Consumer Science and Strategic Marketing
Case Studies in the Wine Industry

Editors: Dr. Alessio Cavicchi, Associate Professor in Agricultural Economics, University of Macerata, Macerata, Italy

Dr. Cristina Santini, Assistant Professor in Business and Management, Università Telematica San Raffaele, Rome, Italy

Overview: The wine business has attracted scholars’ interest over the last decade: we have seen the birth of new journals and academic societies, as well as many tracks that are dedicated to wine within international conferences or conferences that are entirely dedicated to wine. Thus, research on the wine business has explored some issues related to consumer science and most of the articles published in the field of marketing mainly focus on consumer’s preferences. Results, although interesting, are hardly to be generalized and to be diffused among practitioners; the impact that researches can have on professionals is negatively influenced by the existing gap between academicians and practitioners. The wine business is experiencing changes that go from globalization to market pressures and the progressive transformation of niche markets. Companies are also asked to deal with innovation although for decades wine has been considered as a business with a very low degree of innovation adoption; thus the new competitive challenges that are investing the wine business at a global level (from the changes on the trade agreements, to the creation of newer products and the rise of emerging competitors) and the environmental issues that are transforming production are taken in serious considerations by firms.

Consumer science can be extremely helpful in supporting firms’ strategic choice during the different phases of product lifecycle and firm’s activity.

Background research provides some interesting insights that can be further explored by this book (Cavicchi, Santini and Bailetti, 2014).

The book will answer to the following research questions:

• How consumer science can be employed at different levels and within the phases of firm’s activity in order to increase competitive advantage?
• Which tangible economic/financial outcomes have been obtained by the joint work of sensory scientists, researchers and managers in the wine business?
• How the inputs emerging from consumer science have been strategically employed by wine companies?

The book will provide Case Studies that are recognized to be relevant examples in the field. Further insights that can be employed by other academicians will also emerge from the reading of the book. The knowledge gained by professionals in the wine business through this book will also represent a valid source of inputs that can be used within their job.

Contents: Foreword

1. Introduction

Part One: Market Outlook, Factors and Trends

2. Wine sector: definitions and nuances
3. Global trends in wine production and retailing
4. Consumer behavior towards wine products
5. R&D, the myth: where is research going to? What is the role of consumer science as a business tool in the wine sector?

Part Two: New and innovative products: the role of consumer science

6. How can Consumer Science help to reduce the risk of market failure?
7. What is the role of CS in helping new products development?
8. What are the benefits for a company that employ consumer science in product/process innovation?

Part Three: Sustaining the growth: consumer science and market growth

9. How CS can be employed in a market growth strategy?
10. How CS can be used for producing info that can be employed in strategy making?

Part Four: Mature products in a mature business

11. Consumer science helps with repositioning or rejuvenating a mature product
12. How firms can use CS when their products achieve the peak of the product life cycle and they get into the decline phase?
13. How firms can transform their dog (BCG matrix) products into profitable ones by employing CS?

Part Five: Interpreting market dynamics and demand: consumer science as a means to achieve strategic information

14. How CS can be used for gaining info about consumers and the market?
15. How do firms process info?
16. How do firms use consumer science to optimize internal information flows and communication
17. Conclusions

Appendix: further insights on methodological tools adopted in this book

Chapter length: 4,000 words
Key dates:

• Chapter outline due: 1st February 2016
• First draft due: 1st July 2016
• Final draft due: 1st September 2016
• Target publication date: 1st September 2017

Contact:

• Alessio Cavicchi (alessio.cavicchi@unimc.it)
• Cristina Santini (cristina.santini@unisanraffaele.gov.it)

 

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