Sustainability through Resilience. The very essence of the Wine Industry

Abstract= -Purpose: The current environment surrounding the wine industry is extremely volatile. This paper, therefore, examines how Old World wine producers use marketing and supply chain management to sustain their business in the current business environment. -Design/methodology/approach: Seventeen employees from ten Italian wine producers were interviewed using a grounded theory approach to determine how they are dealing with the current economic conditions and competitive landscape. -Findings: Leaders of successful Italian wineries, those large and small who achieve sustainability in the face of intense competitive pressures, engage in detailed assessments of the marketplace and adopt specific and focused strategies to become resilient. Two discovered in this study include (1) focusing what it means “to be Italian” as in culture and history and (2) adapting to the marketplace and innovating. - Practical implications: The research offers prescriptive marketing strategy for wine producers to become and/or remain sustainable.