Case Study: The Spanish Wine Industry

It is impossible to deny the importance of technology as an element that improves a company's productivity. In highly competitive environments managers are required to use the optimal technology for their company. In order to determine which optimal technology is best, the company must study its production processes. Therefore, introducing the most appropriate technology, it should be able to reduce costs and increase quality. Through technology, the company creates value, as well as the capacity for development, specialization, and competitive advantage.

Therefore, technology is a key resource in maintaining the competitive level of a company. Moreover, in the case of small businesses and those linked to the land, as it is in the case of wineries, they do not have the option of changing location easily, as other kinds of firms do, in order to lower unit costs. Therefore, wineries must maintain efficiency by investing in technology and improving operations.

The importance of technological resources has been linked to business performance and studied by several authors, finding a positive relationship between these variables.

According to these arguments the authors propose the following hypothesis:

H1

In the wine sector, the technological capabilities owned by the firm are positively related to the firm's performance.