Research and development structures within the Australian wine industry: organizational implications, global challenges and a changing of the wine culture

This collected work represents an exploration of the way in which research and development (R&D) is structured within the Australian wine industry, the organizational implications of that structure, and the industry’s capacity for change in what has become an increasingly dynamic international context. Specifically, my work addresses: R&D diffusion within the sector; the development, role and implication of R&D clusters; an emerging disconnection between Australia’s governing wine bodies and their users; and finally, the industry’s present and future status within a multidimensional wine landscape. The particular contribution of this work lies in its conceptual advances in understanding the Australian wine industry’s evolving organizational framework, and in its practical relevance to policy-makers and strategic directions for the industry. First, through largely empirical studies this work maps the longitudinal development of R&D structures over the past decade, the premise upon which they were designed, and how they extend to the industry’s users. Second, using in-depth surveys and interviews with a diverse cross-section of the industry’s wine firms, combined with research into the industry’s operating configuration, this work establishes an organizational framework within which to examine the industry’s capacity for change. The framework is unique in that it represents an infusion of the wine industry’s organizational dynamics and the cultural attachment that its stakeholders have to the wine product. This is particularly important in understanding how the methods of planting, harvesting, production and marketing reflect and impact on the way in which wine producers think about their product.