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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:How competitive is South Africa? Advances and challenges in the transformation of the Cape wine industry
Author:Ewert, JoachimISNI
Year:2005
Periodical:Les cahiers d'outre-mer
Volume:58
Issue:231-232
Pages:371-396
Language:English
Geographic term:South Africa
Subjects:viticulture
wine
exports
Abstract:Since the mid-1990s, the South African wine industry has gone through a 'triple transition' involving local industry deregulation, internationalization and the politics of democratization and legal reform. On the surface the industry has responded remarkably well to these new challenges and opportunities, most notably in the export field where it has won a significant share in European markets. Sales are also growing in the USA, the Far East and further afield. However, export success hides a great unevenness in the industry: on the one hand there are those farmers, cellars and wholesalers who are able to profit from the opportunities offered by international expansion; but on the other hand there are those who cannot. Into the latter category fall mostly cooperative cellars who even ten years later find it hard to make the transition. The paper argues that this is mainly due to decades of regulation and international isolation. Many wine cooperatives lack international competitiveness - not because there is no wine 'cluster' in South Africa, but because the wine cluster is 'low trust' and has been inward looking for too long. New institutions have been set up to support the stragglers and nudge them into the 'right' direction. However, as a result of South Africa's political past, the institutions themselves have become embattled and to some extent paralyzed. Whether they will be able to shake off this inertia and save the coop sector remains to be seen. Bibliogr., notes, ref., sum. in English and French. [Journal abstract]
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