Opening an Italian Winery, Spirits and Accessories Retail Business in Northern California: Attracting the Customer Concentration of an Established Industry Cluster Based on Michael Porter's 'Cluster and Competition Theory‘

Abstract

This work aims at starting a winery business in the beautiful northern Californian area. The business will specialize in exporting high quality Italian wines and spirits from exclusive family owned wineries. The basis of the thesis is the application of Michael Porter‘s 'Cluster and Competitiveness Theory'. Competition within a cluster enhances the competitive fitness of the members of a cluster. There is no doubt that competitive pressure from the peers may be intense among the wineries from the coastal districts that cater for the somewhat precocious higher segments of the wine market where wines morph from agricultural products into idolized works of art (cf. Mueller/Rolf/Sumner/Daniel 2006, p. 10). Nevertheless, 'Clusters' offer a large, strong and wide range of established customer concentration, which has not yet been directly targeted by new market entrants. The thesis‘ purpose is to enter the highly competitive winery market of the Northern California by introducing a unique business idea. The idea is to enable the large concentration of affluent visitors of northern California to buy high quality wines produced by very special and small family owned wineries in Italy.

This thesis presents recommendations, which may be beneficial to other entrepreneurs, who also are able to enter the highly dynamic industry clusters in their respective fields. Clusters reduce entrepreneurial risks, since the entrepreneur can fall back any time on the many available opportunities of employment, which are available in a dynamic business cluster.

The author has been an entrepreneur through all his professional life. He has founded and operated many divers‘ businesses ranging from a gourmet restaurant to an oil and lubes wholesale business with an annual sales of 49 Million Euro. The author has additionally joined, restructured and operated companies in Istanbul Turkey and in Kabul Afghanistan. He has already a MBA in General Management from the University of Salzburg. This work should contribute to his long time goal of owning a winery business in the greater northern Californian area.

Keywords: Business plan, Winery business, entrepreneurship, Napa Valley, market entry, marketing, Porter Michael, cluster, competition, Blue Ocean Strategy