Competition in the Global Wine Industry:

Competition in the Global Wine Industry:
A U.S. Perspective

Murray Silverman
Professor of Management
College of Business
San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Avenue
San Francisco, CA 94132
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Richard Castaldi
Professor of Management
College of Business
San Francisco State University
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Sally Baack
Assistant Professor of Management
San Francisco State University
College of Business
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Greg Sorlien, MBA
San Francisco State University
College of Business

Competition in the Global Wine Industry:
A U.S. Perspective

The total volume of the global wine market in 1998 was measured at 6.8 billion gallons, with 25% of the total volume accounting for wine that was purchased outside the country from which the wine was produced (California Wine Export Program, 2000). This represents an increase over the 1991-95 period, during which the export segment of the market averaged approximately 17% by volume. The increasing trend for the export market since 1995 is due primarily to a change in the strategic priority that wine producing countries are placing on exporting as a method for growth. Historically, the market for wine was primarily one of local production and consumption. That paradigm has changed in the last few decades as a few of the more established wine drinking countries have seen their per capita consumption stagnate or decline (Table 3). At the same time, several wine producing countries around the world have begun to make an impact on the export market in an attempt to expand their industries beyond their limited local markets. The result of this shift in market focus for some of the older wine producing countries plus the rise of new wine producing countries around the world has caused an increase in the competitive nature of the