Shared brands and sustainable competitive advantage in the Brazilian wine sector

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate if shared brands provide sustainable competitive advantage according to an adapted valuable, rare, imitability/replaceability and organization (VRIO) model to the Brazilian wine sector in the opinion of the government agencies, associations and managers of the wineries. Design/methodology/approach This study was based on a qualitative and exploratory research, based on in-depth interviews. Fine wines that have geographical indications and are located in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul were analyzed and content analysis was used to explore data. Findings It was concluded that shared brands in the Brazilian wine sector can be considered a source of sustainable competitive advantage according to the resource-based view. Research limitations/implications Qualitative research has the aspect of the subjectivity of the researcher when analyzing the data. Practical implications The government agencies, associations and wineries can improve the production process and seek certified products for commercialization in the domestic and foreign markets. These contributions may also, in practice, be used by other sectors and countries. Originality/value This work contributes to the understanding of the shared brand’s concept, including geographical indications, collective brands and the sector brands. The proposition that shared brands provide sustainable competitive advantage, according to an adapted VRIO model was confirmed. Barney’s VRIO framework (Barney, 1991, 1995) hitherto thought for individual companies, has the letter “O” of Organization replaced by the letter “A” of Association, becoming VRIA. The authors found that the four conditions that form the here proposed acronym VRIA are valuable, rare, imperfectly imitable/replaceable and association.