Exploring the drivers of Sustainable Innovation in wine cooperatives: a case-studies analysis

With the current social, economical, and environmental scenarios, the intensive farming is no longer viable. In this context, innovation may play a crucial role. In particular, responsible innovation represent a value creation driver, allowing farms to realize internal economies and external social economies. The development of innovative processes is particularly suited to cooperatives, as they generate a competitive advantage and allow to overcome two constraints to sustainable innovation adoption: high costs and complexity. These aspects, which highlight the significant role of cooperation and innovation in the shared value creation process, have not been broadly addressed in previous contributions, especially regarding the wine sector. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the drivers of innovation processes for shared value creation in wine cooperatives. A 2-step analysis was implemented, including the definition of an interpretative model on the drivers of sustainable innovation processes for shared value creation in cooperatives, and a comparative analysis among two wine cooperatives, in order to validate such model. Results have validated the hypothesized scheme: in both cases, the drivers included in the model are essential for the adoption of innovations in viticulture. In particular, governance mechanisms and the very effectiveness of innovations change according to the territorial context.