Female Entrepreneurship in the Wine Sector: The Role of Identity in Small and Medium-sized Wineries’ Formation, Growth and Response to Covid-19

23 Pages Posted: 17 Aug 2021

See all articles by Cinzia Colapinto

Cinzia Colapinto

Ca Foscari University of Venice - Department of Management

Vladi Finotto

Ca Foscari University of Venice - Department of Management

Mauracher Christine

Ca Foscari University of Venice

Date Written: August 12, 2021

Abstract

The increasing interest in female entrepreneurship advanced our understanding of how psychological and personality traits and the contextual factors surrounding the decision of women to become founders influence their ways of establishing and managing organizations. Recent literature points to the fact that the differences among men and women as founders and leaders of organizations might exist also when major crises happen: in front of radical changes and events that abruptly disrupt the processes and operations of firms, women might manage situations in a peculiar way. From this perspective, Covid-19 represents a fruitful testbed. The onset of the pandemic had social and economic consequences at global level: the outbreak has caused major disruptions in supply chains and shifts in consumption patterns. Relevant current questions are how Covid-19 pandemic has been affecting female entrepreneurs and how resilient they were. The paper looks at women-owned wineries in the Northern part of Italy as an interesting case: indeed, the wine industry has been traditionally a male-dominated industry and it has been heavily impacted by the covid-19 pandemic. Through qualitative research we explore how female wineries were able to change their direction or implement new services. We find that women weigh strategic choices such as using e-commerce with the need to maintain extant relationships, make decisions influenced by the need to preserve communities and rely on peer-networks to provide mutual support.

Keywords: wineries, digitalization, Covid-19 pandemic, female entrepreneurship, crisis management

JEL Classification: L26, L66, M19

Suggested Citation

Colapinto, Cinzia and Finotto, Vladi and Christine, Mauracher, Female Entrepreneurship in the Wine Sector: The Role of Identity in Small and Medium-sized Wineries’ Formation, Growth and Response to Covid-19 (August 12, 2021). Department of Management, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia Working Paper No. 6, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=3904199 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.3904199

Cinzia Colapinto (Contact Author)

Ca Foscari University of Venice - Department of Management ( email )

San Giobbe, Cannaregio 873
Venice, 30121
Italy

Vladi Finotto

Ca Foscari University of Venice - Department of Management ( email )

San Giobbe, Cannaregio 873
Venice, 30121
Italy

Mauracher Christine

Ca Foscari University of Venice ( email )

Dorsoduro 3246
Venice, Veneto 30123
Italy

Do you have negative results from your research you’d like to share?

Paper statistics

Downloads
148
Abstract Views
605
Rank
356,899
PlumX Metrics