A Case study of French Wine and Spirits Companies: Internationalisation and Marketing Strategy.

Abstract

This dissertation focuses on the French wines and spirits companies regarding the process of internationalisation, and more in details the possible impact of the degree of internationalisation on the export strategy marketing. The literature review demonstrated the different drivers of internationalisation, proposed a definition of the degree of internationalisation and several authors demonstrated the implication between the organisational characteristics of a company and the level of internationalisation. Similarly, the link between the degree of internationalisation and marketing strategy in the context of wine and spirits exporting companies does not seem to have been studied by the literature, so a study of wine marketing strategies have been made to understand the specificities of this sector but also to understand how each company adapts its marketing mix according to its internationalisation. A mixed method approach of an inductive approach using the data collection method of semi-structured interviews with four export managers from French wine and spirits companies has been conducted in order to examine the particular case of this industry. Before the data collection takes place, the researcher provides information on the selected companies in order to classify them according to their level of internationalisation. This data collection was carried out upstream of the primary data collection, and provide information concerning the degree of internationalisation of French wines and spirits companies. Finally, primary data collection focuses on the different components of the export marketing mix of the firms studied, with a view to finding out whether there is standardisation or adaptation of marketing strategies according to the firm's export market(s). The data collection goes further by examining individually the different elements of the marketing mix, which are: the product, the price, the distribution network, and the promotion of the product on the external market(s) on the various companies. To conclude, this thesis shows that the degree of internationalisation in the special case of the French wine and spirits companies has an impact on the export marketing strategy of the firm. It also shows that it has an impact on the organisational characteristics of the company. This research does not attempt to draw a general theory as it takes place into a special industry, the one of the French wine and spirits, but recommendations are given for further academic research.