Competitive advantage differences between firms belonging to a business group and independent companies in the Spanish wine industry

Juan Ramón Ferrer-Lorenzo

Spain

Universidad de Zaragoza

Departamento de administración y dirección de empresas

Silvia Abella-Garcés

Spain

Universidad de Zaragoza

Departamento de administración y dirección de empresas

Teresa Maza-Rubio

Spain

Universidad de Zaragoza

Departamento de ciencias agrarias y del medio antural

Submitted: 2017-07-05

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Accepted: 2017-12-15

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Published: 2018-01-12

DOI: https://doi.org/10.7201/earn.2017.02.05.
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Keywords:

Business group, performance, resource based view, strategy, wine industry

Supporting agencies:

funding from project ECO2013-40935 of the Spanish Ministry of Science and Technology and from the FP 7-KBBE-2011-5 Socioec project and funding from the Directorate of Fisheries and Aquaculture of the Basque Government.

Abstract:

A high percentage of companies that compete in the market belong to a business group. This paper analyses the competitive advantages between independent firms and firms belonging to a business group, focusing on the Spanish wine industry. The authors studied 339 wineries, compared their resources and capabilities, the strategies used and their business performance. The results suggest that while resources and capabilities are key for independent firms it is the business strategy that is most important for firms belonging to a business group. The study sheds more light on the application of specific elements to explain a firm’s business performance.
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