From the year 2016, in Italy, the wine sector is experiencing its renaissance. In particular, Italian wine producers are nowadays more focused on the excellent quality of the product reducing the quantity and increasing the excellency. This is implemented by emphasizing the bond that exists with the terroir, the features that are peculiar of each indigenous grape and furthermore by innovating this important sector of the Italian economy. As a result, the Italian wine export reached its historical peak registering a value of 5.56 million Euros. For Italian wine companies since internal wine consumption is decreasing International sales are crucial. In particular, the principal importers of Italian wines are U.S, Germany and United Kingdom, accounting for 55% of the share of export value. However Asian countries in particular China are becoming important buyers of Italian wine. Regarding to the internationalization process, wine industry presents peculiar features. Indeed, the production is related to the territory and terrains that confer to the final product its own specific characteristics as well as the climatic conditions. For these reasons the winemaking results a difficult process to internationalize, in fact, by completely externalize the production, it could lose the country-of-origin advantage and consequently a strong competitive advantage. Accordingly, only some core activities of the value chain can be shifted to the global market, distribution amongst all. For instance, nowadays thank to globalization, more and more Italian wine companies are opening their sales and governance towards international markets coping with a fierce competition of other countries such as France or growing New Worlds countries like Australia, Chile and New Zealand. With the growth of the middle class, wealth in China is increasing, leading to the emergence of customers who are keener on western lifestyles. Accordingly, it is starting to spread the consumption of imported wine, establishing a culture of drinking wine that was not part of the Chinese Culture. This market in China is still developing, and thus there is room for improvement. Li Zhishuo, president of China Wine Platform Group, said that the imported wine market in China has been growing solidly, and it will be an inevitable consumer trend to choose Italian wines. In particular, nowadays, the more accustomed Chinese wine consumers are in the over 45 age group. Nevertheless, the category of Millennials is becoming dominant in the consumption of wine in China. On top of that, Chinese consumers are becoming more and more aware about brands and they tend to purchase expensive products, developing a premiumization of the market. The main issues for Italian wineries in China are linked to promotion and distribution, notably local legislation and trade practices. In essence, there still exist some barriers that prevent the implementation of human and trade relationships such as the lack of knowledge of local languages or even English. Furthermore, there is the need to enhance the match between the needs of local consumers and Italian suppliers. After a general insight of the internationalization theories and an overview of the Italian wine sector, the focus will be put on the specific geographic market area of Asia, namely China. Initially, will be analyzed the degree of internationalization of Italian wineries and their actual strategy to enter in the Chinese market in terms of growth regarding sales and production. Afterwards, will be outlined the trends of wine consumption in China in order to assess the attractiveness of the Chinese market for Italian family wineries, and if there is a match between supply and demand.
Dal 2016, in Italia, il settore vitivinicolo sta vivendo la sua "rinascita". In particolare, i produttori di vino italiani sono oggi più attenti all'eccellente qualità del prodotto, riducendo la quantità e aumentando l'eccellenza. Questo si realizza sottolineando il legame che esiste con il territorio, le caratteristiche peculiari di ogni uva autoctona e innovando questo importante settore dell'economia italiana. Di conseguenza, l'export di vino italiano ha raggiunto il suo picco storico, registrando un valore di 5,56 milioni di euro (Tundo, 2018). Per le aziende vinicole italiane - dato che il consumo interno di vino è in calo - le vendite internazionali sono cruciali. In particolare, i principali importatori di vini italiani sono Stati Uniti, Germania e Regno Unito, che rappresentano il 55% del valore dell'export. Tuttavia i Paesi asiatici - in particolare la Cina - stanno diventando importanti acquirenti di vino italiano (Statista, 2018). Per quanto riguarda il processo di internazionalizzazione, l'industria vitivinicola presenta caratteristiche peculiari. Infatti, la produzione è legata al territorio e ai terreni che conferiscono al prodotto finale le proprie caratteristiche specifiche - oltre che alle condizioni climatiche. Per questi motivi la vinificazione risulta un processo difficile da internazionalizzare, infatti, esternalizzando completamente la produzione, potrebbe perdere il vantaggio del Paese d'origine e di conseguenza un forte vantaggio competitivo. Di conseguenza, solo alcune attività chiave della catena del valore possono essere trasferite sul mercato globale, la distribuzione tra tutte (Sementa, 2014). Ad esempio, oggi, grazie alla globalizzazione, sempre più aziende vinicole italiane stanno aprendo le loro vendite e la loro governance verso i mercati internazionali, affrontando una concorrenza agguerrita di altri paesi come la Francia o paesi in crescita del Nuovo Mondo come l'Australia, il Cile e la Nuova Zelanda. Con la crescita della classe media, la ricchezza in Cina sta aumentando, portando alla nascita di clienti più attenti agli stili di vita occidentali. Di conseguenza, sta iniziando a diffondere il consumo di vino importato, creando una cultura del bere vino che non faceva parte della cultura cinese (Wenqian, 2017). Questo mercato in Cina è ancora in via di sviluppo, e quindi c'è spazio per miglioramenti. Le questioni principali per le cantine italiane in Cina sono legate alla promozione e alla distribuzione, in particolare la legislazione locale e le pratiche commerciali. In sostanza, esistono ancora alcune barriere che impediscono l'instaurazione di relazioni umane e commerciali, come la mancata conoscenza delle lingue locali o addirittura dell'inglese. Inoltre, vi è la necessità di migliorare l'incontro tra le esigenze dei consumatori locali e dei fornitori italiani. Dopo una visione generale delle teorie dell'internazionalizzazione e una panoramica del settore vitivinicolo italiano, l'attenzione sarà focalizzata sulla specifica area geografica di mercato dell'Asia, ovvero la Cina. Inizialmente si analizzerà il grado di internazionalizzazione delle aziende vinicole italiane e la loro effettiva strategia per entrare nel mercato cinese in termini di crescita - in termini di vendite e produzione. A seguire, verranno delineati gli andamenti del consumo di vino in Cina - al fine di valutare l'attrattiva del mercato cinese per le aziende vinicole italiane, e se c'è una corrispondenza tra domanda e offerta. Per fare questo, verranno analizzate cinque aziende vinicole trapanesi già presenti sul mercato cinese, per approfondire nel dettaglio la loro strategia di internazionalizzazione. In questa fase saranno condotte interviste semi strutturate per raccogliere dati più dettagliati. L'obiettivo di questa ricerca è far luce sul processo di internazionalizzazione delle cantine siciliane della provincia di Trapani.
The Internationalization of Sicilian Wineries in China
AMICO, MATTEO
2018/2019
Abstract
From the year 2016, in Italy, the wine sector is experiencing its renaissance. In particular, Italian wine producers are nowadays more focused on the excellent quality of the product reducing the quantity and increasing the excellency. This is implemented by emphasizing the bond that exists with the terroir, the features that are peculiar of each indigenous grape and furthermore by innovating this important sector of the Italian economy. As a result, the Italian wine export reached its historical peak registering a value of 5.56 million Euros. For Italian wine companies since internal wine consumption is decreasing International sales are crucial. In particular, the principal importers of Italian wines are U.S, Germany and United Kingdom, accounting for 55% of the share of export value. However Asian countries in particular China are becoming important buyers of Italian wine. Regarding to the internationalization process, wine industry presents peculiar features. Indeed, the production is related to the territory and terrains that confer to the final product its own specific characteristics as well as the climatic conditions. For these reasons the winemaking results a difficult process to internationalize, in fact, by completely externalize the production, it could lose the country-of-origin advantage and consequently a strong competitive advantage. Accordingly, only some core activities of the value chain can be shifted to the global market, distribution amongst all. For instance, nowadays thank to globalization, more and more Italian wine companies are opening their sales and governance towards international markets coping with a fierce competition of other countries such as France or growing New Worlds countries like Australia, Chile and New Zealand. With the growth of the middle class, wealth in China is increasing, leading to the emergence of customers who are keener on western lifestyles. Accordingly, it is starting to spread the consumption of imported wine, establishing a culture of drinking wine that was not part of the Chinese Culture. This market in China is still developing, and thus there is room for improvement. Li Zhishuo, president of China Wine Platform Group, said that the imported wine market in China has been growing solidly, and it will be an inevitable consumer trend to choose Italian wines. In particular, nowadays, the more accustomed Chinese wine consumers are in the over 45 age group. Nevertheless, the category of Millennials is becoming dominant in the consumption of wine in China. On top of that, Chinese consumers are becoming more and more aware about brands and they tend to purchase expensive products, developing a premiumization of the market. The main issues for Italian wineries in China are linked to promotion and distribution, notably local legislation and trade practices. In essence, there still exist some barriers that prevent the implementation of human and trade relationships such as the lack of knowledge of local languages or even English. Furthermore, there is the need to enhance the match between the needs of local consumers and Italian suppliers. After a general insight of the internationalization theories and an overview of the Italian wine sector, the focus will be put on the specific geographic market area of Asia, namely China. Initially, will be analyzed the degree of internationalization of Italian wineries and their actual strategy to enter in the Chinese market in terms of growth regarding sales and production. Afterwards, will be outlined the trends of wine consumption in China in order to assess the attractiveness of the Chinese market for Italian family wineries, and if there is a match between supply and demand.È consentito all'utente scaricare e condividere i documenti disponibili a testo pieno in UNITESI UNIPV nel rispetto della licenza Creative Commons del tipo CC BY NC ND.
Per maggiori informazioni e per verifiche sull'eventuale disponibilità del file scrivere a: unitesi@unipv.it.
https://hdl.handle.net/20.500.14239/5154