Emerging Interorganizational Structures in the Australian Wine Industry:
Implications for SMEs
ABSTRACT
This paper discusses the globalization of the wine industry in terms of such issues as global
production, distribution, technology transfer and branding. It also examines the increasing focus
on localization and cluster development in light of the industry’s current rationalization. The
paper argues that with such reconfiguration, ‘New’ and ‘Old World’ distinctions are blurring and
may disappear. Furthermore, as the wine landscape evolves, regional cluster-based
interorganizational domains are forming, along with the emergence of regional branding and the
decline of a homogeneous Australian level industry. It is contended that these domains are
essential in securing an ongoing role for SMEs.
Keywords: Globalization, wine industry, innovation, SME, interorganizational
INTRODUCTION
The globalization of economic and business activity continues unabated. International trade,
foreign direct investment, foreign portfolio investments and international currency transactions
are increasing at an unprecedented rate (Enright, 1998). This phenomenon is common to all
industry sectors across all countries. It is one that became clearly apparent in the wine industry
from the early 1980s and has been responsible for a reshaping of the industry’s international
landscape. More recently, however, there has been a greater emphasis on regional responses to
global pressures, the role of regional clusters within a global environment and firm-specific
strategies for responding to its opportunities and challenges (Kearins, 2005; O’Neill, 2004;
Ogunmokun and Wong, 2004, Roberts and Enright, 2004). Among the out ...