- Email: [email protected]
Conclusions
Conclusions
15
A concept that scholars or professionals often use when describing the wine industry is “complexity”: we have therefore employed this term in the introduction when referring to this business. There are a vast number of elements to consider for understanding the wine market and consumers’ dynamics, and entrepreneurs and winemakers must adopt proactive behaviors to deal with changing competitive environments. From this book, the reader can gain an overview of some sector dynamics and challenges that wineries and professionals must face. For instance, the industry is living a long-lasting contraposition between Old and New World; some companies are conscious of the importance of international markets, and of the necessity of consolidating successful export strategies. This also means managing a process of product and brand revitalization to generate profits and to meet market demand. The risk of market failure could have dramatic consequences for small producers: a geographical expansion can constitute a hazard, as the cases in this volume remind us (in particular, the case of the Ukrainian market). The development of an international expansion strategy requires resources and knowledge; the proposed case of Canada highlights that it is essential to gain information to identify the profiles of local wine consumers. International expansion is not the unique options for companies: an extensive section of the book deals with the topic of rejuvenating or repositioning mature products. In addition, carving out a niche can represent a way of achieving high profits and avoid intense competition. The ability to catch opportunities and to plan a successful strategy is linked to the firm’s capacity to decode market inputs and to employ information about consumers. Given the above-described scenario, the importance of consumer science emerges. Information is the keyword: firms need information about geographical markets, consumer trends and the business. Even if companies have data, they must be able to employ these in their strategic planning process. The chapter by Stoeckl et al. opens with some reflections upon the question “What if we had employed consumer science?” and underlines the limits of an approach that avoids consumer science. Authors in this book show the conditions that facilitate the implementation of consumer science in strategic marketing. It becomes clear that some companies are more open to the proposed approach while others trust routine: the chapter by Bonfini et al. highlights that a firm’s size shapes the order of priorities given to resources and stakeholders. In particular, small companies are more likely to emphasize the distributors’ and buyers’ roles rather than the consumers’ one when collecting information. In other words, small companies may employ information about the market that is provided by distributors rather than collecting it directly from the source (consumers). Therefore, from this volume, we can see that further steps must be taken in promoting a culture of consumer science methodologies and in developing resources for their implementation among wineries. Case Studies in the Wine Industry. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100944-4.00015-X Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
192
Case Studies in the Wine Industry
Thus, it seems particularly relevant to boost an open arena to set up new pathways of innovation through co-creational approaches in which consumer science can play a crucial role in bridging the gap between academics and practitioners. Several tools and methodologies can be employed, and these differ in complexity and aims. Companies have to be helped in understanding the relevance of such tools and the best combination of them to explore potential business opportunities and design appropriate strategic marketing activities. Furthermore, consumer science is an evolving field: progress in technology and other disciplines has created new tools to analyze consumers. An example is provided by Mignani et al., who explain how neuromarketing can be employed when examining consumers, to help consider more factors and variables related to human beings. Another interesting issue that emerges from this book is the linkage between consumer science and communication. Consumer science can help to improve communication among different stakeholders. The case of Canadian wines is an interesting example: the reader can observe how consumer science could promote a dialogue between producers and critics in order to establish a commonly shared language. For firms and wineries, proper communication is crucial to both internal and external stakeholders. Once the results of consumer science adoption are available, it is important to communicate the usefulness of these data to internal stakeholders. In other words, it is necessary to translate theory into practice. Furthermore, the problem of communication is not only perceived internally by the firm: from the reading of this book, it becomes clear that sometimes companies face difficulties in translating research findings into a targeted communication plan for customers. The multiple fields of application of consumer science, its flexibility as a business tool capable of providing multiple answers and the fluidity of research in this field are considered in this book. Big corporations, especially in the food industry, have invested money in creating an internal set of R&D resources for the implementation of consumer science. After reading this book, those who thought that consumer science was a useful tool accessible only to big companies should reformulate their opinion. In the wine industry, the scenario is different: in some countries, production is hugely fragmented, the majority of firms are micro-sized, and they cannot afford investments for building their consumer science centers or departments. Nevertheless, the availability of universities and research centers specializing in the wine business and consumer science research has contributed to increasing interest in specific tools. Therefore, the real problem that obstructs the diffusion of consumer science to better face market competition is not the small size of the companies, but a lack of the firm’s culture and collaboration between different players, at a regional level, to promote and boost innovative processes in, for instance, appellations and designations of origin. Thus, this book shows that using consumer science is possible even for small companies. The real matter is twofold: on one side, the scarce awareness of the potential of such discipline, and on the other, the limited collaboration between different players at the regional level to share R&D costs and to plan long-lasting and proper marketing activities. Given the complexity of the competitive scenario, we are convinced that consumer science in the wine business is about making further progress. We hope that this book can provide inputs for stimulating a dialogue between consumer science and strategic marketing.
15
A concept that scholars or professionals often use when describing the wine industry is “complexity”: we have therefore employed this term in the introduction when referring to this business. There are a vast number of elements to consider for understanding the wine market and consumers’ dynamics, and entrepreneurs and winemakers must adopt proactive behaviors to deal with changing competitive environments. From this book, the reader can gain an overview of some sector dynamics and challenges that wineries and professionals must face. For instance, the industry is living a long-lasting contraposition between Old and New World; some companies are conscious of the importance of international markets, and of the necessity of consolidating successful export strategies. This also means managing a process of product and brand revitalization to generate profits and to meet market demand. The risk of market failure could have dramatic consequences for small producers: a geographical expansion can constitute a hazard, as the cases in this volume remind us (in particular, the case of the Ukrainian market). The development of an international expansion strategy requires resources and knowledge; the proposed case of Canada highlights that it is essential to gain information to identify the profiles of local wine consumers. International expansion is not the unique options for companies: an extensive section of the book deals with the topic of rejuvenating or repositioning mature products. In addition, carving out a niche can represent a way of achieving high profits and avoid intense competition. The ability to catch opportunities and to plan a successful strategy is linked to the firm’s capacity to decode market inputs and to employ information about consumers. Given the above-described scenario, the importance of consumer science emerges. Information is the keyword: firms need information about geographical markets, consumer trends and the business. Even if companies have data, they must be able to employ these in their strategic planning process. The chapter by Stoeckl et al. opens with some reflections upon the question “What if we had employed consumer science?” and underlines the limits of an approach that avoids consumer science. Authors in this book show the conditions that facilitate the implementation of consumer science in strategic marketing. It becomes clear that some companies are more open to the proposed approach while others trust routine: the chapter by Bonfini et al. highlights that a firm’s size shapes the order of priorities given to resources and stakeholders. In particular, small companies are more likely to emphasize the distributors’ and buyers’ roles rather than the consumers’ one when collecting information. In other words, small companies may employ information about the market that is provided by distributors rather than collecting it directly from the source (consumers). Therefore, from this volume, we can see that further steps must be taken in promoting a culture of consumer science methodologies and in developing resources for their implementation among wineries. Case Studies in the Wine Industry. https://doi.org/10.1016/B978-0-08-100944-4.00015-X Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
192
Case Studies in the Wine Industry
Thus, it seems particularly relevant to boost an open arena to set up new pathways of innovation through co-creational approaches in which consumer science can play a crucial role in bridging the gap between academics and practitioners. Several tools and methodologies can be employed, and these differ in complexity and aims. Companies have to be helped in understanding the relevance of such tools and the best combination of them to explore potential business opportunities and design appropriate strategic marketing activities. Furthermore, consumer science is an evolving field: progress in technology and other disciplines has created new tools to analyze consumers. An example is provided by Mignani et al., who explain how neuromarketing can be employed when examining consumers, to help consider more factors and variables related to human beings. Another interesting issue that emerges from this book is the linkage between consumer science and communication. Consumer science can help to improve communication among different stakeholders. The case of Canadian wines is an interesting example: the reader can observe how consumer science could promote a dialogue between producers and critics in order to establish a commonly shared language. For firms and wineries, proper communication is crucial to both internal and external stakeholders. Once the results of consumer science adoption are available, it is important to communicate the usefulness of these data to internal stakeholders. In other words, it is necessary to translate theory into practice. Furthermore, the problem of communication is not only perceived internally by the firm: from the reading of this book, it becomes clear that sometimes companies face difficulties in translating research findings into a targeted communication plan for customers. The multiple fields of application of consumer science, its flexibility as a business tool capable of providing multiple answers and the fluidity of research in this field are considered in this book. Big corporations, especially in the food industry, have invested money in creating an internal set of R&D resources for the implementation of consumer science. After reading this book, those who thought that consumer science was a useful tool accessible only to big companies should reformulate their opinion. In the wine industry, the scenario is different: in some countries, production is hugely fragmented, the majority of firms are micro-sized, and they cannot afford investments for building their consumer science centers or departments. Nevertheless, the availability of universities and research centers specializing in the wine business and consumer science research has contributed to increasing interest in specific tools. Therefore, the real problem that obstructs the diffusion of consumer science to better face market competition is not the small size of the companies, but a lack of the firm’s culture and collaboration between different players, at a regional level, to promote and boost innovative processes in, for instance, appellations and designations of origin. Thus, this book shows that using consumer science is possible even for small companies. The real matter is twofold: on one side, the scarce awareness of the potential of such discipline, and on the other, the limited collaboration between different players at the regional level to share R&D costs and to plan long-lasting and proper marketing activities. Given the complexity of the competitive scenario, we are convinced that consumer science in the wine business is about making further progress. We hope that this book can provide inputs for stimulating a dialogue between consumer science and strategic marketing.