What makes Napa Napa? The roots of success in the wine industry

California is world-renowned for the ability to produce world class quality wine. At the center of this achievement is the development of Napa as a premier wine producing region. We examine the sources of Napa’s success by testing factors from leading industrial location theories against statistical...

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Main Authors: Anil Hira, Tim Swartz
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Firenze University Press 2014-06-01
Series:Wine Economics and Policy
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212977414000040
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author Anil Hira
Tim Swartz
author_facet Anil Hira
Tim Swartz
author_sort Anil Hira
collection DOAJ
description California is world-renowned for the ability to produce world class quality wine. At the center of this achievement is the development of Napa as a premier wine producing region. We examine the sources of Napa’s success by testing factors from leading industrial location theories against statistical and qualitative evidence. Using an unusual database of county-wide data on the wine industry to compare Napa’s success with other wine-producing regions of California, we can control for different historical factors and economic conditions that temper most comparative wine studies. Many regions in California can produce world class wine, but none enjoy the same level of returns as Napa. Path dependency and distance to markets are poor explanations for the relative success of wine regions. We find that while terroir, or natural comparative advantage, has some evidence behind it, social capital and entrepreneurship behind technological leadership are central to Napa’s competitive advantage.
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publishDate 2014-06-01
publisher Firenze University Press
record_format Article
series Wine Economics and Policy
spelling doaj-art-32acd3478bdb4bf28259745e896e9e9a2025-08-20T03:58:19ZengFirenze University PressWine Economics and Policy2212-97742014-06-0131375310.1016/j.wep.2014.02.001What makes Napa Napa? The roots of success in the wine industryAnil Hira0Tim Swartz1Department of Political Science, Simon Fraser University, CanadaDepartment of Statistics and Actuarial Science, Simon Fraser University CanadaCalifornia is world-renowned for the ability to produce world class quality wine. At the center of this achievement is the development of Napa as a premier wine producing region. We examine the sources of Napa’s success by testing factors from leading industrial location theories against statistical and qualitative evidence. Using an unusual database of county-wide data on the wine industry to compare Napa’s success with other wine-producing regions of California, we can control for different historical factors and economic conditions that temper most comparative wine studies. Many regions in California can produce world class wine, but none enjoy the same level of returns as Napa. Path dependency and distance to markets are poor explanations for the relative success of wine regions. We find that while terroir, or natural comparative advantage, has some evidence behind it, social capital and entrepreneurship behind technological leadership are central to Napa’s competitive advantage.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212977414000040Wine industryCaliforniaIndustrial locationRegional economicsEconomic developmentSocial capitalEntrepreneurshipNapaTerroir
spellingShingle Anil Hira
Tim Swartz
What makes Napa Napa? The roots of success in the wine industry
Wine Economics and Policy
Wine industry
California
Industrial location
Regional economics
Economic development
Social capital
Entrepreneurship
Napa
Terroir
title What makes Napa Napa? The roots of success in the wine industry
title_full What makes Napa Napa? The roots of success in the wine industry
title_fullStr What makes Napa Napa? The roots of success in the wine industry
title_full_unstemmed What makes Napa Napa? The roots of success in the wine industry
title_short What makes Napa Napa? The roots of success in the wine industry
title_sort what makes napa napa the roots of success in the wine industry
topic Wine industry
California
Industrial location
Regional economics
Economic development
Social capital
Entrepreneurship
Napa
Terroir
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2212977414000040
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