Intangible expenses: a solution to increase the French wine industry performance?

The role of internal resources in the competitive positioning of Sicilian wine cooperatives

“…The data were extracted from the database of Registro Imprese, the business register of the Italian Chambers of Commerce, which contains comprehensive information about the legal position of each company and indicators of economic and business development. Specifically, these data concern seven indicators corroborated by previous studies (Amadieu and Viviani, 2011;Fiore et al, 2016;Othman and Arshad, 2015), available in the balance sheet and income statement, that represent the financial statements of businesses, chosen in this study as an expression of a cooperative's competitive position in the market and described below.…”

“…This result shows that the expenses incurred by Sicilian cooperatives operating in the wine industry for research, development, promotion and marketing, concessions, licenses, trademarks and similar rights contribute to increasing the business revenues. A high level of intangible expenses, as found by Amadieu and Viviani (2011), seems to be highly desirable, with a positive impact on profit. The choice of the cooperatives to invest in intangible resources, such as promotion, is linked to a product policy adopted by the cooperatives as well as to the cooperatives' branding strategies, which are in line with the market demand and the distribution channels (Begalli et al, 2014).…”

“…In addition, the correct use of tangible resources within the cooperatives can represent a valid business strategy that is able to achieve a competitive advantage in respect of the competitors and to neutralise the threats coming from the external environment, with a positive impact on the business performance and the financial performance of the organisation (Othman and Arshad, 2015). Nevertheless, the link between firm resources and financial performance is less direct in cooperatives than in individual firms or other forms of strategic alliance due to the fact that the co-operators are not directly remunerated by receiving part of the results achieved by the cooperative; the cooperative's performance affects the price paid to the co-operators and the financial resources of the cooperative (Amadieu and Viviani, 2011).…”

Profitability of wine grape growing in the EU member states

“…In particular, Plahuta et al (2006) have analysed the possible reduction in costs achievable as a result of the introduction of genetically modified organisms into vine growing and wine technology, and Zaharieva, Gorton, and Lingard (2004) has pointed out that a production orientation rather than a market orientation predominantly guides the wine grape-growers, especially in less developed countries. The profitability of wine grape farms is also positively linked to intangible expenses (Amadieu & Viviani, 2011). These authors have analysed the link between intangible expenses of French wine companies and their financial performance, showing that a high level of intangible expenses has a positive impact on performance by increasing the expected profit and reducing variance risk.…”

Cooperatives versus Corporations: Survival in the French Wine Industry

“…The literature describes the long-term success and survival of a firm in the wine industry as dependent mainly on a firm's ability to become market-oriented and to invest in intangibles. In a study on the French wine industry, Amadieu and Viviani (2011) find that a high level of intangible expenses has a positive impact on performance by increasing the expected profit and reducing variance risk and vice versa . In a recent study, Benos et al (2016) confirm that strategic attributes of cooperatives (i.e., market and brand orientation) increase their performance.…”