2005, Volume 13, Paper 3

ISSN: 1883-5675

Extending the Grapevine: Innovation and Knowledge Transmission within the Australian Wine Industry

David Aylward – Faculty of Commerce, University of Wollongong, NSW

Abstract

Innovation and its uptake are two key ingredients in the Australian wine industry’s rapid rise from cottage industry to international success. The industry has a well-deserved
reputation of leadership in the funding, coordination and adoption of both product and process innovation. This leadership continues to underpin its competitive advantage in
oenological and viticultural practices, training, branding, and export.
Empirical research, however, upon which this paper is based, suggests that this success may be disguising systemic flaws. One of the most threatening of these flaws is the
relative lack of access to the industry’s dominant knowledge cluster by the myriad regional firms. The intensity of this cluster and inadequate transmission of knowledge
beyond its parameters is undermining the vast majority of Australian wine firms’ ability to participate in the industry’s leading edge research and development. This, in turn,
could well threaten the industry’s future leadership.

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