Title: Passion over pragmatism: the motivation of Australian winery owners

Authors: Steve Charters; Beth Walker; Alan Brown

Addresses: School of Wine and Spirits Business, Groupe ESC Dijon-Bourgogne, 21000 Dijon, France ' UWA Business School, University of Western Australia, 35 Stirling Highway, Crawley WA 6009, Australia ' Business and Law, School of Management, Edith Cowan University, 270 Joondalup Drive, Joondalup, WA 602, Australia

Abstract: The Australian wine industry is dominated by small and medium enterprises. Many of these businesses incorporate primary, secondary and tertiary activities which require a range of management skills to succeed in an increasingly competitive market. The motives of owner/managers for being in this industry are varied and potentially impact on the success enjoyed by their business. Using interviews with the owner/managers of small businesses this paper explores these varying motives, how they may change, and their impact on strategies and business performance. Findings suggest two possible dimensions of motivation: firstly a dimension ranging on an axis from passion for making wine to being solely interested in a 'business for profit' and secondly a dimension around being in business for personal or external reasons. Clusters of wineries are identified based on these dimensions, highlighting the diversity of small business owner/managers motivations in this industry. Further, the reasons for entering and staying in the wine industry may change over time.

Keywords: Australia; wine industry; motivation; winegrowing SMEs; small and medium-sized enterprises; business culture; passion; management skills; winery owners; wineries; winemaking.

DOI: 10.1504/IJESB.2016.079972

International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Small Business, 2016 Vol.29 No.4, pp.512 - 527

Received: 12 Feb 2015
Accepted: 05 Sep 2015
Published online: 24 Oct 2016 *

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