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One of the main difficulties for wine managers is understanding and interpreting how some strategies and company behaviours could affect firms’ performance. This study aims to contribute to improve these concerns by examining the evolution of the competitive wine industry structure over time using the strategic group membership dynamics approach.

This study empirically analyses a data set spanning the period 2004–2014 to identify the strategic groups in the Spanish wine industry and to model their evolution over time. A time inhomogeneous hidden Markov model (HMM) is used for this purpose.

Three strategic groups are identified: Young Makers, Quality Lovers and Major Players. Young Makers are small wineries that produce low-quality wines. They are not part of a collective brand – Protected Designation of Origin – and do not invest in marketing campaigns. Quality Lovers produce the highest quality wines but offer a narrow assortment. They invest modestly in advertising, and most of them belong to a Protected Designation of Origin. Major Players produce medium-quality wines, offer a wide assortment and invest heavily in advertising. The groups seem stable over time.

The results show that strategic group analysis can be used to identify and compare patterns of strategic activity within the wine industry, providing a better understanding of the competitive environment.

No previous studies have analysed the competitive structure of the Spanish wine industry. This study delineates the structure of this industry using strategic groups, which is supported by a valid econometric model. Therefore, from a theory base perspective, this study adds new evidence to the stream of research on strategic groups by investigating their evolution over time in the wine industry and the effect of strategic group membership on performance.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate advertising efficiency in the Spanish beer industry and to analyse the effects of several environmental variables and brand portfolio scope on advertising efficiency scores.

A two-stage double bootstrap procedure is used. In the first stage, advertising efficiency is estimated using a bootstrapped data envelopment analysis on a multiple input-output model of advertising. In the second stage, a bootstrapped truncated regression model is estimated to identify the determinants of advertising efficiency. Both stages are estimated simultaneously. The empirical application is carried out on a sample of Spanish brewers between 2007 and 2014.

Results show low advertising efficiency scores and highlight the effects that environment and brand portfolio scope have on these estimates.

For the first time, this paper analyses the effect of environmental variables and the brand portfolio scope on advertising efficiency in the beer industry.

The purpose of this paper is to analyse the advertising productivity of a collective brand strategy vs a non-collective brand strategy, as well as the moderating role of company characteristics (age of the company, individual brand reputation and degree of competition that the company faces). The main hypothesis is that a collective brand has a positive influence on the advertising productivity of its member companies, as it is a collective reputation indicator in experience goods.

The methodology is based on the application of regression models with panel data of companies in a Spanish experience goods industry between 2004 and 2012. The empirical analysis is made in the Spanish winery sector, given the proliferation in the wine market of public collective brands (i.e. protected designation of origin labels).

The results show that a company associated with a collective brand has greater advertising productivity than a non-associated company. Advertising productivity is also higher for brands with better individual reputations associated with a collective brand. Moreover, the relative effect of a collective brand on advertising productivity is higher when the company competes in a market with a higher level of competition.

The literature has paid little attention to the relationship between collective brand strategy and the advertising productivity of member companies. This study considers that the advertising productivity of companies in collective brands could be explained by the effects derived from the collective brand reputation.

Efficiency in retailing companies is mandatory for survival. Literature acknowledges external factors impact on efficiency. However, this impact remains understudied, as previous research typically focuses on managerial decisions. The purpose of this paper is to partially fill this gap by exploring the influence of external factors on retailers’ efficiency.

This research simultaneously measures retail efficiency and evaluates the impact of six potential drivers by applying bootstrap techniques in a sample of 25 European Union countries during the period 2006–2015.

The efficiency of the retail system in the countries under analysis evolves at different paces during the observation period. This evolution can be explained by country population density, average store size within countries, foreign trade ratio, concentration, economic freedom and percentage of urban population.

This research does not account for supply and demand restrictions that might affect retailers’ efficiency, as well as other variables that influence their production process.

This paper might help retail managers to comprehend and manage their companies’ efficiency. Furthermore, it provides clues to evaluate market attractiveness in retailers’ international expansion strategies.

Policy makers can facilitate retailers’ efficiency through regulations on external variables that influence retailers’ performance, namely economic freedom and foreign trade ratio.

For the first time, this study analyses the impact of external factors on retail services efficiency across countries.

The aim of the paper is to estimate the cost efficiency of supermarket chains in the Spanish retailing industry.

The methodology applied is based on a random stochastic frontier model that enables separation of the covariates in the cost function into homogeneous and heterogeneous variables. The methodology is applied to panel data on a sample of 78 supermarket chains between 2001 and 2004.

The results reveal high levels of cost inefficiency in the Spanish retail sector. The results also reveal that the random frontier models better describe Spanish retailers than homogeneous frontier models.

The generalisation of the conclusions of the study to the whole sector should be made with caution, given the fact that only one of the players in the distribution channel has been analysed.

Managers should be aware of the importance that cost efficiency has for their own firms. Further, a common government retailing policy will be unable to reach all retailing companies, since heterogeneity exists.

For the first time, the cost efficiency of the intermediaries in the Spanish retailing sector is studied.

The purpose of this paper is to estimate total productivity change in the winery sector, decomposing it into efficiency change and technical change.

The methodology is based on the estimation of the Malmquist productivity index for a sample of Spanish and Italian wineries between 2005 and 2013.

The results show very low efficiency levels for the wineries under study. Further, Spanish and Italian wineries show a decrease in their average annual productivity for the period of time analysed.

The analysis of the efficiency and the productivity of the wineries is crucial to improve their competitiveness and guarantee their survival.

For the first time, a comparative analysis is carried out with data from two major wine-producing countries.

The purpose of this study is to attempt to explain why the impact of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives may be different and/or more important in service firms compared to manufacturing firms. CSR is becoming a common strategy, hence its extensive research. Central to it is the analysis of the effect of CSR on a firm’s performance, whose outcome depends on firm-specific and industry-related factors.

The event study methodology is applied to all the 248 companies that have ever traded on the Spanish Stock Market between 1990 and 2007. A regression analysis examines potential different effects of CSR on service and goods firms.

The results show that CSR activities have a positive impact on firm performance that is higher for service firms than for manufacturing firms. Actions related to the environment, responsible labor relationships and good corporate governance are especially important in the service context.

This research is focused on shareholders’ performance, but it does not consider other stakeholders, such as real consumer behavior or employees’ commitment and productivity.

Service firms are likely to gain from focusing on some CSR activities (environment, employees and good corporate governance) and should use their responsible behavior as a valuable tool for public relations and differentiation in the market.

This article is the first attempt to empirically test and explain why the relationship between CSR and firm performance may be different (more positive) for service vs manufacturing firms.

To estimate the economic efficiency of supermarket chains in the Spanish retailing industry.

The methodology applied is based on the non‐parametric technique of data envelopment analysis. The empirical application is carried out on a sample of 100 supermarket chains between 1995 and 2001.

The results reveal high levels of economic inefficiency in the Spanish retailing sector.

The generalisation of the conclusions of the study to the whole sector should be made with caution, given the fact that only one of the players in the channel of distribution has been analysed.

Efficiency analysis facilitates the management of the intermediaries themselves at a horizontal level, allowing the realisation of “benchmarking” analysis. Producers can also identify the efficient retailers, what could be useful for vertical relationships in the channel.

For the first time, this study analyses the economic efficiency of the intermediaries in the Spanish retailing sector.

The purpose of this paper is to compare different approaches to the evaluation of the economic performance of wineries.

This paper simultaneously applies traditional profitability and productivity measures and a non‐parametric technique to estimate efficiency, and compares the results obtained. A cluster analysis has been applied to identify different groups of firms. The empirical application is carried out on a sample of 1,222 Spanish wineries in 2007.

The results reveal important differences depending on the methodology employed. Overall, none of the methodologies can be said to be better than the rest.

This paper has only considered the economic performance of wineries and its findings are not substitutes for other subjective measures directed at the assessment of aspects such as the quality of the wines produced.

Managers should be aware of their own performance in order to guarantee the competitiveness and future investments of their wineries.

For the first time, this paper analyses the economic performance of Spanish wineries, simultaneously using different approaches widely employed in the management literature.

The purpose of this paper is to test decoy effect in the framework of sales promotion, by conducting several experiments to figure out how this decoy effect is influenced by the presence or absence of a store brand.

Several experiments have been conducted to test the validity of the decoy effect and rule out some explanations for the changes in demand that take place. The experiments consider three brands (two national brands and one store brand). All the brand names and prices employed in the experiment are real.

The results indicate that, as expected, the inclusion of a decoy in the choice set significantly increases the consumer’s relative preference for the promoted product; however, more importantly, the results also show that store brand consumers are more influenced by a decoy than national brand consumers.

This paper presents the first evidence of the decoy effect in the presence of store brands.