Strategic positioning of family business brands: a cross-country application to the wine sector

Little knowledge exists about stakeholder perceptions of family business brands. Particular gaps remain with respect to research on consumers which represent a key stakeholder group of many family firms. The nature of vast existing research is theoretic and evidence has been anecdotal. This work aims to address these knowledge gaps in the field of family business brand research. A survey by questionnaire among regular wine drinkers has been carried out in Australia, Italy and the United States of America. Covariance-based structural equation models as well as logistic regression models have been used to empirically test a theory-driven framework. Results indicate that consumers attach significant value to the family firm attribute in all three countries and indicate their willingness to pay a premium price for wines produced by these firms. It can be shown that consumers hold characteristic associations with family businesses that are the origin of this premium and also lead to increased behavioural loyalty intentions towards these businesses. Family businesses consistently rank higher than their non-family counterparts for the tested attributes. However, it can be shown that cultural differences contribute to a differential rank order of these attributes, and in some cases even cause an inversion of effects on behavioural outcomes. Findings imply that these unique characteristics of the family firm brand represent a potent competitive advantage in the marketplace. However, agency theory suggests that market conditions causing adverse selection of family business may exist which leads to a welfare loss of market players. For the first time a multivariate analytical framework grounded on significant work in the field of marketing explains the chain of effects of family firm image on consumer behaviour. Replication across three countries adds robustness to the findings and for the first time addresses how cultural differences affect the perception of family firms.