In vino veritas: competitive factors in wine-producing industrial districts

The wine sector holds a prominent place within the whole Spanish food and agriculture industry. The importance given to this activity has also been transferred to the international market where Spain holds a position of leadership, both in terms of production as in overseas sales. A large number of the wine-producing firms in our country are located in industrial districts, which is to say in geographical areas characterised by a high concentration of small and medium-sized companies whose productive organisation corresponds to a model based on flexible specialisation. In previous papers, it has been possible to verify how wine-producing industries located in industrial areas show greater efficiency in relation to rivals located in other types of environments. The aim of this article is to further research on the specific features of industrial districts which could explain their firms’ increase in efficiency. For the identification and quantification of these determining factors affecting productive efficiency, a methodology based on parametric adjustments models is to be used. An empirical application is to be carried out on a sample of Spanish wine producers for the years 2000 and 2010, extracted from the SABI database.