Essay on Wine Cooperatives in their Competitive Environment

The purpose of this study is to explore wine cooperatives within their competitive environment as well as the relationships between the different actors of this sector. Firstly, this project is carried our to observe and describe any organizational differences (e.g. governance or financial structures, operations, supply chain) between cooperatives and other organizational forms in the wine sector (independent wineries, grapes wholesalers) as well as the relationships between these diverse oraganizations. Secondly, this study aims at determining whether certain institutional and competitive environments favor cooperatives to the detriment of other organizational forms. More particularly, one goal is to study peculiar characteristics of the wine industry (e.g. enactment of new laws, PDOs, regional and terroir differences) and to observe their impact on cooperatives. This study is part of a larger research project which aims at studying cooperatives in the wine industry with a business policy and corporate strategy perspective.