Dynamics, motivations and barriers in internationalisation processes of wineries in Calabria

ABSTRACT

This research has a twofold purpose: to get an insight into the internationalisation process of the wine industry in Calabria (South Italy), a region that has recently started to be credited for high-quality wines, and to conduct an investigation on internationalisation dynamics of Calabrian wineries, on the stimuli that push them into international context and the barriers they face. A qualitative case-study methodology was used following several steps: a theoretical background on SMEs’ internationalisation models was carried out in order to characterise the internationalisation patterns of Calabrian wineries; the Resource Based View (RBV) model was applied to investigate the Calabrian wineries’ leverages; a regulatory/normative approach was adopted in order to analyse the role of institutions and public agencies and how the local culture, values, beliefs and norms affect the international activity; finally, an Entry Mode Matrix was implemented to evaluate the market entry strategies adopted by Calabrian wineries. Findings clearly showed how the internationalisation process of SMEs can be highly context-specific and how a combination of tangible and intangible firms’ resources in interaction with home-based external conditions plays a crucial role in the internationalisation process of Calabrian wineries. [EconLit citations: Q120, Q130].

KEYWORDS:

• Internationalisation processes
• wineries
• SMEs
• qualitative research
• South Italy

ORCiD

Anna Irene De Luca http://orcid.org/0000-0002-8716-8177

Notes

1. The type of farming of a holding shall be determined by the relative contribution of the standard output of the different characteristics of that holding to the total standard output of the holding (EU, 2013, p. 4).