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Cooperatives versus Corporations: Survival in the French Wine Industry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  15 May 2018

Justine Valette
Affiliation:
Labex Entreprendre, Montpellier Research in Management, University of Montpellier, rue vendémiaire, 34960 Montpellier; e-mail: justine.valette@umontpellier.fr.
Paul Amadieu
Affiliation:
Labex Entreprendre, Montpellier Research in Management, University of Montpellier, rue vendémiaire, 34960 Montpellier; e-mail: paul.amadieu@umontpellier.fr.
Patrick Sentis
Affiliation:
Labex Entreprendre, Montpellier Research in Management, University of Montpellier and Montpellier Business School, rue vendémiaire, 34960 Montpellier; e-mail: patrick.sentis@umontpellier.

Abstract

This article examines the survival rates of cooperatives in the French wine industry. Traditional theory claims that cooperatives are inefficient and consequently are prone to failure, but recent literature suggests a higher resilience. Can cooperatives cope better? We find that French wine cooperatives survive longer than corporations. This result is robust in semi-parametric and parametric models, even when we control for mergers and acquisitions. The higher survival rate of wine cooperatives seems to be associated with their ability to pass changes in their business environments on to their members. (JEL Classifications: C41, G30, Q13)

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © American Association of Wine Economists 2018 

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Footnotes

The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of LabEx Entreprendre, research program A2P3 “Governance, Market Strategies, and Sustainable Performance.” They also thank an anonymous referee and the editor for their very helpful comments.

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