Caracterização dos canais de comercialização do vinho no Alentejo: uma abordagem com base na teoria dos custos de transação

In Portugal, the wine industry has been successful in the last years with genuine products, which have gained a reputation in domestic and foreign markets. The potential of differentiation and the reduced size of the domestic market have lead consolidate positions in foreign markets, where efficient management of the marketing channels is important. Thus, this study has as objective the characterization of the marketing channels structures in the wine industry of Alentejo, and the assessment of their level of integration. In other words, it was aimed to know how the vertical constraints influence the transaction efficiency in those marketing channels. The methodology used was a mixed approach based on quantitative and qualitative analyzes. The former was based on interviews with wine industry’s experts, and the latter was carried out through a questionnaire applied to a sample of wine entrepreneurs from Alentejo. The results showed that the wine companies use several marketing channels for exports. By contrast to the literature, the analyzed companies do not coordinate their transactions through contracts. The results also allowed to conclude that uncertainty affects the transaction costs, as well as, asset specificity and namely those associated with human resources. Another conclusion is that the greater the frequency of transactions, the greater the level of integration of the marketing channels of the wine industry.