Cooperatives in the balance between retail and member interests: the challenges of the German cooperative sector

• Autores: Jon H. Hanf, Erik Schweickert
• Localización: Journal of wine research, ISSN 0957-1264, Vol. 25, Nº 1, 2014 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Clusters, governance and territorial branding in the wine industry), págs. 32-44
• Idioma: inglés
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• Resumen

  • Wine cooperatives have a long tradition and still account for roughly a third of the German wine market. Based on cooperative values and seven cooperative principles, the legally manifested business goal of cooperatives is to patronize their members' business activities. As the members are grape growers, member-orientation leads to a business policy of production-orientation which stands in strong contrast to the customer orientation which is associated with saturated competitive markets. The aim of this article is to analyse this area of conflict. Based on the results of this analysis, we intend to shed some light on the relation between the wines produced by cooperatives and their origin as a means of marketing.