THE SUCCESS FACTORS OF A SICILIAN MARKET-ORIENTED WINE COOPERATIVE

Wine cooperatives have a long tradition in Sicily, as well as in Italy and in Europe. The objective of this paper is to reconstruct the general framework of the Sicilian wine cooperatives that still account for nearly 80% of the regional wine grapes production. In this context we examine the productive, organizational and commercial strategies of a case study: Cantine Settesoli. Founded in Menfi (Western Sicily, Italy) in 1958 on the initiative of a group of wine grape-growers, the Cantine Settesoli has developed over the decades and now represents the major bottled wine cooperative in Sicily, whose 2,135 members own 5% of Sicilian vineyards. With its four wine-making plants, a volume of grapes processed in the last three-year financial period (2011-13) of more than 43,000 tons of grapes per year, an average annual turnover of €47.7 million, and a constant attention to environmental and social issues, Cantine Settesoli stands out as the protagonist in the wine scene, both national (especially with the brands Settesoli and Mandrarossa) and international (with the brand Inycon). It effectively implements traditional and innovative tools of productive, commercial and strategic management, thus representing a model of successful firm in a regional context of cooperatives generally pegged to productive and commercial strategies product-oriented.