Case Study: The Spanish Wine Industry
This scholarly article assesses the elements of competitive advantage in the Spanish wine industry. Strategy, resources, capability, and managerial ability all affect a firm's competitive advantage.
Hypotheses
Technological capabilities
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.