs. Lower profit growers were also less likely to perceive climate change as a threat and demonstrated lower resilience.

The results highlight the potential for accountants to make more use of data-driven technological advances and for this information to be used to enhance on-farm strategic decision-making and support innovative business models. Simply packaged biophysical and financial data could also support strategic decisions and adaptation of farmers struggling to make a profit.