Editorial

Citation

Bruwer, J. (2015), "Editorial", International Journal of Wine Business Research, Vol. 27 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJWBR-01-2015-0001

Editorial

Article Type: Editorial From: International Journal of Wine Business Research, Volume 27, Issue 1

Welcome to the first issue of 2015 in what is set to be a “big year” for International Journal for Wine Business Research (IJWBR). Some of the recent developments have been the revision of the instructions for authors for the submission of manuscripts bringing it in line with the direction the journal is moving, and the restructuring of the roles of the Associate Editors and the composition of the Editorial Advisory Board (ongoing). The journal’s homepage contains all this information and is accessible from: http://emeraldgrouppublishing.com/products/journals/author_guidelines.htm?id=ijwbr

This issue presents four timely and highly interesting articles focussing on vastly different wine countries, namely, the USA, France and Italy. These articles fit nicely together to contribute to a greater understanding of wine marketing and consumer behaviour in general.

The first article, authored by Marks and Welsch, examines econometrically what the authors refer to as the “elusive relationship” of pre-sale estimates (PSEs) to winning bids in Chicago-based fine (iconic) wine auctions in the USA. IJWBR is pleased to publish this article as this is the first research analysing whether PSEs provide straightforward, fully informative guidance for hammer prices in fine wine auctions. It was found that the relationship of winning bids to PSEs differs significantly between neighbouring auction houses, perhaps reflecting differences in how they do business and, that the PSEs do not have a straightforward relationship to winning bids. PSEs do have an influence upon winning bids independent of lot’s of characteristics, reflecting perhaps an anchoring effect. The uniqueness of wine as a product is underlined in that the role and reliability of PSEs in auctions of other cultural goods, representing most of the literature, have limited application to auctions of fine wine, whose markets differ categorically from those of other cultural goods.

In the second article, Spielmann examines the relationship between intrinsic and extrinsic product cues and product evaluations for typical and atypical origin products in France. The results of this study of French wine consumers show that extrinsic cues are just as important as intrinsic cues in the evaluation of origin products, contrary to what prior research suggests. Furthermore, that consumer knowledge moderates the evaluations of origin products. The results also empirically confirm the theoretical Country-of-Origin-Elaboration Likelihood Model (CoO-ELM) which posits that consumer evaluations of origin products will depend on numerous individual traits, such as prior knowledge and experience. This confirmation is for atypical origin products but show that typical products are evaluated differently. This is the first study that empirically tests the CoO-ELM model and includes the added dimension of typicality. The results allow for a better understanding of consumer perceptions of origin products and their cues.

In the third article, Duarte Alonso and Bressan discuss the topical subject of organisational resilience in the wine industry by focussing on small and micro wineries in Italy. The owners or managers of these wineries participated in the study. Despite the fact that the wine industry worldwide has faced some turbulent times in recent years, surprisingly limited empirical evidence exists to support different theoretical constructs regarding organisational resilience. It was found that increasing costs, institutional barriers and the effects of the economic crisis on consumers’ wine purchases are perceived as the most serious challenges. One fundamental impact is respondents’ loss of trust in institutions. Alternatives such as diversifying, knowledge of foreign languages and educational activities emerge as crucial to improve wineries’ performance and, therefore, build their resilience. The study also contributes to the development of the theory of resilience, for instance, by considering and adopting factors affecting micro and small enterprises’ resilience using wineries as an example.

The fourth and final article by Moulard, Babin and Griffin discusses how two aspects of place affect US consumers’ authenticity perceptions of a wine and their willingness to pay for it. This study is the first to empirically demonstrate that two different aspects of place influence a wine’s perceived authenticity. It examines these two aspects of place, namely, the wine’s country-of-origin, specifically Old World versus New World wines, and technical terroir. Consumers perceive the Old World wine as more authentic and are willing to pay more for it than the New World wine. Additionally, country-of-origin moderates the effect of terroir specificity on authenticity and willingness to pay. For New World wines, wine with specific information about the terroir is perceived as more authentic and more valuable than wine with vague terroir information. The opposite is found for the Old World wines. Additionally, authenticity mediates the effect of this interaction on willingness to pay.

Johan Bruwer - Editor-in-Chief