Explaining international competitiveness in emerging wine economies – the case of the South African organic-wine industry

ABSTRACT Proceeding from critiques on Porter’s work on international competitiveness, through grounded research, this study inductively identifies and analyses key factors driving the South African organic wine industry and its search for international markets. In-depth, face-to-face, semi-structured interviews were conducted with stakeholders from eight organic farms, this being deemed a point of data saturation. Our findings reveal that the central concern of participants is how best to negotiate connection with relevant overseas markets. Ten contributing factors are identified here including: negotiating foreign organic certification, understanding consumer perceptions of the term ‘organic’ in each foreign market, and leveraging social media to connect with consumers. Contrary to Porter’s work, state apathy towards the local organic wine sector is identified as one of the factors most detrimental to global competitiveness. This study consequently recommends cooperation between certification bodies, teamwork and knowledge sharing between local organic wine farms, and government involvement in the industry – all this in an effort to create employment, benefit the environment, and increase trade. In search of means of explaining the global competitiveness of a small emerging market, our findings do not fit with Porter’s ‘diamond model’. An alternate data-driven model of explanation is presented in its place.