Italian wine firms: strategic branding and financial performance

Over the last few years, the wine industry has been undergoing a process of accelerated change, consequent to the constantly changing wine geography, both from the demand and the supply sides. This research is based on the 2011 work of Rossi et al. and aims to develop a preliminary prescriptive strategic branding framework for the Campania (Italy) wine firms.

The research focuses on branding strategies and financial performance. It is based on extensive secondary data; the research is exploratory in nature, and it is a theoretical research.

The paper achieves four main objectives: to understand the industry's local and international competitive situation; to identify the role and potentialities of branding in competitive terms; to identify the underlying factors of consumer behavior in relation to wine branding; and to develop a preliminary prescriptive strategic branding framework for the Campania wine firms, with generic application and value.

The limitations of the paper are the result of its very nature: it is a largely conceptual paper. Empirical research is therefore needed to test and validate the essentially preliminary framework developed and the (well‐based) assumptions made towards its development.

The value of the paper stems from the fact that practically no research exists on the subject and this work provides a solid and comprehensive theoretical foundation for further research to build on. Additionally, this research studies the subject but also through the identification of true underlying consumer behavior factors.